Interiors: The one thing you’re doing wrong with artwork

By Anne Tuohy • 6 years ago

Mar
2019

Interior Designer Anne Tuohy reveals all you need to know to hang your art perfectly every time.

I have to confess to having an absolute obsession with art.

For me this is what really dresses your walls and shows off your unique personality. I hang lots and lots of art, and do so very confidently. I will mix valuable original art with inexpensive prints and family photographs, knowing that it will always look right.

Today, I will share my secret with you, and it is a very simple one.

Fact of the matter is, most people hang their art WAY too high!

If you remember this art gallery rule and hang your picture 60 inches from the floor to the centre of the art, you will always arrive at the correct height.

Photo by Anne Tuohy, Room Junkie

60 inches represents the average human eye height and is used as a standard measurement in museums and art galleries. I don’t even measure anymore, I can do it by eye, but if you adopt this simple trick, you can be confident that you will always hang your pictures at the correct height.

Multiple pieces:

Now that is all very well if there is only one picture. What if you want to arrange two pieces, stacked on top of each other, or four arranged in a square format? The method is the same. Treat the finished arrangement as one picture, and find the centre point, which is 60 inches off the floor.

Top tip:

A useful tip is to position the artwork on the floor first, to work out your spacing between the pictures. Two inches is a good rule of thumb to remember when stacking art and you want to calculate the distance between the pictures.

Now I want you to take a measuring tape and check the hanging height of your own pictures! I strongly suspect that most of you will find that the art was way too high.

Photo by Anne Tuohy, Room Junkie

This tip that I have given you today is probably the most valuable piece of interior design advice that you will ever receive.

Change the height and something amazing happens – all your art now shares a mid line creating immediate symmetry and balance throughout your house. This is a very pleasing and positive thing to achieve in your home and you will thank me for it.