Sizes
How big is it, and how high should it hang?
An 11 x 17 inch print in a one inch frame hangs as 13 x 19 inches overall, and an 8.5 x 11 hangs as 10.5 x 13 inches. Hang a single piece with its centre 57 inches off the floor, or, above furniture, with its bottom edge about 8 inches above the furniture top. Three landscape pieces in a row need 63 inches of wall.
Every drawing on this page is a straight-on elevation of a real wall, one drawing unit to one inch. The furniture is at typical catalogue sizes and the pieces are at their true print size, so if a picture looks like a third the width of the sofa, it is a third the width of the sofa. Nothing here is scaled to look flattering.
The measurements
How big is an 11 x 17 print on a wall?
An 11 x 17 print in a one inch frame is 13 x 19 inches on the wall, about the size of two sheets of printer paper side by side plus the frame. An 8.5 x 11 is 10.5 x 13 inches, one sheet plus the frame. Here they are drawn against each other at real size.
| Size | The print | Framed, overall | Wall it takes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 x 17, portrait | 11 x 17 in | 13 x 19 in | 1.7 sq ft |
| 11 x 17, landscape | 17 x 11 in | 19 x 13 in | 1.7 sq ft |
| 8.5 x 11, portrait | 8.5 x 11 in | 10.5 x 13 in | 0.95 sq ft |
| 8.5 x 11, landscape | 11 x 8.5 in | 13 x 10.5 in | 0.95 sq ft |
The print sizes are exact. The framed figures add one inch of frame on each side, which is the profile these drawings assume; ask for the exact outside measurement before you plan a tight alcove or a shelf. Square footage is the framed area: 13 x 19 inches is 247 square inches, which is 1.7 square feet.
Height
How high should a picture hang?
Put the centre of the picture 57 inches off the floor. That is the convention galleries and museums hang to, because it sits at about the eye level of a standing adult, and it is why a room of pictures hung this way reads as calm: the centres line up even when the frames are different sizes.
For a 13 x 19 inch frame, 57 inches on centre means the top of the frame lands at 66.5 inches and the bottom at 47.5 inches. Measure to the middle of the picture, not to the hook: the hook goes wherever the hanging wire pulls to, which is usually two or three inches higher.
It is a convention rather than a rule, and it assumes a standing viewer in a room with an eight foot ceiling. In a room you mostly sit in, or under a very high ceiling, dropping it two or three inches often looks better. Trust the room over the number.
Above furniture
What changes above a sofa or a console?
The furniture wins. A picture hung at 57 inches over a low console floats away from it, so above furniture you measure from the furniture instead: leave roughly 6 to 10 inches of clear wall between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the frame, so the two read as one group.
A three seat sofa is typically 84 inches wide with its back 34 inches off the floor, and a console 30 inches tall. Yours will differ by a few inches; measure your own and the arithmetic below still works.
Groupings
How much wall do three pieces need?
Add the framed widths, then add the gaps. A three inch gap is close enough to read as one work and wide enough that the frames do not crowd each other.
| Three of | The arithmetic | Wall needed | Suits furniture about |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 x 17, landscape | 19 + 19 + 19, plus two 3 in gaps | 63 x 13 in | 84 to 95 in wide |
| 11 x 17, portrait | 13 + 13 + 13, plus two 2.5 in gaps | 44 x 19 in | 48 to 66 in wide |
| 8.5 x 11, landscape | 13 + 13 + 13, plus two 3 in gaps | 45 x 10.5 in | 48 to 66 in wide |
The old guidance that a grouping should be two thirds to three quarters of the furniture width is where the last column comes from. It is not a law, and the triptych at 44 inches over a 48 inch console breaks it deliberately, because a set that reads as one picture can fill the furniture instead of floating inside it.
Three is also the bundle: any three pieces are $74.99 CAD together rather than $29.99 each. The collection has six works to pick from, one of which is already a set of three.
Choosing
Which size should I choose?
I have one wall and nothing else on it
11 x 17. A single 8.5 x 11 on a bare wall reads as a note rather than a picture. Hang it at 57 inches on centre and leave it room: at least a couple of feet of clear wall on either side.
It is going above a sofa or a sideboard
Either size, but not one on its own unless the furniture is small. Over an 84 inch sofa, three 11 x 17s landscape at 63 inches across is the arrangement that looks intended. One 13 x 19 frame over the same sofa will look stranded.
It is for a hallway, a stairwell or a small room
8.5 x 11. In a space you pass through at arm's length the smaller print is read close up, and two or three of them running along a wall at a constant 57 inches on centre is one of the few arrangements that makes a narrow hallway feel considered.
It is a gift and I do not know the wall
8.5 x 11. It fits almost anywhere, including a shelf or a desk, and it does not commit the person to clearing a wall for it.
Getting a piece
How do I get one?
Email, and you will hear back from the studio. Every piece is $29.99 CAD framed in either size, or any three for $74.99 CAD.
Email [email protected] with the pieces and the size you want, and say if it is going over a particular piece of furniture; the measurements above are easier to check for you than for you to guess. Nothing is charged until it has been quoted to you.