It’s clear from the places I’ve lived that many people are unsure of what height to hang something on a wall. The holes that are above my head in all the walls left behind by the previous aesthetes (I’m 5’10”) are evidence.
There’s a rule of thumb for this which is helpful to know. It’s dizzying to walk into a house and have photos, wall hangings, mirrors, and so on hung too high and too low and not at eye level.
Generally, you want the center of the hanging to be 57 inches off the floor. That isn’t as easy as it seems since the hanging hardware is all different and hangs the piece at every level imaginable. In other words, you cannot simply measure a distance off the wall (as well as the horizontal spot you want it to go).
So here’s a step-by-step diagram I drew illustrating and describing how to hang a picture on a wall correctly:
The steps are hopefully self-explanatory and easy enough to follow.
If not, I’ve built a spreadsheet so you can plug and play.
Here are the written steps, for people that learn things that way:
- Divide the height of the frame in half.
- Take that number, and subtract the distance from the top of the hanging wire/hanging hardware.
- Add that number to 57.
- Measure that from the floor. Mark X where the hardware will be put on the wall.
*NOTE: This is in inches. 57 inches is 144.78 centimeters.
