Giant framed art in stairwell

10 years ago

I've read that pictures should be hung with the center at about 60 inches from the floor. However, I have a stairwell with large ceilings in the 12 foot range. My friend hung two framed posters that are about 48h x 36w on two adjoining walls. The bottom of the poster is at 72 inches, which means the midpoint is at around 96“ above one of the floor landings (it crosses two landings, so more like 90" midpoint if walking down from upstairs, or 96“ if walking upstairs).

In my amateur judgment, I feel the posters are too high, but my friend who makes art for a living and sells to big box stores says the posters are hung in the right spot for a stairwell. The layout is even further complicated because only half of one of the posters is visible from each side of the steps because there's a wall that separates the reversal of the staircase.

At any rate, I'm looking for some feedback here. Because my ceilings are so high and my posters so large, are they hung correctly?

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Comments (5)

Corey Marsh
Original Author
10 years ago
And one more detail, when looking at the photo from the top of the stairs, my eyes are just above the midpoint of the poster. When looking from the top of the stairs, I'm obviously many feet below the midpoint. Don't know if that changes any of the advice.
Angel 18432
10 years ago
For me, I would have chosen a long, narrow picture, that the whole picture can be

viewed when going downstairs, or 3 pictures - one on top of the other - same idea, that you can see the whole grouping, centered on the space you can see.

Your gut is right, it just doesn't seem to look right from what we are seeing.
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
10 years ago
It really does not matter how high your ceiling is art still needs to viewed at eye level so yes they are both too high the art should be measured from where they are hung if you were standing on that step .
Corey Marsh
Original Author
10 years ago
@patricia, I'm not clear on your advice. Which step should I be measuring eye level from? When walking down the stairs, the step you'd most likely view the picture from is about six inches higher than the step you'd do the same thing from if walking up the stairs.
Bette P
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Take them down. Cut two pieces of paper that are the same size as your art pieces and tape them to the wall using a low tack painters tape. Try them with the centres at 60 inches up from the floor where you can actually see the whole painting. You might be standing on the landing or a step above? Ignore the ceiling height.

Looks like the first art piece (sailboat) is centred on the wall because it's probably too wide to be centred over the landing, it would be right into the corner I would imagine. I think that's probably the biggest issue, you can't see the full painting as you approach, so it needs to be lower at the point that you can actually see the whole painting.

The 2nd piece (palm trees/people) will not be viewed coming up the stairs, you only see it if you turn your head when you reach the landing. So, it's way, way too high also. You will see it going down the stairs before you reach the landing to make the turn.

My goodness, I feel for you trying to figure this out. These pieces might be better showed somewhere else in your home to do them justice. Consider a pair of art pieces on each wall, so you can see at least one of them fully as you approach. Again, play with some paper, try different sizes to get the right scale for the width of the wall they are being placed on.

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