Rules for the arrangement of paintings
To correctly position the canvas in the apartment, you need to know several important rules. They will help not only in creating a beautiful interior, but also give rise to creative ideas.
Mutual Harmony
It is allowed to combine photos and posters with furniture in the interior. According to the principle of mutual harmony, you can organically arrange images, obtaining excellent results.
It is recommended to decorate rooms with high ceilings with canvases that form a rectangle. This will emphasize the height and elegance of the style of the room. For a more dramatic effect, you can place the images as close to each other as possible. They will look more holistic, and thin frames will help create a window effect.
Symmetry/asymmetry
The second main rule is the combination of different shapes and sizes. They can be mixed symmetrically and asymmetrically. This method of change will make the room original and unlike all the others. But even with a creative arrangement, it is worth remembering the style and general content. Most new styles look good with contrasting images.
In the case of asymmetrical design, it is better to take paintings of different sizes, but with the same subject. It is recommended to keep the distance as small as possible, so asymmetry will add freshness and dynamism to the room.
By symmetrical arrangement we mean images of the same size and subject line. This standard option will create balance in the overall interior, and will also add laconicism and rigor.
Frames and mats
In order for the paintings to look organic, it is necessary to take into account the frames and mats that are used in the formation of the overall composition. It is recommended to position the images so that the top of the mat is slightly smaller than the bottom. This option is especially suitable for paintings in vertical format.
Fashionable paintings for the interior are becoming more and more relevant, because every owner dreams of creating his room cozy and unique.
Orientation and angle
Vertical canvases visually increase the ceilings, so it is better to place them on a narrow wall. Horizontal paintings can lengthen a wall. It is recommended to hang them above a sofa, chest of drawers or bed. You should not arrange many paintings in the same space; a large abundance of images will not look organic. For each canvas you need to choose a universal frame, then the whole group will look laconic.
To ensure that the canvas fits tightly to the wall, you need to tighten the fastening rope. If it is necessary for the image to hang at a certain angle, then the rope should be loosened.
Height
You should not hang pictures too high, as they will simply be impossible to admire.
There is a special technique that will allow you to correctly place the canvas on the wall:
- You need to draw an imaginary line, step back 3 cm from the bottom edge of the horizontal picture.
- Hang the canvas so that it is at eye level.
The same principle applies to vertical images. If the apartment has low ceilings, then the distance should be 6 cm from the edge.
Grouping
If the apartment has a free wide wall, and the images are small in size, then it is better to arrange them in groups around one common canvas that you like the most. The group should include images that are similar in style or color scheme. If a group consists of three modular paintings, then the middle image is the main one.
Posters of the same size can be placed in one row at the same distance from each other. But they look more unusual if they are at different levels from each other.
Often people perceive paintings as elements of classical painting that require a lot of wall space. Canvases should not be covered with furniture or other decorative elements.
To decide how to hang images on the wall, it is recommended to first create a composition on the floor and only then transfer it to the interior. It’s not a good idea to hang a lot of paintings “by height” in the direction of enlargement; visually it looks ugly.
Backlight
An important element when placing images is lighting. Many experts believe that the best lighting for a canvas is a well-lit room, but some pieces of art require additional lighting.
This is mainly due to 3 factors:
- Insufficient lighting of the place next to which the canvas hangs.
- The appearance of glare from general light.
- The desire to focus on a specific image or group of them.
A lamp will be used as an additional source of lighting. The lamp must be positioned so that the light falls evenly on the image, without creating glare or shadows.
For illumination, you can use LED lamps. Unlike halogen ones, they do not heat up and, with their compact size, create a good, directional stream of light that does not distort the color scheme of the picture.
It is worth remembering the safety of the painting: an additional light source cannot be placed closer than one meter from the object.
Height
You should not hang pictures too high, otherwise it will be impossible to admire them. The following universal technique will help you correctly determine the location of the canvas. Draw an imaginary line, step back 3 cm from the bottom edge of the horizontal picture, and hang the canvas so that the line is at eye level. The same principle applies to vertical canvases. But if the apartment has low ceilings, then the distance should be 6 cm from the edge.
Important! It is also necessary to take into account the distance between the walls. There is a separate rule here. The size of the larger side of the canvas must be multiplied by 3 - this is the minimum recommended distance for viewing the canvas.
Schemes for the arrangement of paintings above the sofa
The most logical place for art in the interior is in the living room above the sofa. Upon entering the room, the paintings will immediately attract attention and arouse interest from the guests. Hanging a picture in the living room above the sofa will not be difficult.
There are ready-made schemes that take into account the combination of the size and shape of the frames with the general proportions of the furniture and room. You can use ready-made options, but creative people are better off choosing their own method for arranging images above the sofa.
You can limit yourself to one canvas that matches the scale of the sofa, or try to combine a large poster with medium and small ones to adequately fill the space.
It is important that a group of paintings is united by a common element: color scheme, genre, theme, size of details. This way the composition will look more harmonious.
To create a single composition, it is recommended to use three images. If the frames are small and identical, then you can try to create a rhythmic composition of two or three rows, with three patterns in each.
Symmetry is a pleasing state to the human eye, but monotony is not. You can move the canvas to the left or right if there is also something to look at on the opposite side of the sofa - for example, a large vase or an unusual lamp.
It is recommended to fill at least two-thirds of the width of the sofa with paintings above it. If there is a step beyond the limits, the furniture will seem insignificant. And if the space is not occupied enough, then the canvases will not look so elegant and attractive.
Interior solutions can be very different, the main thing is that the canvas fits organically into the overall model of the room.
Lamps for lighting paintings
Lighting fixtures for mirrors and paintings
Stores often offer a variety of lamps called “mirror and picture lamps.” Usually they are located a short distance above the picture. Therefore, they are poorly suited for lighting paintings as works of art.
Their purpose is rather to illuminate mirrors, panels, reproductions and other printed products. Most of them have two low-power 25-watt incandescent lamps. As a result, the minimum distance from the canvas to the light source should be 0.5 meters.
Track lights for lighting paintings
Frequent changes of exhibition are common for a museum or art gallery. For convenient lighting of frequently changed paintings, spotlights are installed on the tracks. Since such lamps can be easily moved along the busbars of various devices.
Track lights for paintings
The same lighting system can also be installed in a private house or apartment. But most often in everyday life other types of lamps are used. Because there are usually few paintings and they are rarely outweighed.
Dedolight type lamps for accent lighting of paintings
Dedolight type lighting devices are a type of track spotlights. However, they are a more professional solution, suitable for organizing photo and video shooting of works of art. Similar lamps are used to illuminate sculptures and paintings in museums in many countries around the world.
Dedolight type lamps for accent lighting of paintings
The unsurpassed qualities of Dedolight provide precision light in many variations. Moreover, accent lighting captures the attention of museum visitors with varying intensity. According to the plan, it is distributed from barely noticeable support for the readability of details, to active dramatic accents of presentation. Dedolight lighting devices are at a high level in protecting paintings from the ultraviolet component of lighting. What is achieved by installing a special UV filter. Of course, this is extremely important for the safety of paintings. Especially for those of great artistic value.
Wall-washer lamps for general lighting
When using general lighting, you can use wall-washer type lamps. They are equipped with special lenses and are designed to illuminate walls. So the presence of such lamps allows you to flood the walls of the room with even, uniform light. On the one hand, this makes it possible to illuminate the paintings sufficiently for their comfortable inspection. On the other hand, you can do without accent lighting for each individual picture.
Wall-washer lamps
Wallwasher lamps are less noticeable than spotlights, which simply may not fit into the style of the interior. Typically, recessed wallwasher luminaires are used, but any other type of luminaire can be used. Moreover, such lamps have another advantageous property. When replacing a painting with another one, larger or smaller, you don’t have to change the lamp either.
One way or another, make sure that the light sources in the interior where there are paintings have good color rendering. And even if you don’t highlight objects of art on purpose.
Selection of paintings depending on the style of the room
When trying to decorate a room, many people encounter a problem when a poster or canvas does not quite fit the style and does not fit into the overall color scheme. To decorate a room in a classic style, fashion magazines will be reliable helpers. In addition, you can visit a museum or gallery. Thanks to this, it will be possible to more accurately determine the design technique.
It will be much more difficult to decide on paintings for a living room in a modern style, since there are a great many directions. They are all intertwined and have common elements. Judging by the extraordinary styles, which include elements of several directions, you can choose paintings simply based on personal taste preferences.
Selection of canvas by color
Before properly hanging canvases on the wall, you need to make sure that they will fit into the interior. An ideal option if the canvases completely rhyme with the interior. Their images in color scheme repeat the colors in the setting. Most often, the canvas blends into the surroundings and goes unnoticed. But at the same time it performs the main function - it decorates an empty wall. Such a canvas can serve as a connecting element. For example, in a kitchen with green walls and purple furniture, an image of a lilac branch will connect the primary colors.
Related article: Choosing panoramic paintings: a variety of subjects
Methods of attaching a picture
The choice of fastening mainly depends on the weight of the canvas or photo (paper, canvas, foam board, baguette) and price.
The main methods of fastening the canvas will be discussed below:
- Adhesive mass Bostk Quelyd Blu Tack. The manufacturer guarantees that the substance is excellent for attaching drawings, posters, photographs, decorative materials to tables, shelves, vinyl wallpaper, painted and other surfaces. The mass needs to be warmed in your hands, kneaded, rolled into a ball, attached to a frame and pressed firmly against the wall.
- Needles. The method is considered very practical, since if the canvas needs to be re-hanged, the needle can be carefully pulled out, and practically nothing will remain on the wall. Withstands quite a lot of weight.
- Framed image on a shelf. You need to take a long nail, weigh it down with a heavy stack of books on the top shelf and hang the canvas on a fishing line.
- Command Velcro Hooks. The hooks can support fabric weighing up to 2 kg, they can be easily removed, they do not leave marks and do not damage the walls. One fastener can be fixed on the wall and the other on the frame. The disadvantages include a fairly high price and the inability to mount posters on vinyl wallpaper.
- Toly hooks. The manufacturer guarantees that they will fit any walls of the house: brick, concrete and wood. The hook is easy to pull out, and the nail leaves a barely visible hole. Withstands weight up to 9 kg.
- Hanging system. The hanging system can usually be found at exhibitions, galleries, museums or cafes. It is a rail mounted on the ceiling or on the wall at the border with the ceiling. Using standard fasteners, a cable with a hook for a picture is fixed to the rail.
One of the advantages of the hanging system is that images can be freely moved along the wall, the height of the hanging can be adjusted, while creating any compositional effect to your taste. They can withstand heavy loads and still look solid.
How to hang a picture
Before hanging a picture in the kitchen, you need to prepare materials for attaching the canvas. A finishing nail 5 cm long will withstand various types of load. However, the anchor screw with a round head is considered the most optimal. If we are talking about a plasterboard wall, then the canvas should be placed on the frame stand. This is the most reinforced part of the wall under the plaster, bearing the main load. It can be determined using an electronic detector or manually. To do this, just tap on the surface in different places. Where the dull sound is located is where the stand is hidden.
It is best to place the painting on brackets. How to determine the height at which the canvas should be placed has already been described earlier. Place the canvas against the wall to mark the mounting points. You need to make holes in them for the anchor screw using a small drill or a regular nail and hammer. Then you should place an anchor screw in the hole and secure it with a screwdriver. The canvas should be hung on the created mount in the kitchen or room.
Related article: Wall decoration: stencils, stickers, drapery
Recommendations
Having decided on the location of the canvas, you need to start installing the picture.
Rules and recommendations for installing the canvas:
- Any still life, images of flowers or abstraction are perfect for decorating the kitchen.
- In the hallway it is better to place diptychs or triptychs with a simple and linear plot that does not require close study.
- Canvases in any style with the most daring design ideas will fit perfectly into the living room.
- The bedrooms will be perfectly decorated with triptychs in pastel shades that do not disturb the calm atmosphere of the relaxation area.
- On the walls of children's rooms you can place segments with frames from cartoons, for older children - with idols of sports or show business.
In offices or offices for motivation, it is appropriate to place segmented photographs of successful people and famous political figures. To create the right mood for the workflow, you can install fragments of images of watches and banknotes, symbolizing the connection between time and money in business.
Design and types of wall lamps
Illumination of paintings with LED devices is in great demand because, despite their compact size, they shine quite brightly. They have a long service life, consume little energy, brighten the room and can be controlled by remote control. Among the disadvantages of such lamps are: the cost of purchasing a power supply, and dimness that appears over time.
LED wall lights are:
- Vertical. They protrude from the wall and make the room cozy;
- Built-in. Such models are located inside the wall or ceiling and do not take up much space;
- Linear (perfectly emphasizes various interior details);
- Moisture-proof (good for kitchens and baths).
Wall lights consist of a housing containing LEDs and reflectors. To allow it to cool, it is equipped with a radiator. Before installing them, choose the model of the device and its location. Then it is disassembled, holes are marked on the wall, holes are drilled and the lamp is fixed. The last stage of work is its assembly.
Pictures that should not be hung
It is not recommended to hang any images in apartments and houses that evoke associations with decay, destruction, decay and poverty.
Ruins are a symbol of death, the extinction of the living. An example is Vasily Maksimov’s work “Everything is in the Past.” In the foreground is an elderly lady who is dreaming of memories of her former luxurious life. In the background you can see a crumbling house with columns and a dried-out garden.
Broken plates, cups, glasses are a symbol of quarrels, mistakes, and a ruined life.
Broken or dried out trees, wilted flowers - if you constantly look at what life has gone from, you can drive yourself into a depressive state. A constant reminder that everything is perishable will not make a person an optimist.
Poverty in any form, humiliating poses, rags - all this leads to despondency.
Feng Shui categorically does not accept ponds and swamps. The word “stagnation” has never had a positive connotation. Life-giving energy does not circulate in stagnant waters.
Images of any vices - drunkenness, prostitution and other decadence should not flash before the eyes of a person who strives for purity, physical and moral.
Incomprehensible signs, writing, meaningless images - the inscription may have a bad meaning, and the constant feeling of an incomprehensible inscription can have a bad effect on your state of mind.
The subject of painting can be the work of a famous and great master of the brush, it can be magnificently designed, executed with impeccable taste, but at the same time say absolutely nothing. If the canvas does not harmonize and does not inspire, then it is not worth hanging.
If almost all members of the generation depicted in the picture have already passed away, a constant reminder of this can ruin the mood.
Lamps for painting paintings
Picture lighting – Incandescent lamps
Incandescent lamps have the best color rendering among all types of lamps. That is, in their light the eye sees all color shades as in sunlight. At the same time, incandescent lamps are the most fire hazardous and the least economical. When lighting paintings with incandescent lamps, you must maintain a safe distance in terms of heating.
Halogen lamps
Halogen lamps are incandescent lamps with the addition of halogen vapors to the lamp bulb. Thanks to the addition of halogens, the filament lasts several times longer than in a conventional incandescent lamp. As a result, the lamp life is increased. Halogen lamps, like a type of incandescent lamp, have the same advantages and disadvantages. But they have a longer service life.
Xenon lamps
High and ultra-high pressure xenon lamps are considered more optimal for painting paintings than halogen lamps. Because they have excellent color rendition. Typically used for spot lighting in combination with various filters. For example, a xenon lamp for paintings can be Cermax 175W.
Painting lighting – LED lamps
When using LED lamps or LED lamps to illuminate works of art, it is worth considering that they generally have the worst color rendition among other lighting sources. Undoubtedly, it is most logical to use LED lamps of a high price range to illuminate paintings. That is, lamps with a good color rendering index. When lighting a painting with LEDs, you should follow the same rules as for other lamps. That is, do not exceed the illumination level above the norm. Especially if you have quite valuable paintings. Do not think that LEDs cannot cause any harm to the paints of a painting in any case. Statistics on the influence of lighting LEDs on painting have been accumulated completely insufficiently for such statements.
Choosing the right place
The main goal is to make your wall stand out, no matter what you decide to hang on it.
Choosing the right location is the first and foremost step.
It's very simple if you want to hang one painting or photograph. In this case, you just need to place it against the wall at an intuitively selected height and make notes with a simple pencil. This way you will immediately see whether you need to lower it or, conversely, raise it.
If you want to hang multiple pieces of art, the best method is to cut paper layouts that are the size of your images and hang them on the wall using adhesive tape.
The advantage of this approach is obvious - you can clearly see how your wall will look. Edit as necessary until you are completely happy.
Important: Images of the same size will look best when positioned horizontally, side by side.
Next, we will look at the basic rules for placing photos and paintings on the wall in relation to different situations. If you take these tips into account, you will never go wrong.
LED lighting for pictures and mirrors
Many wall lights are equipped with LEDs, which have a long life, do not heat up and consume little electricity.
To select the required model, you must be guided by some criteria:
- Know in advance where the LED lamp will be installed and what it will illuminate: a mirror or a picture.
- Select backlight brightness. In each case, you need to approach it separately and choose the best option.
- It is necessary to decide on the level of softness of the light and its temperature, because it is different for a mirror or a painting.
- The wall sconce should match the interior of the room.
Also, modern designers offer an LED lamp that can be built into the picture itself or into the mirror.
Using lighting for paintings
If the painting is attached to the wall, then it is advisable to buy a lamp that will be mounted on the wall above the painting. It can use different types of incandescent lamps: halogen, LED or fluorescent.
Sometimes home interiors use picture lighting with a switch. It can be turned on as needed. Thanks to this, electricity is saved, and there is no need to be afraid that the paint will fade on the canvas.
Picture lights do not have much variety in design and construction. This is justified by the fact that they serve only as auxiliary lighting. But the light of the lamp itself should draw attention to the picture, and not to itself.
Where to hang the picture
Paintings can be hung in any room, and placed where you feel they will bring you the greatest aesthetic pleasure. But there are certain places that can be called win-win. In the bedroom, the most advantageous positions include:
- above the bed – here one large painting, or a whole series of small canvases, looks especially impressive;
- above the dressing table - small round or oval shaped paintings are perfect for this area.
The paintings hanging in the hall always look very impressive:
- above the sofa: thus, the sofa group acquires a special emphasis and solemnity;
- above the chest of drawers: here the paintings can be complemented with vases with bouquets of flowers, figurines and various souvenirs, creating very interesting decorative compositions;
- in the fireplace area - this is one of the most aristocratic solutions;
- on the wall opposite the window: this area has the best lighting, and here, if desired, you can arrange a real art gallery;
- in the area above the shelves - an additional convenience of this option is that small paintings can simply be placed on the shelves without additional fastening.
You can also successfully place paintings in the kitchen. Obviously, this should be the place from where the picture will be visible to those gathered at the table. But at the same time, this place should be as far away from the stove and sink as possible. And, of course, it’s still not worth hanging valuable works in the kitchen, since the atmosphere here is very aggressive. It is better to choose paintings that will have to be replaced in a few years.
Today it is considered very fashionable to give money decorated in the form of comic paintings. Accordingly, the question arises: “where to hang the money picture?” The answer suggests itself - to any place where you will be pleased to look at it. But still, it should not be too accessible, so as not to introduce unnecessary temptation to those who are nearby.
LED paintings
LED paintings have internal LED lighting. It helps to highlight individual areas of the picture. Thanks to this effect, you can change the interior of the room in a non-standard way without renovation.
Advantages of LED backlighting
The main advantage of LED paintings is the ability to zone a room. But besides this they have other advantages:
- LED paintings fully replace the lighting device. They can serve as a floor lamp, night light or other lamp.
- Help highlight or hide certain areas of the room;
- They do not require a large amount of electricity.
LED lighting can consist of several garlands at the same time, or of individual elements. LED lighting helps highlight the unique decoration of the room, as well as hide imperfections. To do this, you need to direct the flow of light to a successful area of the picture.
You can buy an LED painting in a store or on the pages of online stores, which offer a large selection of such designs.
