I have a confession to make. Whenever I walk into a room, any room, I immediately begin to pick it apart in my mind. I notice the lighting, the furniture, the flooring, the color, the millwork, the smell- even the finish of the paint- every single detail of the room.
I keep a mental notes of things I like, and try not to stare like a deer caught in the headlights at things I don’t. I can’t help it. It’s what I do; what I’ve always done. There is no cure.
But the one thing I cannot take, the one thing that simply sends me over the edge, is this:
Artwork hung too high on the wall is like the sound of nails on a chalkboard- to my eyes. It hurts. I can’t take it. It seems everywhere I’ve gone this week I have seen this, which is why I decided on the necessity of this blog post.
People PLEASE hang your artwork and photographs correctly. The scale, shape, and relation of the picture to the other items in the room all matter very much as well, but the “too high- floating picture” makes me a little twitchy.
All it takes is a simple Google search to find the correct height. In case you haven’t the time or inclination to do that, let me share it with you. The general rule of thumb is fifty seven inches on center. Say this with me; 57” ON CENTER. That means the center of the picture needs to be 57” from the ground. Fortunately enough for me, this is just about eye level, so I rarely measure.
Obviously this measurement won’t work in other situations such as over a mantle or another built in feature, but for general purposes, this is a good go-to number.
My husband loves to tell people that when we first married and I asked for his help with hanging a picture, he knocked a hole in the wall and I’ve never asked for his help since. This is partly true. The other reason is it was too high.
Now that you have the correct information on how to hang your pictures you have no excuse. And if you invite me over and you see me straightening pictures or notice that I can’t quit looking at something on the wall, please indulge me and let me re-hang it for you. My tool box is always in my car.
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