How To Hang a Picture Perfectly in Two Steps! Four More for Extra Credit . . .

To paraphrase the great Jane Austen "It is a truth universally acknowledged . . . it is always dangerous to blow your own horn.  You risk treading on the Cosmic Banana Peel and watching your heels fly over your head as you thud to the ground."

But, where is the fun of life if no danger is involved? So, here it is ~

How to Hang a Picture Perfectly in Two Steps . . . yes, math is involved.

4' 6" ~ Remember that number. You will be tested.

Most people hang pictures too high. You've seen this before (maybe you've even done it.) They hold the picture in both hands, thrust their hands straight out, move it up and down a bit, settle on up and drive the nail.

Perhaps not the best technique for perfect picture hanging.

Try this: Think of 4 1/2 feet off the floor as the center of your picture. That is a number that works best for most art. My sons are both 6' 5" tall. Their fallback picture hanging location is about three inches from the ceiling. Difficult for the general public to appreciate the image.

Why 4 1/2 feet? Because most furniture is manufactured in standard heights. A table is 30" high. The new standard for counters is 36" high (it used to be 32" in the olden days when we were eating less meat.) The most satisfactory arrangement for art is tied visually to the furniture around it.

For taller furniture pieces, hang the picture 6" to 9" above the surface of the piece. That will visually tie the art the piece.

For the picture hanging alone on a wall, feel free to use 5' 0" as the center of the art.

The wonderful vintage watercolour hanging on the wall in my stairwell is tied visually to the buffet in front of it. When I was deciding to hang it, I decided not to center it between the two ceiling beams because the margin on the left was more important to me. 

Establish a Line: Yes, it is true, we all have our thing.

My thing when grouping pictures is establish a line ~ either horizontally or vertically. Very, very, very few designers (and they are brilliant geniuses, let there be no question) can put a bunch of framed art up on a wall and not have it look terrifyingly, hideously, depressingly messy.

You can also establish a line by lining the edge of the frame with the edge of the piece of furniture it is hanging over. For example, a long buffet could benefit from aligning the art with the side of the cabinet. That would allow for placing a bowl of flowers or something else on the the buffet surface to fill the void space. That makes a nice asymmetrical placement. Certainly you can center it as well, but the main thing is . . . take all the elements into account when you hang art.

Note the Page and Thorbeck bowl hanging beside the large collage in the living room image. The line I'm following is the bottom edge of the collage frame. For the placement of the collage, I decided to center it between the console table and the ceiling.

To recap: Remember ~ 4' 6" and establishing a line. Doing these two things will transform the outcome when you hang your pictures.

Now, for the Master Class and extra credit. Friends stick together. If I'm hanging a group of pictures, I like to establish a uniform space between each frame. Too close and it feels like three people crammed into the back seat of a Volkswagen beetle. Yes, you can do it but no one can breathe.

Too far apart is nearly as bad. It feels lonely like the family members at the reunion who really aren't speaking. Not friendly. The happy distance varies. This is where the art of picture hanging comes in. I've had a lot of practice so I just go ahead and start hanging. You can put your frames on the floor and work out an arrangement that works for you. Just remember, there are dozens of ways to hang an arrangement beautifully.

I like seeing the little Chinese woodblock together with the vintage Chapman sconce. It is missing its glass chimney so I added a candle. It's all very warm and yellow in that corner.

More extra credit ~ Hanging things other than framed art. I love combining framed art and three dimensional items. Interesting combinations work well. Here's what I keep in mind. I consider shape, colour and texture. Again, there isn't a hard and fast rule, but these are things that work.

I like seeing the Blue Willow plates at the same time as I see the two framed Chinese silk fragments in my little hall. The celadon paint is a nice backdrop to these interesting pieces.

Don't stagger pictures! Unless there is some compelling reason (you're going up the stairs in your Georgian mansion and hanging the portraits of 10 generations of relatives), never stagger your art. You know what I'm talking about . . . one up, one down and about a foot apart. Every time I see it, I think, "Oh, dear God, that's painful!" I've never once seen a successful application of this configuration. So, when you think, "I'll just stagger these. Wahdahyah think, Fred?" Go lie down until the feeling goes away.

Think vignettes ~ as you evaluate the placement of art, think about creating individual vignettes. You know what I'm talking about. We always recognize it when we see it. When you enter a person's home and the entry hall has a table with fresh flowers, a wonderful mirror or a group of framed photos on the wall over it, everything reads as a whole. It feels complete, inviting, friendly.

For the vignette in the kitchen, I used the two bronze rams heads I bought at the Bermondsey Square Antiques Market when I was in London. I like them on the slim wall by the sink over the vintage Chinese woodblock print. Friendly and interesting. 

As you begin your picture hanging project, think of each of your furniture pieces and each piece of art as individuals. Then create the vignette you want by combining the framed art and three dimensional pieces to add depth and visual interest.

Enjoy!

Day 29 Everyday Grateful ~

Going to the Rep with Audrey,

braving the construction under

the Alaska Way Viaduct,

bringing brie, bread and fruit.

Sunny

Happy