People often struggle when determining what size of artwork they need for a particular space.

Will the art look crowded by adjacent walls or furniture ?

Will the art look lost on a large wall? If so, how can I make it bigger

Where should I place the art ?

Starting Out

You have a piece of art that you want to place into a small sitting area. Let’s assume it is in a vertical format

Your artwork can be placed either close to the middle of the wall or set to the left over the small table.

The setup on the left is nicely balanced. The artwork is adequately spaced away from the wall and the chair and is set at an ideal height on the wall. Centering the art over the table is preferable. It serves to balance the chair and doesn’t extend too high up the wall.

By contrast, the setup on the right looks awkward. It forces you to place the artwork high up on the wall to avoid the chair leaving the whole scene unbalanced.

My Artwork is Too Small and Looks Lost

Don’t despair … there are solutions to your problem

For Art Prints on Paper

The image on the left is too small for the wall. Simply adding a frame and a surrounding matt brings everything back into balance.

Pic4

For Art Prints on Canvas

In this case we have used a thicker frame with a linen liner. Again, everything is nicely balanced.

But My Artwork is Too Large

This is one of those “Houston … we have a problem” issues. There’s really only three options available to you.

  1. Crop the artwork if possible. That’s rarely a good option.
  2. Shift the location of the artwork while trying to maintain some distance away from the wall and chair.
  3. Try to find this same item in a smaller size.

Takeaways

  • always leave room between your artwork and surrounding walls and furniture. Crowding is a big no-no.
  • it’s much easier to upsize a small artwork than to downsize large artwork.
  • if you haven’t purchased your art print or canvas, then we strongly suggest you measure you wall space to get a rough idea of the size of the finished product that will fit nicely.
  • don’t forget that framing will add anywhere from 2-5 inches on all sides of your measurement so make sure that your print or canvas is proportionately smaller than your overall measurement
  • nowadays with digital printing you can obtain most paper prints and canvases in a wide range of sizes making it easy to avoid sizing issues

Need More Help ?

We are happy to help with all your decorating needs. Simply contact us with your questions and we’ll do our best to give you sound advice or help you find the appropriate resources