- Do you wish to know the best ways to hang artwork?
- Are your walls looking boring, devoid of wall decor, and need spicing?
- Do you seek ways to complement your interior?
- Would you love to style your walls but do not know how to?
- Do you have hidden treasures like artwork, doodles, photographs, old magazines, and illustrations at home?
If you answer yes to any or all of these questions, this article is for you.
We all have valuable collections in our homes, little treasures we do not appreciate. These include school artwork, random pictures, illustrations and photographs, doodle art, and magazine cut-outs. But many of us are unaware we can turn these stashed-away possessions into interior décor elements that will stylishly uplift our interior spaces.
There is so much you can do with these hidden treasures. You can cut, frame, and hang them on walls in standalone, double, triple, or clustered arrangements. There are many beautiful ways, and there are many hanging methods to achieve this. The good thing is that there are no hard and fast rules about how you wish to arrange them on your interior walls.
7 Ways to Hang Artwork on Interior Walls
There are many creative ways to hang artwork and framed pictures. Although there are no hard and fast rules on how best to arrange them, they must placed on walls in an organised manner.
Interior designers and home decorators can usually tell the types of artwork that go well with the themes of their interior projects. They are adept at arranging art effectively and aesthetically, and so can you if you follow the tips below. No rule is “cast in stone”, but there are principles that represent what is desirable to different people.
What are the best or most creative ways to hang framed art? The answer depends on the following:
- Size of the wall.
- Shape of the wall.
- Wall height.
- Wall position in the room.
- Available wall space.
- A backdrop or a feature wall.
- Colours/style/size of picture frames.
Size of the wall: The wall size will determine how you hang wall art. For instance, if you have a narrow wall with a low ceiling, you should not hang an overtly large painting that consumes the wall.
Shape of the wall: If you have a triangular wall (typically found in A-frame homes) or a square wall, the way you hang artwork differs.
Wall height: For interiors with high ceilings, you want to hang paintings proportionally balanced with tall wall surfaces. Do not install a couple of small framed artworks that will visually disappear on high walls, and do not hang oversized wall art on low walls.
Position of the wall: Awkwardly positioned walls can be tricky to decorate. For instance, the best way to decorate the walls of a niche is to go for the gallery arrangement. You can extend the gallery of small framed pictures into the corners to help the stark lines of the niche appear to disappear.
Available wall space: How much is available for hanging artwork? If, for instance, you live in a tiny apartment with no space for your art, hang your art as a column of art that spans from below eye level to above eye level, about 2ft away from the ceiling. Ensure they are the same small-sized framed works.
Backdrop or a feature wall: If you do not have a feature wall, you can create one with wall art. Depending on the wall size, hang a one-piece framed art, a standalone tapestry, or a series of artworks set like a collage. A collection of framed black and white or sepia photographs will look classic.
Colours/style/size of picture frames: Picture frames come in all conceivable colours and different styles and sizes. Depending on the interior design theme and the colour scheme, you can opt for frame styles that range from vintage-inspired to modern frames constructed from synthetic materials.
Picture Hanging Ideas
Many homeowners feel much more comfortable using a symmetrical picture hanging arrangement. They feel safer keeping within the conventional ways of hanging artwork. There is nothing wrong with that. But if you want something stylish and different, you should try the asymmetrical arrangement. Asymmetrical arrangements include hanging varying sizes, styles, and colours of picture frames haphazardly on a wall.
- For wall art to stand out conspicuously, set them on plain neutral wall colours. If you must have vibrant coloured walls, let them be a part of the artwork.
- Relate the subject matter to the character and theme of the room.
- Create colour accents on one wall with framed paintings or photographs. Use different colour frames for each picture and make it a feature wall to match the general interior decor.
For a modern cluster arrangement, do not arrange indiscriminately. Hang using simple geometric configurations like:
- Triangle
- Square
- Line
- Rectangle
- Diamond
Other Artwork Hanging Considerations
- For different themes, shapes and sizes of art hung on one wall (posters, pictures, photographs, wall art), set them close in a mass arrangement. It will make the entire wall look like a beautiful scenic view.
- Hang one large painting on the most significant wall in a room.
- Interior walls with too many wall hangings can be stressful and heavy on the eyes, especially if they have ornate frames.
- Rooms with heavily decorated walls like scenic images, patterned wallpaper, special paint effects, and murals do not require hung artwork. The paintings will end up lost in the busy background.
Ways to Hang Artwork - Do's, Don'ts, and Tips
Do’s
- When hanging a group of three pictures, hang the largest in the middle. Ensure that their character and colour schemes are related.
- Small pictures look better when hung at eye level, while larger (viewed from a distance) are best hung at a higher level.
- A group of artwork arranged asymmetrically can hung on wall surfaces that are not a central point of the room.
- Make sure that ropes or hanging wires do not show when hung. It looks tacky when hanging elements show.
Don’ts
- Do not hang oil paintings and watercolour paintings near each other. It will become inharmonious unless they are similar in colour tones.
- It is inappropriate to hang artwork with vibrant colours beside framed black-and-white illustrations on the same wall. It is odd and inconsistent with picture-hanging styles.
Tips
- Pictures and framed artworks can be hung on wall surfaces using hooks, nails or screws driven well into the wall.
- Install picture-hanging accessories near the top of the picture frame. It ensures the picture is hung as flat as possible against the wall surface.