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· 4 min read
How to Plan a Gallery Wall Before You Drill
Manesh Jayawardhana
CIO & Co-founder
Five frames, one wall, and a drill. The first frame goes up beautifully. The second is fine. By the fifth, the gaps have drifted, the group sits slightly low, and there are three redundant holes behind the middle picture.
The problem isn’t precision with the drill. It’s that people mark where the frame goes, when what they need to mark is where the hook goes — and those are not the same point.
The two rules that fix most of it
Hang the group around a centre line. Gallery hanging convention puts the centre of a group at roughly eye level, around 145 cm from the floor. That’s the line, and every frame is positioned relative to it, so the group reads as one object rather than a scatter.
Over furniture, the rule changes: the bottom edge of the group sits 15 to 25 cm above the top of the piece, so the art relates to the furniture rather than floating above it.
Mark the hook, not the frame. The hanging wire or bracket sits below the top of the frame — sometimes by a couple of centimetres, sometimes by eight, depending on how the wire is fixed and how much it sags under weight. Pull the wire taut and measure that drop before marking anything.
hook height = centre line + (frame height ÷ 2) − wire drop
A 50 cm frame on a 145 cm centre line has its top at 170 cm. With an 8 cm wire drop, the hook goes at 162 cm. Mark 170 and the picture hangs 8 cm high — which is exactly enough to look wrong without being obviously wrong.
Why people get stuck here
- Wire drop ignored. Every frame ends up high by a different amount, since the drop varies per frame.
- Inconsistent gaps. Uneven spacing is what makes a wall look accidental, more than any other factor.
- Starting at an edge. Working left to right accumulates error, and the last frame ends up somewhere unplanned.
- No template step. Committing to a layout without seeing it at full size on the wall.
What a good layout looks like
Consistent gaps of 5 to 8 cm
Close enough that the group reads as one composition. Wider gaps read as separate pictures. The exact figure matters less than using the same one throughout.
Started from the centre
Place the anchor frame first, then work outward symmetrically. Error accumulates away from the centre instead of piling up at one end.
Templated in paper first
Cut newspaper or lining paper to each frame’s size, tape it up, and live with it for a day. It costs an hour and reliably saves a second set of holes.
| Measurement | Rule of Thumb |
|---|---|
| Centre line | ~145 cm from floor |
| Above furniture | Bottom edge 15–25 cm above |
| Gap between frames | 5–8 cm, consistent |
| Hook position | Frame top minus wire drop |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Measuring to the frame top instead of the hook.
- Using a different gap between the big frames and the small ones.
- Hanging the group too high, which is the most common error in a domestic room — gallery height feels low until it’s up.
- Ignoring how the group relates to furniture or a light switch below it.
- Drilling before the paper templates have been up long enough to notice what’s wrong.
How to do it with Gallery Wall Planner
The Gallery Wall Planner generates the layout and, more usefully, the hook positions.
- Measure the wall and list every frame size you intend to hang.
- Choose a layout style and a consistent gap.
- Set the centre line — 145 cm, or higher if there’s furniture below.
- Take the hook positions rather than the frame outlines, and measure the wire drop on each frame before marking.
- Template in paper first.
Other room and design planning tools are in the tools directory.
Frequently asked questions
How high should pictures hang?
Centre the group at about 145 cm, which is average eye level in most galleries. Over furniture, keep the bottom edge 15 to 25 cm above the top of the piece instead.
What gap should be between frames?
Five to eight centimetres for a cohesive group. Consistency matters more than the exact figure — uneven gaps are what make a wall look unplanned.
How do I avoid drilling twice?
Cut paper templates at each frame size, tape them up, and leave them for a day. It’s the only step that reliably prevents extra holes.
Final thought
Measure the wire drop on every frame before you mark anything. It varies frame to frame, and it’s the single reason carefully planned walls end up slightly wrong.