How to Hang Your Original Paintings and Prints at Home: Tips for Styling Your Walls

How to Hang Your Original Paintings and Prints at Home: Tips for Styling Your Walls

There’s something special about hanging original art in your home. It can change the atmosphere instantly - adding colour, personality, and a story to your space. But sometimes the hardest part isn’t choosing the painting, it’s knowing how to hang it!

Most of my original coastal paintings are framed and ready to hang, while my giclée fine art prints come unframed, giving you the freedom to decide on the colour and style of your border. Over time I’ve noticed that the way art is displayed makes all the difference. Whether you’ve collected a single large piece or a few smaller squares, here are some simple tips for styling your walls and hanging your art beautifully.

1. Choose the Right Wall

Think about where your eyes naturally go when you walk into a room. Those are your best feature walls – a large wall above your couch, side table, over your bed, or in a hallway where the light hits it in just the right spot.

Avoid areas with harsh, direct sunlight, as it can fade even the most durable pigments over time, and cause a glare if you have glass in your frame. Indirect or filtered natural light is ideal.

2. How High to Hang Your Paintings

A good rule of thumb is to hang artwork so that the centre of the piece sits around 145–155cm from the floor - so roughly at eye level.

If you’re hanging above furniture, keep the base of the frame about 15–25cm above the top of the piece of furniture below it (like your couch or bed). This keeps the display feeling connected rather than floating too high.

3. Hanging Sets of 2, 3 or 4

Many of my square paintings work beautifully as sets - either designed to sit together or cut to size from the same larger work.

If you have two pieces, hang them side by side with about 5–8cm between each frame. For three or four, a tidy grid or displaying them in a row works best. For a more relaxed look, try a staggered gallery-wall style arrangement, especially if the pieces share colours or coastal tones.

Lay them out on the floor first or use paper templates on the wall before you commit. If you like, you can even draw a quick sketch of how they’ll look on the wall. You’ll quickly see what feels balanced.

 

Ocean Edge (Bondi Beach) and Colours of Coogee (Coogee Beach) work well side by side, in either 30x30cm or 50x50 size. 

 

Endless Summer at Wylie's Baths and Coogee Ocean Pool prints, staggered together in matching frames. 

4. Mixing Sizes and Frames

If you’re hanging artworks of different sizes, aim to balance the visual weight - think of the display as one overall shape rather than individual pieces competing for attention!

You can tie different works together by using similar frame colours (like natural oak, white, or black), or by repeating a colour from one painting to the next. Cohesion doesn’t mean everything has to match - it just has to feel intentional.

5. Caring for Your Framed Paintings

Once your art is up, a little care goes a long way!

  • Keep it away from harsh direct sunlight.
  • Occasionally dust gently with a soft, dry cloth.
  • Check hanging hooks every so often, especially if your wall gets humidity or temperature changes.

Framed originals are carefully varnished and designed to last - with the right care, they’ll keep their depth and colour for years.

6. Ready to Style Your Own Wall?

If you’re feeling inspired to start your own collection, explore my Original Paintings, Fine Art Prints and you can now check out my brand new Mini Collection. Each piece is a snapshot of a coastal scene - with Sydney beaches like Bondi, Bronte, Coogee, Maroubra and Watsons Bay, and other memories from my travels - like Seminyak, Bali and Terrigal. Each original piece is one of a kind - painted, signed, varnished and framed by hand.

Whether it’s a single statement painting or a set of coastal-inspired prints, I hope these little tips help you bring your space to life and make your art truly feel at home.

 

Suggested Pieces to mix & match from My Coastal Print Collection:

 

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