Consider the entire room when hanging pictures. The Roller Coaster Effect should be avoided at all costs. The eye should not have to travel up and down and up and down as it scans a space.
Place items at the same level by aligning the tops of frames even when they are housed on separate walls. When critiquing your space, imagine a line like the arrow in the photos. Better yet, get out your tape measure and verify the distances from the ceiling to the tops of all the frames are all the same.
In some cases, large vertical pieces of furniture must be considered as well. In my own home, I have a large wine rack, book cases, a huge standing mirror, and art along the walls of the Living Room. In order to align them along the same plane, I had to measure everything and adjust some only a matter of inches. It was worth the effort. We save our thrill rides for King’s Dominion.
High contrast in a design plan can be exciting, especially when the color story for the space is predominately neutral. As these pictures illustrate, deep, dark colors on a pale-on-color-base is dramatic and sophisticated.
New clients often complain that their space feels like something is missing. Like they “can’t seem to pull it all together.” Often, it is the exclamatory punctuation mark that is missing. Just as a speech drags on and on when the speaker never changes the inflection of his voice, so to can a design plan seem dull without bursts of grounding deep tones.
As often as homeowners hang art too high, they use the wrong tools to get the job done.
In my car I keep a tote full of simple tools. The most valuable to my business is my hammer along with my tin box of picture hangers. I made this tool kit with a carrier I got at Michaels. It is intended for scrap booking supplies, but works great for me. I realized how necessary it was for me to bring my own stuff when one of my clients removed her shoe to pound a thumbtack into the wall!
I recommend Ook Picture Hangers. And, of course, a hammer!
Layering can be an effective way to showcase art. Plus, on a large brick wall such as this, hanging a single picture is tricky, and would require drilling into mortar.
I created this display for a home I am staging. Notice how the large mat in the rear frame keeps the arrangement from becoming too busy. The largest photo is, in fact, in the smallest frame, which creates an interesting bit of tension.
The subject matter on all three is similar-basically Old Dudes. Interesting and not too personal, necessary ingredients for effective staging. The colors are tight. They are straight out of the tones in the brick.
It appears from the “straight on” view that the decorative box is too far from the grouping of photos, but look at the angled view. The distance serves to emphasis the dramatic length of the fireplace.
Lofty Impressions
Hanging pictures can be such a hang up. But really, it is quiet easy, once you know the strategy.
When in doubt, hang it lower. When hanging art over a sofa, between the bottom of the frame and the top of the sofa back there should only be about 18 inches at the very most. It should be possible to view the sofa and art as a coherent group. The eye should not have to travel up from the furniture to the art above it.
Another sign of confusion: A pair of pictures hung staggered horizontally. Sometimes they are hung with the left one higher, sometimes with the right one higher, and often over a bed or on a blank wall. Either way—always wrong. Glance through decorating books and magazines. This is something you will never see done by professionals, yet homeowners do it all the time.
If two or more pictures are stacked vertically, they need not always line up on the center axis, but they should be stacked in relation to something else. Note in this photo how the vertical arrangement reflects the form of the secretary.
Sometimes pictures are “worked in” to make a cohesive grouping. In the image below, hanging the art centered over the console would be odd, since the “wall” is really the stairs. The lamp and statuary balance the grouping and add dimension.
