What size wall art do you need? A UK room-by-room guide

Nearly every wall art size guide you'll find was written for an American living room. The measurements are in inches, the sofa is a sectional, the bed is a US king that's 43cm wider than ours, and the advice stops at a rule of thumb without ever telling you which print to actually buy.

So here's ours, in centimetres, measured against the furniture that's genuinely in UK homes — and finishing every time with a size you can put in a basket.

If you only take one thing away: most people go too small. It's the single most common mistake, and it's an expensive one, because a print that's slightly too small doesn't look wrong so much as it looks like nothing at all.

The one rule that does most of the work

Artwork above a piece of furniture should be roughly two-thirds the width of the furniture below it. Anywhere from 55% to 75% looks deliberate. Below about half, the piece starts to float and the wall wins.

That's it. Everything else in this guide is that rule applied to real UK measurements.

The width in that middle column is the number that matters. Everything after this is about reaching it — sometimes with one print, more often with two or three.

Work it out for your wall

Pick what the artwork is going above, adjust the width if your furniture is a bit bigger or smaller than average, and the calculator will give you a target width, the closest thing we print, and the height to hang it at.

Wall art size calculator

Tell us what's going on the wall and we'll give you a target width in centimetres, the print size that gets closest, and the height to hang it at.

What are you hanging it above?

cm

How do you want it arranged? Whatever fits best One print A pair A trio

cm

Fine-tune the gaps

Gap between prints in a set

cm

Gap above the furniture

cm

Aim for artwork about

cm wide (anything from –cm looks right)

Closest we make

• Leave cm between each frame and treat the whole group as one piece when you're centring it.

Other options that work

Browse prints in this size

Sizes shown are the print itself. A frame and mount add roughly 2–3cm to each edge, so allow a little extra room if your wall is tight.

The sizes we print

All four of our print sizes share the same 3:4 shape, which means any design works at any size without being cropped or letterboxed. Choosing a size is purely a decision about the wall.

Every design can be hung portrait or landscape, and turning a print on its side changes the numbers completely: a 60 × 80cm print is 60cm wide portrait and 80cm wide landscape. Over wide furniture, landscape almost always wins.

Living room

Above the sofa

UK sofas are narrower than the American ones most guides are written around. A 2-seater is usually around 140–160cm, a 3-seater 190–220cm, and a 4-seater or corner sofa 230–290cm along its longest side. Measure yours — sofa "seat counts" are wildly inconsistent between brands.

Notice what isn't in that table: a single print. Above anything bigger than a 2-seater, one print from our range — even the 60 × 80cm at its widest — tops out at 80cm, which is well under target. That's not us being coy about our sizes; it's how the proportions work. Above a full-size sofa you want a pair or a trio, and honestly they look better than one big rectangle anyway.

All the spans above assume a 5cm gap between frames. Hang the group as though it were one piece: centre the whole arrangement on the sofa, not on the wall, unless the sofa is centred on the wall itself.

Above the fireplace or on the chimney breast

A UK chimney breast is typically 90–140cm wide, and the mantel usually sits around 110–120cm off the floor. Two-thirds of a 110cm breast is about 73cm, so a single 60 × 80cm print landscape (80cm) sits neatly, or two 30 × 40cm portrait (65cm) if the breast is narrow.

Height is the bigger issue here. If there's a mantel, rest the bottom edge 10–15cm above it — closer than you'd hang above a sofa, because the mantel is already high. If a TV is above the fireplace instead, treat the TV as the artwork and put smaller pieces in the alcoves either side.

The alcoves

Alcoves either side of a chimney breast are usually 60–90cm wide. That's a natural home for a single 30 × 40cm portrait print, or a stacked pair with 5cm between them. A matching pair across both alcoves is one of the easiest ways to make a room look considered.

Bedroom

Above the bed

This is where the American guides do the most damage, because a US king is 193cm wide and a UK king is 150cm. Follow US advice on a UK bed and you'll buy something roughly 40% too big.

These are UK mattress widths — a bed frame with a headboard usually adds around 5–10cm each side:

Headboards vary hugely, from about 90cm off the floor to well over 130cm. Measure the top of yours and leave 15–25cm above it. If your headboard is tall and your ceiling isn't, favour landscape prints — they eat far less vertical space.

Above a bed is also where personalised prints earn their place. A star map of the night you met, the song that was playing, or the date itself all sit naturally in a bedroom in a way a generic landscape doesn't.

Chest of drawers and bedside tables

A chest of drawers is usually 80–100cm wide, so aim for around 55–66cm of artwork: one 45 × 60cm landscape, or a stacked pair of 30 × 40cm. Above a bedside table, a single 15 × 20cm or a small 30 × 40cm print is plenty — anything larger crowds a lamp.

Hallways and stairs

Hallways are narrow, and you view them from close up and at an angle, so the two-thirds rule matters less than the rhythm. A row of 30 × 40cm prints at a consistent height, 5–8cm apart, works far better than one large piece you can never stand back from.

Going up the stairs, hang the pieces so they climb with the staircase: keep the centre of each print about 145cm above the nose of the stair tread directly beneath it, rather than level with each other. That's the trick that makes a stairway gallery look professional rather than accidental.

Dining room

Art in a dining room is usually seen by people sitting down, so it can hang slightly lower than elsewhere — a centre height of 140cm is fine. If you're hanging above a sideboard, size to the sideboard (typically 100–140cm wide, so 66–92cm of artwork). If it's a bare wall alongside the table, size to the table: a 180cm table wants around 119cm of artwork, which is two 45 × 60cm landscape prints.

Kitchen

Wall space in a UK kitchen is mostly measured in the gaps between units, so this is small-print territory. A 15 × 20cm or 30 × 40cm print at the end of a run of cupboards, or a pair above a breakfast bar, does the job. Keep prints away from directly above a hob — heat and grease are no friends of paper.

Home office

Above a desk, size to the desk, not the wall: a 120cm desk wants around 79cm of artwork, so one 60 × 80cm landscape or two 30 × 40cm landscape. Hang it higher than you'd think — you'll usually be looking at it from a seated position, but it should still read properly when you walk in.

Kids' rooms and nurseries

Scale down. A single bed is 90cm, so around 60cm of artwork, and children see the room from lower down, so drop the centre height to about 120cm. For safety, don't hang framed glass directly above a cot or a bed a child sleeps in — put it on the adjacent wall, or choose an unframed print.

How high should you hang it?

Two numbers cover almost every situation:

• On a bare wall: centre the artwork 145cm from the floor. That's the gallery and museum standard (57 inches), and it's set at average eye level, not at the middle of your wall.
• Above furniture: leave 15–25cm between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the frame. Closer than 15cm and it looks stuck on; more than 30cm and the two stop reading as a pair.

Published advice on that second number ranges from about 10cm to 30cm, which is why it feels so contradictory when you look it up. The reason is that it depends on the furniture height: the taller the piece below, the smaller the gap should be. Above a low sofa back, go towards 25cm. Above a tall headboard or a mantelpiece, 10–15cm.

One practical note: those numbers are for the bottom edge of the frame, not the nail. Hold the print against the wall, mark the top corners, then measure how far the hanging wire pulls down when taut and drop your nail by that amount.

When one print isn't enough

If the target width is more than about 80cm — which is most sofas — you need a set. Three ways to do it:

• A pair. The safest option. Two identical sizes, 5cm apart, both portrait or both landscape.
• A trio. Three identical sizes in a row, 5cm apart. Reads as one wide piece and covers a lot of wall for the money.
• A stack. Two prints one above the other, for narrow walls and alcoves. Keep the gap tighter — 4–5cm.

Whichever you choose, keep the gaps equal and identical throughout. Uneven spacing is the thing the eye notices first, well before it notices the size.

A word on frames and A-sizes

UK frame shopping is genuinely confusing, because print sizes come from two incompatible systems. A-sizes (A4, A3, A2) are one family; the centimetre sizes shops stock (30 × 40, 40 × 50, 50 × 70) are another. They do not interchange.

The classic trap: an A3 print will not fit a 30 × 40cm frame. A3 is 29.7 × 42cm, so it's 3mm narrower and a full 2cm taller than the frame opening. It's the single most common frustration in UK framing, and it catches people out constantly.

Our prints avoid it. They're made at exactly 15 × 20cm, 30 × 40cm, 45 × 60cm and 60 × 80cm, so a 30 × 40cm print drops straight into any standard 30 × 40cm frame. Two things worth knowing:

• 40 × 50cm and 50 × 70cm frames are a different shape to our prints, so you'd need a mount to fill the gap — which can look lovely, but is a decision rather than an accident.
• 45 × 60cm frames are less widely stocked on the UK high street than 30 × 40cm or 60 × 80cm. If you're framing it yourself, that's worth checking before you order.

If you'd rather not think about any of this, every print can be ordered ready-framed in black, white or oak-effect wood, or as a canvas. And if you're buying the digital download, it comes A3-sized at 300dpi — so print it at A3 or anything smaller and it'll stay sharp.

One last measurement: a frame and mount add roughly 2–3cm to each edge. On a tight alcove or between two doors, that's the difference between fitting and not.

The four mistakes people actually make

1. Going too small. By a distance the most common. When you're torn between two sizes, take the bigger one.
2. Hanging too high. Art belongs at eye level, not halfway between the furniture and the ceiling.
3. Sizing to the wall instead of the furniture. If there's a sofa, a bed or a sideboard below it, that's what the artwork is in conversation with.
4. Uneven gaps in a set. Measure every gap. Don't eyeball the last one.

Frequently asked questions

What size print should I hang above a 3-seater sofa?

Aim for about 130cm of artwork across a typical 200cm 3-seater. That's three 30 × 40cm prints landscape with 5cm gaps, or two 45 × 60cm landscape. A single print isn't wide enough at that scale.

How high should a picture be above a sofa?

Leave 20–25cm between the top of the sofa back and the bottom of the frame. On a sofa with an 82cm back, that puts the bottom edge around 102cm off the floor.

What size art goes above a UK king size bed?

A UK king is 150cm wide, so aim for around 100cm of artwork — three 30 × 40cm prints portrait, or two 45 × 60cm portrait. Don't follow US guidance here: a US king is 193cm, and sizing to that will overwhelm the room.

Will an A3 print fit a 30 × 40cm frame?

No. A3 is 29.7 × 42cm and the frame opening is 30 × 40cm, so the print is 2cm too tall. You'd need to trim it, which spoils the margins. Our 30 × 40cm prints fit those frames exactly.

Is it better to hang one large print or a set of smaller ones?

Below about 80cm of target width, one print is simpler and usually stronger. Above that, a pair or trio is both easier to get right and more forgiving — you can nudge the gaps to fine-tune the total span, which you can't do with a single piece.

How much space should be between prints in a set?

5cm side by side is the standard, and up to 8cm for larger prints on a big wall. Stacked vertically, tighten to 4–5cm. What matters most is that every gap is identical.

Ready to measure up?

Run your numbers through the calculator above, then have a look through the full range. Every design is personalised in your browser before you order, and every one of them comes in all four sizes — so once you know the number, the rest is the fun part.