7 Tasteful Tips for Displaying and Hanging Wall Art

Hanging wall art in the home is a great way to express yourself. But it’s not as easy as it looks! It’s one thing choosing the right art in the first place, but hanging and displaying wall art around the home is another story. Your art needs to look chic and well-organised to make an impact without your rooms looking cluttered.

It takes some careful planning and organisation to create beautiful displays on your walls. So, how do you create chic, stylish walls like the most sophisticated galleries in the world?

These tasteful ideas for hanging wall art will help you master the art of seamless styling, allowing you to create wall art magic in your own home!

1. Hanging Wall Art in the Kitchen or Bathroom

If you’re hanging wall art in the kitchen or bathroom, be careful. If you’re not using the correct materials or hang your art in the wrong place, it could get damaged.

Luckily, we have a solution! If you’re hanging wall art made of canvas, simply hang them away from the stove, sink or anywhere you might accidentally splash them with food or water.

If you’re a really messy cook or have a small kitchen, opt for our mess-proof metal prints or acrylic wall art prints! Both styles are waterproof and are highly durable. They can withstand steam and heat and the prints won’t fade, even after decades outside in bright sunlight.

Try vibrant food prints or culture wall art prints in the kitchen and calming landscapes or animal photos for the bathroom.

2. Match Your Wall Art to Your Décor

If you’re having trouble choosing your wall art, don’t stress; it’s simple! Just select styles you like and match your wall art to your décor.

Got a minimalistic colour scheme? Good news; practically any colour or style will work in your room! Still don’t know where to start? Try these tips:

• Identifying your home’s style, or even a specific room. What kind of décor have you selected? Is it coastal? Art deco? Country-style? Hamptons? Earthy? Or ultra-modern? Select a category of wall art on our site to match your décor.
• Work with your existing colour schemes. Choose a colour in your room, such as blue. Then select wall art with some form of blue in it; anything from a relaxing seascape to an abstract art piece, a cityscape or a blue contemporary artwork. When searching our wall art, use the colour filter on the top right of our search bar to show your chosen colour.
• Abstract art is the best wall art type, as it can work in practically any room and with any home décor style.
• Browse Pinterest for more inspiration by style. For instance, search for “coastal wall art”. Check out our Pinterest page for more inspiration!

Browse our beautiful abstract art styles here.

3. Organise Your Display Before Hanging Wall Art

So, you’ve got your wall art and you’re ready to go! But before you start wildly hammering nails in the walls, it pays to plan.

The great thing about our wall displays is that our template allows you to see what your images look like in a variety of configurations before you even start your order!

So, instead of hanging wall art in all the wrong places and getting confused about which sizes you might need, you can order your wall display ready to hang on your walls.

Or, if you’d prefer to do it yourself, make sure you layout your wall display on the floor first to see what it will look like. Try cutting pieces of paper in a contrasting colour to your walls in the size and shape of your chosen art and post them on the walls in your chosen configuration to see how it will look.

4. Go Structured or Let Creativity Reign

When hanging wall art, structured, symmetrical displays often create a more modern look, while salon-style arrangements typically have more of a vintage look.

If you don’t want to use one of our wall display templates or would simply prefer to create your own, there are several ways to do this.

When displaying wall art, try a grid display using several of the same-sized images, such as several small square-shaped canvases in a 3×3 or 4×4 configuration. Use wrapped canvas prints for these displays or use floating frames to tie your display together.

Or, you could build a salon-style wall display with a variety of different wall art types, such as floating frame prints and wrapped single canvas prints in a range of sizes and shapes. To achieve a balanced look, start with larger pieces in the middle as a focal point and then work your way outwards with smaller artworks. Use an odd number of artworks like 5, or 7, to create organised chaos.

As a general rule, leave 2-5 inches between your frames. The display shouldn’t overwhelm the size of the room or your furniture.

Additionally, if you have a huge display with plenty of different styles and colours, keep furniture simple so your room doesn’t look to cluttered.

5. Hanging Wall Art Above Furniture

Unsure where you should be hanging wall art? Wall art should hang in clear spaces but you also don’t want it to get in your way or look cluttered in your spaces, especially if you’re living in a smaller apartment.

DO:

• Hang your wall art in clear spaces, for instance, above the bed, desk or your couch. Ensure the art is big enough to examine from far away, so people don’t have to clamber over your couch to see it properly.
• Hang your art 4-6 inches above furniture so there is a clear gap to appreciate the art more fully and your walls don’t look cluttered.
• Try hanging wall art at the end of a corridor as a focal piece.
• Prop art up on a chest of drawers, a side table, or a desk. Just ensure there aren’t too many objects on the desk covering it, and make sure the surface is deep enough to accommodate the art and whatever else shares the space.
• Use artworks that are roughly two-thirds the size of the furniture you’re hanging wall art above.

DON’T:

• Hang small pieces in places where people can’t examine them up-close.
• Hang enormous pieces over small-sized furniture; it will look imbalanced.
• Hang art all over your walls in a small space or high-traffic area, otherwise, your room might look too cluttered.
• Crowd lots of art into a narrow corridor, as it can easily get knocked off the walls.
• Be careful not to hang your wall art too high! The middle of your artwork should be at eye level, or slightly above.

6. Play with Scale to Suit to Your Spaces

As much as we’d all like to purchase supersized artworks, hanging wall art that is too big in a small space can be overwhelming. Yes, it’s fun to make a statement. But a massive artwork in a small apartment can verge on the ridiculous, if not done well.

Instead, try a grid display (see #4) or try one of our wall displays for a structured, easy-to-hang collection of wall art. Use the same coloured floating frames to tie your wall display together.

Just one larger conversation piece near the dining room can inspire creative conversations, while a smaller piece or two in the kitchen or bathroom can add interest to bland spaces.

7. Layer it Up

If you’re short on wall space, go vertical! Instead of hanging wall art, use floating shelving. Layer a series of wrapped canvas pieces, framed artworks, and other objects on shelves to create a cohesive display.

Try our affordable photo blocks; these also make great gifts. If you’re short on space your frames can even be overlapping to create an interesting look.

All our wall art comes with hooks, ready-to-hang, so when hanging wall art all you need to do is decide where to hang it!

For more inspiration for displaying and hanging wall art check out our styling blogs here or if you’re ready to begin, start searching for wall art right away here!