The Art Of Hanging Art

Hamish Noster, owner of Nailed It Art Hang, has spent nearly the last ten years helping people hang all sorts of art in their homes using all sizes and shapes of wall spaces. So we asked him for a few pro tips.

Words: Pattie Pegler Images: Supplied

Whatever you’re hanging the first step is to think about measurements. The centre point of the art work should typically be at around 1500mm from the ground.

If you have a particularly large painting you can drop that centre point a bit lower, perhaps around 1450mm says Hamish, otherwise you may find it hitting the ceiling. Whilst if you have two art works you want to place one above the other then take the centre point from the entire space taken up by both including the gap between the two.

Using a measurement from the centre of the artwork to the ground rather than from the bottom of the frame gives a less uniform look. Imagine you are hanging a line of paintings or photographs along a hallway, when you look down the line the centre of the pieces are all the same but the frames don’t form one solid line.

A Gallery Wall

Gallery walls or groupings are hugely popular and particularly good for getting those family photos up. And if you’re worrying about matching –don’t, says Hamish. Groupings can mix up sizes, frame types, textures, colours and even formats and roll them all up in one glorious display. But it’s getting the groundwork right that really matters here – literally.

Hamish advises measuring the wall area to get the space you’re working with before you do anything else. Then move pieces around on the ground within that space measurement until you have a look you’re happy with.

You need to take into account things like light switches says Hamish and obviously leave a gap between art pieces. Getting the layout right before you start to place on the wall will save a lot of time, energy and paintwork.

Of course, it’s up to you what you put next to what and there are no hard and fast rules. Hamish says he mixes it up. “If there’s one big work in the collection I don’t put it in the centre and I don’t line them up. But I do usually put the biggest work on the wall first and then build around it. It’s what I call chaotically collective.”

Practical Tips

Measure height from the centre of the art work. The universal standard is for the centre to be 1500mm from the floor. Look at your white space – an art work should not take up every inch of wall but it also shouldn’t look lost on it.

For two paintings hung above one another or side by side a good gap distance is 60mm. This can be shrunk down slightly in gallery walls – try 50mm.

Use hangers on the back of larger or heavy paintings rather than string, velcro hangers or sticky hooks.