Decorate Your Walls: The Basics of Placing Artwork with Furniture

Share:

Decorate Your Walls: The Basics of Placing Artwork with Furniture

Staff Writer · Sep 17, 2010

Designing a room can be a lot of fun but having the right furniture and the right artwork does not necessarily mean it is all going to come together perfectly. Learning the best way to place artwork with furniture and the best way to decorate walls will pull a room together nicely.

How to Arrange Artwork

For smaller pieces of artwork arrange a few pieces in a row, either hanging in a vertical or horizontal line. For four pieces of similar size, arrange them in a square shape. For more than four pieces of similar size group them together offset slightly from one another to create an eye pleasing collage. Larger pieces should be placed somewhere alone where the focus can be solely on it or placed with other much smaller pieces in order that the attention will still be drawn to the larger piece.

Correct Placement on Walls

Small pieces of artwork should be used for narrow walls or areas that do not provide much room. Larger pieces should be saved for large areas that will not look cluttered by a large piece of art. Artwork should be hung so that the center of the piece is approximately at eye level for an average height person. When choosing to hang art over a piece of furniture, keep in mind that the rule of thumb is usually to choose a piece of art that is not as wide as the piece of furniture or mantel it is over. Although the rule about the correct height being at eye level is usually true, you also do not want to leave too much space between the piece of furniture and the piece of artwork. Hanging multiple pieces along the same wall is fine but they should be lined up at the same height. This rule also applies if you have two pieces of art hanging near a corner. They should be an equal distance from the corner and lined up at the same height.

Relationship to Furniture

As mentioned previously, artwork placed above furniture or a fireplace mantel should not be any wider than the furniture. Too small also looks awkward as well however. Artwork that takes up less than half of the width above a piece of furniture or mantel will not look appropriate. Artwork should be centered over the furniture such as a sofa, bed or mantel. Artwork placed above a main piece of furniture in the room should be placed no more than six inches above the piece of furniture in order to make them appear cohesive. Smaller pieces can be grouped together to take up the appropriate amount of room to make it look proportional as long as they are similar pieces of artwork.  Tall pieces of furniture like a bookcase, can be balanced visually by adding a piece of artwork on each side. Consider the color combination in the artwork along with the colors in the piece of furniture. The colors do not need to match but it is necessary for them not to clash. Use the same style of artwork as furniture. Modern artwork and an old fashioned sofa may not be a good combination.

You might also like:

Moving into a new apartment or rental property can be both exciting and stressful. From packing up your belongings to coordinating logistics, there’s a lot to manage. However, one aspect that is often overlooked is what to expect on move-in day regarding the condition of your new unit. Surprisingly, according to recent surveys, a significant […]

Jessica Lee

 · Mar 12, 2024

On ApartmentRatings, real renters have the ability to rate and review their apartment communities based on their experience touring and or living in the communities. ApartmentRatings offers renters the ability to see what life is like at a community through a report card grade style format called epIQ. Every month we highlight apartment communities whose […]

Jessica Lee

 · Feb 28, 2024

On ApartmentRatings, real renters have the ability to rate and review their apartment communities based on their experience touring and/or living in them. ApartmentRatings offers renters the ability to see what life is truly like at a community through a report card grade style format called epIQ. Every month we highlight a major city across […]

Jessica Lee

 · Jan 31, 2024