Lady B Knows: Perfectly Placed Art – My 5 Rules

It starts with loving a piece of art.  Whatever form it takes, choose art that speaks to you.  Whether it’s a grand piece or numerous pieces being placed on your wall – there’s an art to placing your wall art.  

It’s not about having the same art form, matching frames or colour schemes – it’s allowing space for the art to breathe be it framed, canvas, or objet d’art.  Here are my 5 hard and fast rules that always work for me:

1. As a general rule, I ensure the bottom frame of the art work is placed a minimum of 60 inches above floor level.  It will depend on the height of your ceilings and any furniture underneath the art, but I use that as a starting point to gauge an ideal eye-level.
2. Depending on how many pieces of art you have and if it’s in an area where you’re predominately standing or sitting, it’s lovely to play around with placing art in different spaces, heights and light, to give yourself time to consider the perfect art setting.  So I always place art as near to the space for a few days, before I mount it on the wall, unless it looks more stylish leaning on top of a dresser or sitting a number of pieces on a mantle.
3. If it’s just one piece of art you’re displaying, then it needs to fill the space you’re placing it in.  Allow it to be the dominant and prominent feature, balancing it centrally within the wall space.
4. Grouping collections also makes for a striking display.  If you have a tall, narrow wall, then displaying a symmetrical collection makes for an eye-catching display.  I have an awkward column wall, but have made it a feature art wall with 18 A4 framed images, 3 placed horizontally and 6 vertically in perfect symmetry.  
5. When it comes to grouping numerous individual pieces across the length of a wall, then the key is to be bold and find balance.  Lay all your images on the floor, as near to the space you wish to mount the art and place all the images.  Keep moving the art work, with equal spacing (2 inches should be more than ample), until you find a harmony and balance that works for you – even if the art work are different sizes and placed haphazardly, the end result should be proportioned as if you’d mounted one piece of art on the wall.

We’d love to feature how you place your art pics on our Instagram and Pinterest pages.  Please email us at [email protected] with your images.  We’ll get in touch with you before we post any images and ensure your confidentiality.

For inspirational ideas, I invite you to visit HRH and browse with me, viewing my coveted art collection.

Lady B