What Size Wall Art Fits Your Space

Wall art should span about two thirds of the furniture beneath it, and hang with its centre 57 to 60 inches from the floor. Our portraits come in 8x10, 12x16 and 18x24 inches. This guide works out which fits where you are hanging it, and when two or three together are the better answer.

The short answer

An 8x10 suits a shelf, a desk or a narrow stretch of wall where it will be seen close up. A 12x16 is the size most people hang on its own, above a console table or a bedside table. An 18x24 holds a wall by itself and is the one to choose when the portrait is meant to be the thing you notice on entering the room. If you are filling a wide sofa wall, the answer is usually two or three pieces rather than one.

Measure the furniture, not the room

The useful measurement is the width of whatever sits below the art, not the width of the wall. The convention is roughly 60 to 75 per cent of the furniture width, which keeps a piece from looking stranded above a large sofa or crowded above a small table. A three seat sofa is commonly 84 inches wide, which puts the target at 50 to 63 inches. A loveseat at 60 inches wants 36 to 45. A console table at 48 inches wants 29 to 36.

Hold those numbers loosely. They describe how a wall reads from across a room, and a wall that already has a floor lamp, a plant or shelves beside it is doing part of the work.

Where each size belongs

The 8x10 is the close range size. It works on a picture shelf, propped on a desk, in a narrow alcove, or as one piece in a gallery wall of many. From across a room it reads as a small square, so give it somewhere people stand near it.

The 12x16 is the one most people hang alone. It is the right weight above a console, a bedside table, a chest of drawers or a bench in an entryway, and it is the size that suits a hallway where you pass close to it.

The 18x24 is the statement size. It holds a wall on its own, above a bed, above a sideboard, at the end of a hallway, or above a sofa when the sofa is on the narrower side or the wall around it is broken up by other things. On a wide, bare sofa wall it will look smaller than the two thirds rule wants, which is where grouping comes in.

Two or three together

A row of portraits fills a wide wall in a way one piece cannot, and it is how most people with more than one pet end up hanging them. Leave two to three inches between frames. Any less and they read as one crowded object, any more and the group stops holding together.

Those widths are measured across the artwork, which is what the size names refer to, plus the gap between pieces. The frames add a little more, so allow a couple of inches beyond the figure. Notice that the two middle rows cost the same: for $294 you can have a wider row of three 12x16s or a taller pair of 18x24s, and which is right depends on whether your wall is short and wide or tall and narrow. Prices change, so treat these as a guide and check the product page.

How high to hang it

Hang the piece so its centre sits 57 to 60 inches from the floor. That is roughly eye level for most people standing, and it is the convention galleries use, which is why a wall of art hung this way looks settled rather than arbitrary.

Above furniture, the other rule takes over: leave 6 to 10 inches between the top of the sofa back or the table and the bottom of the frame. Close enough that the two read as one arrangement, far enough that the art is not resting on the furniture. When both rules disagree, follow the furniture. Under a high ceiling the temptation is to hang everything higher to fill the wall; resist it, and add a second piece above or beside instead.

What the frame adds

The size you choose is the size of the artwork itself. The slim wood moulding sits around it and adds a little on each side, so a framed 12x16 hangs slightly larger than the print alone. There is no mat, so the image runs to the frame rather than floating inside a border, which makes the piece read larger than its measurement suggests.

Frames come in black, white, wood or dark wood, all at the same price, and the glazing is shatterproof rather than glass, which is worth knowing if the piece is going above a bed or somewhere a child can reach it. Everything arrives ready to hang with the hardware fitted.

Print, framed or digital

Framed is the one to pick if the portrait is going on a wall and you would rather not make a framing trip: $77 at 8x10, $98 at 12x16, $147 at 18x24, in any of the four frame colours.

The unframed fine art print costs less, from $42, and suits you if you already have a frame, if you want a mat and a wider moulding than ours, or if you are posting it and want the parcel lighter. A frame with a mat needs the art smaller than the opening, so measure before you order.

The digital file is $28 at any size, and is the answer when you want to print locally or print more than one. It is the same artwork we would have printed, delivered when you approve your proof.

The photo decides the size too

Size interacts with your photo more than people expect. An 18x24 shows everything, including softness in the original: a slightly out of focus photo that looks fine on a phone will look soft across two feet of wall. The same photo at 8x10 hides it completely. If the only picture you have of your pet is an older or lower quality one, the smaller sizes are the safer choice, and our guide on taking a great photo with a phone covers how to get a better one. A real person checks every photo before any artwork is made, so if a size and a photo do not go together we will say so before anything is printed.

Choosing a style for the space

Scale is only half of it. A minimal line drawing carries a small wall without shouting, while a painted portrait wants room around it, and the seven styles each behave differently at 18x24. If you are choosing for a room rather than for a pet, match the backdrop colour to the wall: the paler backdrops disappear into a light wall, the deeper ones hold their own against one. Our guide to the styles walks through each, and the full range shows them at size.

Common questions

What size pet portrait should I get?

For a wall on its own, the 18x24. For above a console, a bedside table or a chest of drawers, the 12x16. For a shelf, a desk or a gallery wall, the 8x10. If the wall is wide, two or three pieces will fill it better than one.

Is the size the artwork or the frame?

The artwork. The slim wood moulding adds a little on each side, so a framed piece hangs slightly larger than the print alone. There is no mat, so the image runs right to the frame.

Can I hang two portraits together?

Yes, and it is the usual answer for more than one pet. Order them in the same size, the same style and the same backdrop so they read as a set, and leave two to three inches between the frames.

Do the portraits come in landscape?

No. All three sizes are portrait orientation, which is what suits a face. That is worth knowing if you are hanging one above a wide, low piece of furniture, where a row of two or three works better than a single piece.