The bedroom is where I see the smallest art in the photos people send me. A 24″ print floating above a king bed looks like a postage stamp on an envelope, and it's usually because someone was nervous about hanging anything big over their head. That nervousness is fair, and it has a better answer than going small: hang the right size, properly.
How wide should art above a bed be?
Two-thirds to three-quarters of the bed's width, measured across the headboard or the mattress, whichever is wider. It's the same proportion that works above a sofa, because a bed is the same kind of object: long, low and the main thing in the room.
Standard Canadian mattress widths give these targets:
- Twin, 39″ (99 cm): 26 to 29″ (66 to 74 cm) of art.
- Double, 54″ (137 cm): 36 to 40″ (92 to 103 cm).
- Queen, 60″ (152 cm): 40 to 45″ (102 to 114 cm).
- King, 76″ (193 cm): 51 to 57″ (130 to 145 cm).
If your headboard is wider than the mattress, use the headboard. If the bed sits between two nightstands with lamps, the art can stretch toward the lamps, but stay inside the outer edges of the nightstands.
How high should art hang above a bed?
The bottom edge sits 8″ (20 cm) above the top of the headboard. Anywhere from 6 to 10″ (15 to 25 cm) looks right. With no headboard, measure from the top of the pillows when the bed is made. The 57″ eye-level rule from the hanging guide steps aside here, because the art belongs to the bed.
A tall upholstered headboard can leave less wall than you'd think. Under an 8 foot (244 cm) ceiling with a 48″ headboard, you have 96 − 48 − 8 − 12 = 28″ (71 cm) of usable height, keeping 12″ of clear wall above the frame. That's a horizontal piece, not a square one.
Is it safe to hang art above a bed?
Yes, if it's hung so it can't come down. These are my rules for anything above where someone sleeps:
- Two hooks, always, level with each other and spaced about a third of the frame's width in from each side. Two hooks stop a piece tilting when the bed is pushed against the wall, and halve the load on each.
- Into a stud or a rated anchor, never a single nail in bare drywall. The heavy art guide covers both.
- No adhesive strips above a bed, whatever the package says.
- Think twice about glass. A canvas, framed or wrapped, has nothing to break. If you love a glass framed print, hang it securely and keep it to a size you can lift with one hand.
In a child's room the rules are stricter still: nothing over a crib at all. The nursery guide has the detail.
One piece, a pair or three?
One horizontal piece is the calm answer and the one I'd start with. A pair works well above a bed, side by side with a 3″ (8 cm) gap, and treated as one width when you apply the two-thirds rule: two 24″ pieces with a 3″ gap make 51″, right for a king. A pair is also forgiving if the headboard is off centre on the wall.
Another layout I like is one piece above each nightstand instead of above the bed, centred on the nightstand, with the bottom edge 8″ (20 cm) above its top, letting the piece overlap the lamp a little rather than lifting it above the shade. It suits a low platform bed, or a headboard that's already a feature. Pairs and triptychs has the spacing for both.
Landscape, portrait or square above a bed?
Landscape, almost always. A bed is wide and low; a horizontal piece repeats that shape. A square works over a queen when you have a tall wall and a low headboard. A single vertical piece over a bed tends to look narrow; two verticals side by side work, because the pair together is wider than it is tall. Horizontal, vertical or square? goes through the choice.
What suits a bedroom?
That's your call, not a rule, but the pieces people tell me they're happiest with in a bedroom are the quiet ones: soft palettes, open landscapes and water, the kind of image you can look at last thing at night without it asking anything of you. Quiet neutrals and Coastal are good places to start.
Next step
Measure the bed and the wall, then see the piece over your own headboard at approximate scale in Your Blank Wall. To shop by width, the measuring guide shows which size filter your bed falls into.
Questions we get asked
Not above the bed. Hang it on the wall you see from the bed instead, centred at 57″ (145 cm), or on the wall beside the bed above a nightstand.
On a deep, solid ledge, yes, with a non-slip pad under the bottom edge, and only a canvas with no glass. Keep it small enough that, if it tipped, it wouldn't hurt.
Yes: two-thirds of a 152 cm queen is 102 cm; the gap above the headboard is 20 cm (15 to 25 cm).