Friday, May 15, 2009

Rules For A Dining Room Picture Hanging Height

Hang art in your dining room that everyone can enjoy.


When you are preparing to hang art in your dining room, there are two things to keep in mind. People will be eating in your dining room, and people often bump up against the walls of a dining room when trying to get around chairs. The height at which you hang your wall art in a dining room will help preserve your art and allow people to enjoy it during meals.


Eye Height


The reason for the standard 60-inch measurement to the middle of artwork you hang is to put it at the average person's eye level. But in a dining room, most people are seated, and 60 inches can be an uncomfortable height at which to enjoy a piece of art. Bring the middle point for your artwork down to seated eye level when hanging art in a dining room. The best way to do this is to sit at your dining room table and determine where your eye level is when seated. It varies based on the table and chairs used in the dining room, so a custom eye level often works best, according to the Home Depot website.


Multiple Levels


If you have a lot of art that you want to hang on your dining room walls, you may be tempted to hang several rows of art on the same wall. Do not hang any pictures below the eye level middle point as those images will not be seen and could be in danger of being damaged as chairs are moved around. Avoid hanging more than two rows of art on each wall as art hung any higher could become a distraction to diners.


Appropriate Art


When hanging art at eye level, keep the images appropriate for people who are trying to eat and carry on dinner conversation. Controversial, pornographic, or explicitly violent images are not appropriate for the dining room and definitely not for the eye level line of sight. Controversial dining room art should be hung above the seated eye level and in the corner of the room where it can be disregarded by guests if necessary.


Dining Room Furniture


If you have an armoire, linen storage chest, or any other furniture along the walls of your dining room, the rules for artwork hanging height change. Instead of using an eye level line, you use the piece of furniture as a basis for the height of your artwork. The Home Depot website points out that, in general, the bottom of your artwork should be 4 to 8 inches from the top of a piece of dining room furniture.

Tags: dining room, your dining, your dining room, dining room, your artwork, Depot website