The most common reason a print disappoints when it arrives is that it is too small. Not badly printed, not the wrong colour — just smaller than the wall needed. Here is how to avoid that.
Start with the wall, not the picture
Measure the space the print will hang in and work out its width. Then:
- Above a sofa, sideboard or bed: the picture should be roughly two-thirds the width of the furniture. A standard three-seat sofa is about 200 cm, so you want around 130 cm of art. That is a single large print, or two smaller ones hung as a pair.
- On an open wall: the picture should occupy somewhere between half and three-quarters of the usable width. Less than half and it floats.
- In a hallway or up a stair: you are always close to it, so smaller works. This is where a 20 × 25 cm print earns its place.
Then hang it so the centre of the picture sits about 145 cm from the floor. That is standing eye level, and it is the single most reliable rule in hanging. Most people hang too high.
What the sizes actually look like
Centimetres are hard to picture. Some anchors:
- 20 × 25 cm — a little larger than a paperback cover. A shelf, a desk, a narrow bit of wall between two doors.
- 30 × 30 cm — about a vinyl LP sleeve.
- 30 × 45 cm — slightly larger than a sheet of A3.
- 40 × 50 cm — the standard “one picture on a wall” size. Roughly a large laptop opened flat.
- 60 × 80 cm — big enough to be the thing you notice when you walk in.
- 60 × 90 cm — a proper statement above a fireplace or sofa.
- 70 × 70 cm — a large square. Squares read bigger than they measure.
A frame adds roughly 3–4 cm on every side, so a framed 40 × 50 occupies about 47 × 57 cm of wall.
Why the sizes differ between pictures
Because the paintings do. We ladder each print to the shape of the original rather than forcing everything onto one sheet:
- Roughly square paintings get 30 × 30, 40 × 40, 70 × 70
- Standard portrait or landscape proportions get 20 × 25, 40 × 50, 60 × 80
- Long, wide compositions get 30 × 45, 40 × 60, 60 × 90
A wide panorama on a tall sheet is a crop, and a crop is a decision the painter did not make. So we do not do it.
Framed or unframed
Unframed is cheaper, ships flat, and lets you match a frame you already own or have made. If you have a framer you trust, order unframed.
Framed arrives ready to hang, which for most people is the whole point. Three options:
- Black — the safest. Sharpens a picture and works in almost any room. If you cannot decide, choose black.
- Wood — warmer, quieter, better with landscapes and with rooms that already have wood in them.
- White — lightest. Good on a coloured or dark wall, and good with pictures that are themselves pale. Can disappear against white plaster.
One size in each family — 40 × 60 cm — is unframed only, because that is a sheet our framer does not make. It is stated on every product page it applies to.
Two practical things
Every print has a narrow white border built in, so the image is not trimmed to the edge and a frame does not eat into the painting.
And nothing is held in stock. Each print is made after you order it, in the region you order from, which is why a print bought in Vancouver is not posted from Glasgow.
Browse every print — framed or unframed, made to order and shipped free worldwide.