Hanging Fixture

Hanging Around; How to select, successfully position and hang your art work

A few important rules can help you hang paintings, prints and mirrors to take full advantage of the piece. Incorrectly placed items can spoil the interior design of a room. The correct positioning of interior design accessories is like the icing on a cake. It can finish a room to perfection or distract and annoy.

Note: When I mention; paintings, art work, prints it can also refer to mirrors or any piece of art

Selecting the best art work

It is important to select prints/paintings/artwork/mirrors to suit the style of the room. Your tastes and the tastes of those you live with should also be a prime consideration. Selecting art work to reflect the interests of the people occupying the space would be a good option.

Art work works better when it relates to the purpose, style and mood of the room. Paintings can often be used to bring together the colours in an interior space. The colours in an art work can be brighter and stronger than those used in the rest of the room

What to hang together

Large paintings work best on a wall by themselves. They can be positioned to become the focal point of a room. For example it could be placed above a mantel piece. Small prints placed together in a group work better than one small print/painting on a large wall. It is usually best to group water colours together on one wall and charcoal drawings together on another wall another wall and so forth. However you can place different mediums together if you related them in some way. For example all the items have the same frame colour.

A very important rule

I have found the most common mistake people make is to place art work too high on the wall. The average size piece of art work should be hung so that the middle of the art work is at eye level or a little above eye level. In a room were people will spend most of their time seated then the painting could be hung so that the middle of the work is positioned at the seated eye level.

Grouping art work

Groupings of art work of different mediums can be successful if they have some quality that relates them together. Etchings, drawings, black and white photographs work well together. However it is best not to combine black and white drawings and oil paintings they are too remote to be combined.

Spacing

When grouping art work do not leave too much space between them. The space should never be larger than the size of the art works. If other paintings are hung with a large painting they should be subordinate in size and less impressive.

Directional Line

When placing groups of art work it is best to create a dominant directional line. This could be horizontal or vertical. Whether you select a horizontal or vertical line depends on the size and shape of the wall where you are positioning the work. If the wall is narrow and high then paintings placed in a vertical arrangement will work. On a long short wall a horizontal line would work best. The style of the furniture can also be a factor. Low long furniture may require art work be positioned horizontally.

Art work can be arranged in interesting shapes. The easiest shapes to arrangements are square or rectangular in shape. These shapes can be easy to create, interesting and it is not to difficult to achieve a successful combination.

Frames

The most important thing when selecting frames is to remember frames should enhance the image and not detract from it. Traditional images tend to look better in carved timber or gilded frames. Modern graphics look more appealing in simple metallic or coloured timber frames. When hanging a series of art work (2 or more) then use similar frames and hang them equally spaced apart. This will give a sense of order.

Mounts

The size and colour of the frame and mount should relate to the piece of art work. If you want to highlight the image create a gap between the edge of the picture and the inner edge of the frame by using what is called a mount. A mount is like a piece a cardboard cut to fit inside the frame. The mount has the center cut out to reveal the work. A small image can be made to look more important by an exaggerated mount. A group of unrelated paintings can be united by using mounts in the same colour and size. Mounts come in many colours, shapes, and thickness and can have different edges for example beveled edges. Using more than one mount can enhance the image.

Hanging fixtures

It is important to select the right hanging fixtures. The weight of the work should indicate the size of fitting required. Sometimes a spirit level is required if a number of fittings are required to make sure the work will be level. It is extremely important the fixture is not in view.

The most common mistakes people make is to have a fixture in view and the art work being placed to high on the wall.

If you follow these simple rules you can select and hang your artwork in a way that will enhance and not distract from the interior design of your room. As always rules can be successfully broken. But like everything it pays to know the rules and follow them until you know enough about the subject to break them.

I invite you to the http://sampleboardonlineinaustralia.blogspot.com where I have created a mini workshop called Hanging Around.

About the Author

Rosena works as an interior design, retail and visual merchandising tutor for Australian College QED. She I has also worked for the Retail Traders Association of Victoria as a Retail Trainer. Rosena has a Diploma in Interior Design, Post Graduate Diploma in Public and Community Health and is a qualified trainer. She also works as an interior design consultant, creates designer art work and is the Australian partner of Sample Board Online a new cool free interior design presentation tool.

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