How to hang pictures
How to hang pictures to decorate your walls with art.
We select the best ideas for wall decor inspired by leading interior designers.
A room doesn't look finished until there is some sort of art on the walls to decorate the spaces.
But framing and hanging wall decor can be daunting and expensive. How to arrange your photos, prints and pictures in a chic way?
We are big believers that there are affordable hacks to hanging pictures to make a room look elevated, even if you don't own a vast collection of paintings...
So we've gathered some advice and inspiration from some of the best interior designers in the business. Read on for alot of ideas to try in your own home...
Find a common thread
The best displays find a common visual thread that brings the pieces of art together... Lay your pieces out on the floor and try grouping them together to create natural groupings.
Matching Sets
Hang a set of art pieces all together, such as these plant drawings, styled by Rita Konig.
Matching Frames
Carlos Garcia has even gone for matching framing treatments for this pink powder room, lined with bird prints.
A Colour Theme
Ben Pentreath has grouped together (mostly) monochrome pictures on a coloured wall to great effect.
Collections
You can hang collection of similar pieces too, such as restaurateur Keith McNally's collection of oil paintings look amazing hung together, unified by medium and colour but not subject matter.
Mix and match your frames
Frames don't need to match. In fact, we think it’s better if they don’t! Blend colours, sizes and textures to create a surprisingly harmonious effect.
Fun Coloured Frames
Choose contrast frame colours to make your prints pop and experiment with combinations.
Use different sizes
Mix up the sizes. We love how this kitchen uses tiny pictures around a main central painting.
Tinker with Texture
You can pick up elaborate vintage gilt frames at markets and get a framer to apply them to pieces you have.
Have fun with shapes
Throwing a round frame in there can make an arrangement. You can trim the print to fit the frame.
Small groupings can have a big impact
Not everyone has a large collection of art. But that doesn't matter...
Hang in lines
Hang a few pictures or objects in lines to give a feeling of abundance, like in this sensational room in Gene Meyer and Franco di Biasi's Tangiers House.
Tiny frames for tiny spaces
A framed postcard in an A5 frame adds alot in a small space, such as this Late Afternoon Petrol Blue Frame by a bedside.
Group in odd numbers
Aesthetic rules dictate that groupings look better in odd numbers. We love this trio by A Prin.
Big impact
This small, but perfectly-formed, cloud of pictures adds so much to a simple space, designed by Elizabeth Hay.
Use any space to hang frames
Hanging frames in unexpected places adds alot of texture and interest to a room. You don't need large expanses of empty wall.
Between windows
This is such a simple and easy idea and as this flat shows, very effective.
Above doorways
Go high and display a collection of prints above a doorway or propped on top of a tall cupboard.
Use any surface
Use any space! From the fronts of cupboard to any alcove, as demonstrated by Martin Brudnizki in this flat.
When in doubt, go all out...
Full coverage is an amazing effect if you can marshall enough pieces to make it happen.
It may take time to collect enough prints, paintings and posters to achieve it, but as Violet Dent shows in her beautiful home, it transforms a space into a salon space reminiscent of 19th century Paris. Incroyable.
Get started with your framing project
From small A5 to poster-A2, we have frames and mounts to inspire your next framing project...
