How to choose the right size print for a wall
Most people buy a size too small. Here is the two-minute way to get it right, with the numbers.
Walk into most homes and the art is too small for the wall it hangs on. It is the commonest mistake there is, and it is easy to avoid because the rules are simple and the numbers are not negotiable.
Measure the thing the print will sit above
Over a sofa, a bed or a sideboard, the print should be between two thirds and three quarters of the width of the furniture. A standard three-seat sofa is around 220 cm wide, so the art above it should be about 150 to 165 cm across. That is either one large piece or a pair side by side with a 5 to 8 cm gap between them.
A 60 × 90 cm print on its own above a sofa looks modest. A pair of 60 × 90 prints, or one piece at 70 × 100 in a frame, looks right. The size guide on every artwork page on this site shows exactly this: a 220 cm sofa, a 175 cm person, and the print sizes drawn to scale.
Hang it at the right height
The centre of the artwork should sit roughly 145 to 150 cm from the floor. That is average eye level and the height every gallery uses. Above a sofa, leave 15 to 20 cm between the top of the sofa back and the bottom of the frame so the two read as one group.
Portrait or landscape?
Landscape pieces suit wide spaces: above a sofa, above a bed, along a hallway. Portrait pieces suit narrow walls, the gap beside a door, the end of a corridor, and they stack well in pairs. Everything on this site is portrait at the moment, which is why so many of the pieces are sold as pairs: two 50 × 70 portraits side by side cover the same width as one large landscape, and they read as one piece.
Does the frame count?
A framed print measures about 2.5 cm more than the print itself in each direction once the frame is added, so a 50 × 70 print framed is about 52.5 × 72.5 cm on the wall. Unframed, the print is exactly the stated size.
If you are still unsure
Use the see it on your wall tool. Upload a photo of the actual wall, set the width, and drag the piece into place at true scale. A minute with that tool settles the question better than any rule.
