Want your room to feel warm and inviting?
Aside from focusing on color, size or style of artwork, which lean deeply into personal preference, there's one simple hanging technique that will quickly increase the coziness factor of your room (because the way you hang art makes a difference).
So here it is...
LOWER THE HEIGHT OF YOUR ART!
Surprised? One of the most common things people do is hang their art too high. Let's just say if you get a crick in your neck after admiring your art (from an appropriate distance), it's too high!
Rule of thumb -> hang art at eye level
This means the center of the artwork is eye level - for most people 58-60 inches.
Look around your room. If you've noticed a wall seems kinda off or always thought the room felt a bit uninviting, grab a tape measure and do a quick check. Run it from the floor to the middle of the artwork. You may find it's higher than 60 inches.
No worries if it is. Pull the nail, make a new hole and re-hang. This rule applies to any size of artwork in your room - the middle of each piece should hang at eye level.
How to find the right height for your nail
- Pick an eye-level height and stick with it. For example, if you choose 58" as eye level, use this as the middle height for every artwork in your room (no matter the size)
- Turn the piece over. On the back, measure vertically from the middle of the painting or artwork to the wire or hanger.
- Take that number and add it to eye level. If you chose 58" as eye level and measured 8" from the middle of the art to the hanging wire, then 58+8 = 66", so you would place your nail at 66 inches. Done!
Now that you know the eye level rule, you can't "un-know" it! You may start noticing oddly hung artwork in friends' and family's homes. I'll leave it up to you to decide what to do ;)
If you're looking for tips on what type of nail or hanger to use, check out - Hanging Hardware for Your Paintings.
Theresa Edwards