I’ve seen it many times, a beautifully decorated room; and wall art hung way too high!

My advice is to always hang the centre of your framed artwork, clock or gallery wall at eye level. That’s on average about 67 inches from the floor. But before you start putting nails in the wall, remember that art likes to be hung above pieces of furniture eg console tables, headboards, sofas, cabinets. Wall art should be grounded by something, even if it’s only a radiator or a simple plant on a stool. The exception to this rule is when the wall art is so big that it takes the space of nearly the whole wall.

Creating a gallery wall

1 Wall art looks better grouped together. Rather than having one picture on each wall, create a mini gallery wall and have them all together. An odd number of wall frames nearly always looks better than an even amount.

2 A good rule to follow when composing wall grouping is to keep your frames and other objects about 7-8 cm apart. With really big wall art, this gap can be greater. But please don’t space your frames too far out from each other, because it can make the arrangement look disconnected.

3 Lay all your frames on the floor and keep rearranging them until you are happy with the layout. Take a photo of it so that you can refer to it once you begin hanging them on the wall.

4 The greater the variety of frames, shapes and patterns, the more interesting your gallery! If you are working with a lot of different sizes, the rule of thumb is to have one large centre frame surrounded by a variety of image sizes.

5 To make sure that you hang the pictures straight, my advice is to measure twice before you make any hole in your walls. If you worry about committing, use picture hanging strips such as Command Strips. They are amazing. I use them all the time since I often rearrange wall art in our home and I don’t need to worry about damaged walls.

6 Another tip I can give you is to use Blutac underneath your frames to keep them intact, especially if your wall art is on a wall close to the doors (vibrations from closing the doors can move your frames) or in high traffic or narrow places like the stairway or hallway. It’s also a good idea to secure your wall art with Blutac if your children tend to throw or kick a ball indoors.

A diagram illustrating how to hang wall art above a sofa. The gap between each picture, horizontally and vertically, is 10cm\ Wioleta Kelly

My tip

Desenio.ie sells ready-to-hang gallery walls. All you need to do is to size up your wall and pick the design that you like best!

Wioleta Kelly runs Abbeyfeale Interior Design. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, she is currently offering online home and room consultations, and throughout the summer, will be running her five day “Give your home a WOW factor” express course, sharing tips and tricks of the trade for just €49. For further information, visit www.abbeyfealeinteriors.com or follow on Instagram @wioleta_kelly and on www.facebook.com/abbeyfealeinteriors