You hang a picture you like in the middle of a big wall, step back, and something is off. The picture looks smaller than it did in your hands. The wall looks emptier than it did before. Designers sometimes call this the postage stamp effect. It is the most common mistake in hanging art, and it is easy to fix.
Why it looks wrong
- Scale. The eye compares the picture with the wall round it. Against eight feet of bare paint, a 12 × 16 print is a small mark.
- Nothing to relate to. A picture near a piece of furniture belongs to it. A picture alone in a blank expanse belongs to nothing, so it seems to float.
- The wall becomes the subject. When the art is too small, you notice the empty wall more than the art.
- It is usually too high as well. People hang small pictures high, to fill the space. That makes it worse.
Empty space round art is good. Art needs room. The trouble starts when there is so much of it that the art can no longer hold the wall. See negative space: how much empty wall art needs.
How to tell if a piece is too small
- Above furniture: the art should be two-thirds to three-quarters the width of the furniture. Less than half is too small.
- On an open wall: the art, or the group, should fill somewhere between 55 and 75 percent of the clear width.
- The squint test: stand across the room and half close your eyes. If the picture disappears, it is too small for that wall.
See how to measure a wall for art.
Eight ways to fix it
1. Move it to a smaller wall
The simplest fix costs nothing. A piece that is too small for the living room wall may be perfect between two windows, beside a door, at the end of a hall, above a bedside table or over a desk. Small art suits small walls. See hallway and entryway wall art.
2. Anchor it to furniture
Put something under it. A console table, a chest of drawers, a bench or a chair gives the picture something to belong to. Hang the art 6 to 10 inches above it. The picture and the furniture now read as one arrangement, and the wall beyond them matters less.
3. Add more pieces
Make the small piece part of a group. Two or four more pieces around it, 2 to 4 inches apart, turn it into a gallery wall that fills the space. Keep something in common across the group: the frame colour, the palette or the subject. See building a gallery wall and mixing canvas, framed prints and posters.
4. Make a pair or a row
Two or three pieces of the same size in a line make a wide shape out of small parts. A row of three 12 × 18 prints with 3-inch gaps is 42 inches wide. That is enough for the wall above a loveseat or a desk.
5. Frame it bigger
A wide mount and a larger frame can double the size of a small print on the wall. An 8 × 10 print in a 16 × 20 frame with a deep white mount looks deliberate and smart. This is the best fix for a small piece you love.
6. Put it on a shelf or a ledge
A picture ledge lets you lean several pieces along a wall, overlapping, with objects between them. The ledge gives a strong horizontal line that fills the width. Small art looks at home there.
7. Add things that aren't art
A wall light either side of the picture, a tall plant beside it, a floor lamp, or a shelf below it. Each one takes up some of the empty wall and gives the picture company.
8. Put something large behind it or instead of it
If the wall really is big, it may need a big piece. That doesn't have to be expensive.
- A tapestry is the cheapest way to cover a large wall. Ours go up to 88 × 104 inches. See the tapestry size guide.
- A large canvas is the tidiest. Ours go up to 40 × 60 inches. See the canvas size guide.
- A painted block of colour behind a small piece makes a larger shape for it to sit in.
Then move the small piece to a wall that suits it.
Check the height
Whatever you choose, bring it down. The centre of a single piece, or of a whole group, goes at about 57 to 60 inches from the floor. Above furniture, the bottom edge goes 6 to 10 inches above it. Small art hung high looks smaller still. See the 57-inch rule.
When small art on a big wall works
There is one case where it is right. A single small piece on a large, plain wall can look striking, like a work in a gallery. It works when:
- the room is spare and tidy, with little else on the walls
- the piece is strong, with high contrast or a bold subject
- it is lit, with a spotlight or a picture light
- it is hung at eye level, and often off-centre on purpose
The difference is intent. In a minimal room with a light on it, a small piece looks chosen. In an ordinary furnished room, it looks like the wrong size. See symmetry vs asymmetry.
Avoiding it next time
- Measure before you buy. Width of the furniture or wall, times two-thirds.
- Tape the size on the wall. Painter's tape or a sheet of newspaper cut to size. Look at it for a day.
- Don't judge by the product photo. A picture on a screen has no scale. Read the dimensions.
- If you are between two sizes, choose the larger.
- Buy for the wall you have. If the budget only stretches to a small piece, choose a small wall for it, and fill the big wall later.
With made-to-order art, this matters more, because returning a piece that's the wrong size means paying the return shipping yourself. A few minutes of measuring is worth it.
The reverse problem
Art can be too big as well, though it happens far less. If a piece is wider than the furniture below it, touches the ceiling line, or leaves less than a few inches of wall at each side, it is too large for that spot.
Browse the canvas art, tapestries and framed posters collections.