Interior design consultant Lucinda Griffith often eschews the ‘don’t hang too high’ mantra when displaying above furniture: ‘I find groups of pictures of different sizes and frames, hung from the ceiling to the furniture, helps to make the space feel bigger, somehow pushing the ceilings up a bit.’
Group smaller works together
‘We often try smaller works for smaller spaces,’ explains Jenna, ‘perhaps stacking one above the other, putting them in a tight grid or a clean horizontal row. Slightly smaller, thinner or elegant bespoke frames also allow a space to breathe.’
However, if you live in a higgledy-piggledy property that does not lend itself to order, a slightly looser arrangement is sometimes preferable. ‘Try groups that aren’t too symmetrical – be a bit more organic with your grouping by using different sized pictures,’ says Lucinda. Likewise, Julia thinks that a gallery wall is the ideal solution as it gives you greater freedom. ‘You can even continue the hang round corners into the window reveal, or little nooks and crannies, which helps to give a cohesive look as you are disguising the odd angles of the room.’
Hang a single large-scale work
Though larger works do require more thought, displaying them in a restricted space is not out of the question. ‘My office in the gallery is a small space with a sloped ceiling and it can often be the best place to put a large floor-to-ceiling upright canvas that fills the room,’ says Jenna. Lucinda also notes that ‘oddly, if you do need to fit in a large oil or two, it can work better to put them on a more compact wall so that they don’t drown out everything else in the room. Perhaps enclose them with a pair of wall lights or candle sconces, or hang them over a bigger piece of furniture so they have something to relate to.’
Don’t be afraid to hang on a sloping ceiling
This might feel risky – both aesthetically and practically – but it can work brilliantly, as Emma discovered. ‘Having run out of wall space in my old house, I hung a mirror and an engraving on the soffit under the stairs,’ she recalls. Julia is a fellow advocate and has a handy tip: ‘It’s not hard to do if you use mirror plates attached to each side of the picture. It’s unexpected and it looks really good.’