The Best Places to Hang your Art

On 2 Sep, 2007 With 0 Comments

You’ve finally bought some art pieces for your new home but are having difficulty deciding where to put them? The following pointers will give you some suggestions on the best places in your home to hang your art for great wall decor.

1. The Living Room

Make sure the art piece is visible to people sitting in the living room. If possible, have the sofa set arranged to face the art piece such that each person seated will have a good view of it. A good place to hang the art could be above the fireplace. One large art piece hanging above the fireplace would really make a statement and draw attention. If you want your art piece to be the focal point of the whole room, place it in a strategic location where visitors will be able to see it first thing when they step into the room. If there is a wall directly facing the front entrance of your home, hanging a large art piece or tapestry there would really catch your visitor’s attention.

If the sofa is placed against a wall, hanging art pieces on that wall is also fine, but note that you should hang it high enough such that a person seated on the sofa and leaning his head against the wall will not come in contact with the art piece and dislodge it. Try using several different art pieces and group them cleverly to add a more balanced effect. The size of the art pieces should be chosen based on the size of the sitting area and the distance between the viewer’s eyes and the art. If the living area is small and the viewers are within close proximity of the art piece, you can choose pieces which are smaller in size but contain finer detail so that they can be better appreciated at a closer distance.

2. The Bedroom

Hanging an art piece on the wall that your bed directly faces will certainly give you something pleasant to look at as you prepare yourself for bed. If your bed is against a wall, you can put groups of smaller pictures there as well. Try to place your art in a location where it is viewable from where you or your guests would normally be in the room, ie, bed or the study table.

3. The Dining Area

The dining area is also a good place to hang art. Pictures of food or flowers will add an interesting balance to the dining room and will create good conversational topic for your guests. Be sure to hang the art piece at just about the right height on the wall so that your guests seated around the table will be able to see it. As a rule of thumb, hanging the art piece at eye level should be just about right. However, if your dining area is in the kitchen, then you might want to think twice about putting your art there as the grease from regular cooking might damage it in the long run.

4. Staircase Landing

A staircase landing between two floors is also a great place to hang art. It will be an interesting focal point for someone who is climbing up the stairs. If the wall at the staircase landing is large enough, you may consider a larger art piece so that your visitor may start to notice it even before he reaches the top of the stairs. The wall along the stairway can also be used to hang art. As stairways are narrow (most anyway), you can use smaller pictures for this area as it will be very close to the viewer’s eyes as he is walking up or down the stairs.

Hanging art on your walls can really help to liven up the place and transform your house into a home. There are no hard and fast rules as to how you should decorate your home. Feel free to experiment. At the end of the day, so long as it looks good to you, it’s all that really matters.

Enjoy your home decorating!