How to hang pairs and triptychs

3″ (8 cm) between panels is where I start, and anywhere from 2 to 4″ (5 to 10 cm) works. It's the gap our sample walls and visualizer use. Go tighter when one image runs across the panels; go wider for separate images or deep frames. Whatever you choose, every gap matches.

• Tighter, 2″ (5 cm): when one image runs across the panels, like a coastal horizon split in three. A small gap lets your eye jump it, so the picture reads as one.
• Wider, up to 4″ (10 cm): when the pieces are separate images in a series, or the frames are deep and heavy.
• Not past 4″. Beyond that, a pair stops being a pair and becomes two pieces that happen to be near each other.

In a triptych, both gaps must match exactly: cut a spacer from card and use it for both.

Size the whole group, outside edge to outside edge with the gaps, to two-thirds to three-quarters of the furniture below it: the same band as a single piece. Two 24″ (61 cm) pieces with a 3″ gap make 51″ (130 cm), which suits a 72″ (183 cm) loveseat or a 76″ king bed.

• Two 30″ (76 cm) pieces: 63″ (160 cm).
• Three 18″ (46 cm) pieces with two 3″ gaps: 60″ (152 cm).
• Three 20″ (51 cm) pieces: 66″ (168 cm).

So the 63″ pair and the 60″ triptych suit an 84″ (213 cm) sofa, and the 66″ triptych a 96″ (244 cm) sectional. The sofa guide has the full band for each width.

At the same height as one piece: the centre of the whole group 57″ (145 cm) off the floor on a bare wall, or the bottom edges 8″ (20 cm) above a sofa, bed or sideboard, where anywhere from 6 to 10″ (15 to 25 cm) works. The height rules don't change for a group.

With panels of the same size, every top and bottom edge sits on one line. Check it with a level across the frames, not by eye: a quarter inch shows from across the room, because the gap makes it easy to compare.

On the furniture, not the wall. The middle of the group lines up with the middle of the sofa or bed, so a pair's gap sits directly above the centre of the furniture, and a triptych's middle panel is centred on it. If the sofa sits off-centre, next to a door or a window, the art follows the sofa.

The exception is two pieces above two nightstands: hang one above each, centred on its own nightstand. The bed between them sets the spacing.

Centre every panel on one horizontal line through the middle of the group, so a smaller piece sits evenly between the top and bottom edges of a larger one. Same size and same frame is the simplest pair, and the one I'd choose nine times out of ten. Then put them in order, which matters more than people expect:

1. One image across panels: hang them in the artist's order, and check that lines continue across the gaps. A horizon that steps up between panels means one is in the wrong place.
2. A numbered series: I on the left, then II, then III, the way you'd read them.
3. A matched pair with no numbers: look at where each image's weight sits. Put the heavier sides toward the middle, so the pair faces inward rather than pushing apart.

For a vertical pair, one above the other, everything above applies, turned on its side: same width, a 3″ gap between them, both centred on one vertical line, the whole stack centred at 57″. It's the answer for a narrow wall between two windows.

For a triptych, the centre panel, centred on the furniture, then each side panel against the card spacer. For a pair, the left piece (the hook height is the same as for one), then the right, with the spacer in the gap and a level across both tops. Starting a triptych from one end is how it ends up an inch off centre.

When price, access or flexibility matter more than a single image. Two 30″ pieces usually cost less than one 60″ piece and cover nearly the same wall, because large prints and frames don't scale linearly. They also carry up a narrow stair, and they adapt to a new sofa or a move. A pair or a triptych wins when:

• Getting it into the room. A single piece over about 48″ (122 cm) is a lot to carry up a narrow stair or round a tight corner. Two smaller panels are not.
• A sofa you might replace. If the next one is wider, open the gap toward 4″. If you move, the pair can split across two smaller walls.
• Tall walls. Two vertical panels side by side fill height and width at once, which one horizontal piece can't do under a 10 foot ceiling.
• A wide, low wall. Above a long sideboard or a low bench, a triptych spreads across the width without towering over the furniture.

One piece wins in a small room, where extra frames add noise; on a wall already busy with windows or shelves; and when the image needs size to work. For that, see Statement pieces.

Pairs and triptychs are where scale matters most, because the gap and the panel size together decide whether the group fits. Upload a photo of your wall to Your Blank Wall, give it the width and floor-to-ceiling height, mark the corners, and see the group at its real size.

To browse, start with diptychs and triptychs, or Pairs and series for pieces made to hang together. On a series page you can choose the prints, set them in a row or a column, and see them on your wall 3″ apart. Four or more pieces? The gallery wall templates take over.