Best Practices for Hanging Art

One of the most daunting tasks many people ask themselves when setting up their Airbnb space is, how do I hang the art?

Here are some tips from our in-house designers on best practices for hanging art:

If your tendency is to hang art eight inches from the ceiling, you aren’t alone. Most people tend to hang art too high. You want your art to breathe. Plus, straining your neck to view art that is hung too high is just plain awkward - and doesn’t do great things for the photos of your space.

For starters, there’s one simple, essential guideline you should definitely keep in mind when hanging art—always display the artwork’s center 57 inches from the floor. It’s an easy to follow gallery model on how to hang art at average eye level.

There's some wiggle room here, but always be careful not to hang your art too high.

Here are some quick rules of thumb:

Hanging art on walls

The center of the artwork should be at an average person’s eye level or about 57 inches from the floor. Imagine you are hanging a round mirror, if you are 5’5” tall, you’d want to see your eyes in the middle of that mirror, height-wise.

This is a good standard to use when hanging art above toilets too!

When hanging next to a window, center the art between the top and bottom of the window frame, and in the center of the wall itself, if possible

Hanging Art over headboards and sofas

When hanging art above furniture (beds, sofas, desks, etc.) bottom of the art should be 6 - 8 inches above that item (or about two hand widths) and should always be centered.

Sets vs individual pieces - if it is an individual piece of art that is an abstract (meaning it’s blocks of color and doesn’t clearly need to be hung vertically), hanging the art horizontally above a bed or sofa will fill more of the space and give a bigger impact.

If you are hanging a set of two pieces of art that are the same size, make sure you center them over the bed or sofa and have them at the exact same height. Double-check to make sure there are 2 - 3 inches between the pieces. A great way to do this is to make a pencil mark on the wall over the center of the sofa and measure one inch to either side.

Keep in mind that you don't always have to put holes in your walls for every piece of art. Framed art can be arranged elegantly on a shelf or counter for a crisp modern look and a less formal display.

‍