What size art print for a living room? The simple rules

"Will A3 be big enough?" is the question I hear most at my stall, usually followed by someone holding their arms out to show me their sofa. I love it. But arms are not a measuring tape, so here are the actual rules.

The two-thirds rule

Art over furniture should be roughly two-thirds the width of the furniture below it. That's it. That's the rule designers use, and it works because it makes the art and furniture look like they belong together.

• Sofa 200cm wide: art (or a group) about 130cm wide.
• Sofa 160cm wide: art about 105cm wide.
• Armchair or sideboard 90cm wide: art about 60cm wide.

If you're hanging on an empty wall with no furniture, aim for art that fills about 60 to 75 percent of the wall space you're looking at.

Paper sizes in real life

Remember the frame adds size. An A3 print in a frame with a mount often ends up around 40 x 50cm on the wall, which is a lot more presence than the print alone.

My prints come in A4, and many designs in A3 at £79. On my A4 prints the artwork is about A5 on A4 paper with a white border, which looks lovely in a mount.

What size art over a sofa?

For a standard three-seater, a single A3 will look small on its own. You've got three better options:

1. Pair them. Two A3 prints side by side, 5 to 8cm apart, reads as one wide piece.
2. Make a trio. Three A4 or A3 prints in a row. Classic, symmetrical, hard to get wrong.
3. Build a gallery wall. A mix of sizes, kept within an imaginary rectangle about two-thirds the sofa width.

Leave 15 to 25cm between the top of the sofa and the bottom of the lowest frame. Any more and the art floats away from the furniture.

How high to hang it

The centre of the artwork (or the centre of the group) should sit about 145 to 150cm from the floor. That's roughly eye level for most people and it's how galleries hang. Most homes hang art too high, which makes ceilings feel lower and art feel disconnected. Over a sofa, the furniture rule above wins.

Portrait or landscape?

• Landscape pieces suit long walls and wide furniture.
• Portrait pieces suit narrow walls, gaps between windows and stairways.
• Got a tall, narrow wall? Stack two portrait prints vertically.

Lots of my designs come in different layouts, like Love (Vertical) and New Plan Fuck It (Vertical), so you can pick what fits the wall.

Sizes for the rest of the home

• Over a bed: same two-thirds rule as the sofa. A double bed is about 140cm wide, so aim for art around 90 to 95cm across, or two A3 prints side by side.
• Hallways: A4 or A3, hung at eye level so people actually read it on the way past.
• Bathrooms: A4 is usually perfect. Keep it away from the shower and frame it behind glazing.
• Above a fireplace: a single larger piece, or a pair, about two-thirds the width of the mantelpiece.

A cheap trick for testing the size

Before you buy, cut paper or cardboard to the frame size and tape it to the wall with low-tack tape. Live with it for a day. If you keep thinking "that's small", go bigger or add a second piece. This costs nothing and saves a lot of returns.

Making small prints look big

• Use a big mount. An A4 print in a 40 x 50cm frame with a wide mount has serious presence.
• Hang in groups. Three small prints, evenly spaced, act like one big piece.
• Repeat a frame colour. Matching frames tie different sizes together.

Want help with frames? Read how to frame art prints. Renting? Read how to hang art without damaging walls before you go near a drill.

Art size questions