This guide focuses on best practices for hanging framed art to maximize its impact and maintain visual balance in the room. These concepts are not universal; rather, they are designed to give you a starting point from which you can experiment, customize and create your own unique, personal gallery.

Determining the Right Height and Position

For the best viewing, prints should be hung at approximately standing eye-level. A good rule of thumb is to align the frame center 56 inches to 60 inches from the floor. In areas such as an office or den where most of your time is spent sitting, consider hanging prints at sitting eye-level.

When hanging a print over a piece of furniture such as a sofa or chair, you’ll want to be sure to leave arm room above the furniture. Leave approximately 5 to 8 inches as an allowance to avoid bumping the frame or crowding the furniture. Hanging the print too high will disrupt the visual balance of the furniture and print. Another option is to divide the space between the furniture and ceiling and use the lower two thirds of wall space to hang your pictures. When placing prints next to oversized furniture, select larger prints or heavier frames to balance the furniture size. You might consider grouping 2 or more large prints to further enhance the wall presence.

Creating Groupings

Increase the focal point of a wall by creating groupings of several pictures. Horizontal, vertical or cluster groupings are a great way to call attention to your prints and add interest to your walls.

• Clusters of prints in tight even number groups can create interest on large or small walls. Experiment with spacing from 2 to 6 inches between pictures.
• When creating a single line of horizontal or vertical prints, an odd number of evenly spaced prints provides balance to the group.
• For a bold gallery look, mix and match horizontal and vertical prints while maintaining a common center line. Experiment but remember visual balance is the key.

Hint: To determine your layout, either trace the frame on paper or cardboard, cut out the template and arrange on the wall with masking tape or arrange the frames on the floor prior to hanging.

Hanging Your Prints

You’ll want to ensure that your pictures are hung straight. Use a level and draw a light pencil line across the wall. Mark each hanger location on the wall.

Be sure you use picture hangers (not just nails!) that can support the weight of your frame. Very large pieces may require two hangers. There are a variety of products available for just about any wall type. Read the label carefully to make sure that the fastener is rated for your wall and for the weight of your piece. 

Hint: A small piece of sticky putty in the bottom corners will ensure your prints always remain straight

Lighting

Art lighting is a complex and technical subject that can get very confusing (and very expensive!) very quickly. We will leave museum and gallery lighting design to the consultants, but the following should help the average consumer get the most from his/her artwork. First, you must decide what kind of light to use.

• Natural Sunlight - Sunlight is the most balanced light and is wonderful for bringing out vivid colors in any artwork - however, it is also difficult to control, making it hard to achieve certain effects or highlight subtleties. Unfortunately, it is also the most damaging light, with huge amounts of UV light. Textiles and works on paper, especially photographs, watercolors and pastels, are especially prone to damage caused by sunlight.
• Incandescent - These are the lights most commonly used in household fixtures and are fine for general purpose lighting. Most incandesent bulbs give off a "warm" light which brings out oranges, reds and browns. Cool tones (blues, greens) will be understated. Several manufacturers produce color corrected incandescents (the bulbs look bluish) which help this issue. Incandescents typically give off very little UV light, and are both inexpensive and widely available, making them a pretty good overall choice.
• Flourescent - just the opposite of incandescent lights, flourescents are typically very "cool" lights and will accent the cool blues and greens in a piece of art, while flattening out the oranges, reds and browns. Again, several maufacturers have color corrected flourescent bulbs which help balance the emitted spectrum. While not as bad as direct sunlight, flourescent bulbs typically emit high levels of UV light, making them undesirable for art lighting.
• Halogen - Halogen lights, especially low wattage systems, are excellent choices for art lighting. They produce a strong, white light that complements most art and are available in a variety of configurations. However, they can be fairly expensive and they can get extremely hot.

Whatever lighting scheme you use, remember that light, especially UltraViolet (UV) light, is damaging to most artwork. A good rule of thumb is to only have your artwork lit when it is being viewed. Above all, avoid direct exposure to bright, high-intensity light.

REMEMBER, art is unique - experiment with placement, lighting and coordinating pieces, until you find the arrangement that best suits your taste and the particular piece of art.  Have fun with it!