The center of the picture at eye level
There is no regulation for picture height, but there is a common practice among galleries and framers: the center of the picture is about 145–150 cm above the floor. Institutions’ own rules differ slightly: a gallery in Australia uses 150 cm for adults and 130 cm for exhibitions aimed at children; a museum in England hangs the center of works between 132 and 142 cm. It is also common to hang a little lower in a room where people mostly sit, and a little higher in a corridor people walk through.
The rule measures the center of the picture, not its bottom or top edge. When large and small pictures are hung at the same center height, the wall doesn’t look messy and the eye reads them all on one line.
Where to put the nail: hook height
The hanging wire or ring that carries a picture is usually not at the top edge but a few centimeters below it. So the hook goes higher than the center of the picture:
Hook height = center height + half the picture’s height − distance of the hanger below the top edge
Example: when pulled taut, the wire of an 80 cm tall picture sits 8 cm below the top edge. With the center at 145 cm: 145 + 40 − 8 = 177 cm. For a picture with two rings, the two hooks go at the same height, the same distance apart as the rings.
Pictures above a sofa, bed or console
- Gap above furniture: the bottom edge of the picture is 18–25 cm above the top of the sofa, headboard or console. Some framers say 13–20 cm; once the gap exceeds 25 cm, the picture looks disconnected from the furniture.
- Width: the picture or group of pictures is about two-thirds the width of the furniture: 140–150 cm for a 220 cm sofa.
In the example in the drawing, the two rules work together: the sofa back is 85 cm, and with a 20 cm gap the bottom edge comes to 105 cm; the center of the 80 cm tall picture is then at 145 cm, at eye level. If the furniture is low or the picture very tall, the two rules may clash; then keeping the gap to the furniture matters more.
Gallery walls: several frames
Several frames are treated as one picture: the center of the group at eye level, the outline of the group about two-thirds the width of the furniture. The spacing between frames is kept the same throughout, usually 5–8 cm. Cutting paper to the size of the frames and taping it to the wall is an easy way to see the layout before drilling any holes.
On a stair wall, pictures follow the slope: each picture is hung at the same height above the step below it, so the center line of the series runs parallel to the handrail.
How high should you hang a mirror?
- Bathroom mirror: a sanitaryware manufacturer (Geberit) recommends the bottom edge of the mirror at 100–125 cm above the floor and the top edge at 200–220 cm; the top of the basin is at 85–90 cm. So the mirror starts 10–40 cm above the basin.
- Accessible bathroom: so that everyone, seated or standing, can see themselves, the bottom edge is at most 90 cm and the top edge at least 190 cm (Türkiye’s Accessibility Guide). Details are in the post on accessible bathroom dimensions.
- Full-length mirror: bottom edge close to the floor, top edge around 190 cm. In the US, the rule for public buildings requires the bottom edge of a mirror that is not above a washbasin to be at most 89 cm and recommends a top edge of at least 188 cm; that way both children and adults can see themselves.
For a mirror in the living room or above a console, the picture rule applies: center at eye level, 18–25 cm above the console.
How high should you mount a TV?
Manufacturers share one recommendation: the center of the screen should be at the seated viewer’s eye level. Samsung puts this at about 107 cm (42 inches) above the floor; a TV mount manufacturer (Vogel’s) recommends 100–110 cm for a 55-inch screen, 100–120 cm for 65 inches and 120–140 cm for 75–77 inches. In a bedroom the screen goes higher because it is watched from the bed. For a screen mounted above eye level, a tilting mount is used; Samsung recommends a tilt of at most 15°.
Shelves, hooks and clocks
In the bathroom, Geberit recommends 110–120 cm for towel and bathrobe hooks. There is no reliable figure for shelves and wall clocks: put a shelf you use every day within reach, and decorative shelves and clocks around eye level.
In a narrow corridor, shelves and hooks that project far from the wall narrow the way through. In US public buildings, a wall-mounted object whose bottom edge is between 68.5 cm and 203 cm above the floor may project at most 10 cm from the wall, because a visually impaired person using a cane cannot detect a projection at this height. It isn’t required at home, but it’s a good guide for a corridor.
Before you drill: where do cables run in the wall?
Once you’ve chosen where the picture goes, you need to make sure there are no cables or pipes at that spot. In Germany, the DIN 18015-3 standard defines the zones where concealed electrical cables are laid: horizontal zones 15–45 cm below the ceiling and 15–45 cm above the floor (plus 100–130 cm in rooms with worktops, such as kitchens), and vertical zones 10–30 cm beside the edges of doors and windows and beside room corners. A cable to a socket or switch outside these zones runs straight from the nearest zone, so directly above and below sockets and switches is risky too.
In the UK, the rule (BS 7671) is similar: an unprotected cable buried less than 5 cm deep in a wall must be within 15 cm of the junction with the ceiling or of a corner, or in line horizontally or vertically with a socket or switch; in a wall less than 10 cm thick, this zone also extends to the other face of the wall. In Türkiye, we didn’t find such a zone definition in the Electrical Internal Installations Regulation (Elektrik İç Tesisleri Yönetmeliği); where cables run depends on the electrician and the building. Older buildings may not follow these rules either. So use a cable and pipe detector everywhere and keep away from the zones; a detector alone is not a guarantee.
Choosing a wall plug: if the wall sounds hollow when you knock on it, it’s most likely plasterboard; a solid sound means masonry. The color of the drill dust is a clue too: red or yellow in brick, light gray and very fine in concrete, white and coarse in aerated concrete. A wall plug manufacturer’s (fischer) recommendations: expansion plugs in concrete and solid brick, long plugs and drilling without hammer action in perforated brick, special aerated-concrete plugs in aerated concrete, and cavity fixings in plasterboard. For most plugs, the screw is two sizes smaller than the plug (a 6 mm screw for an 8 mm plug). Load capacity varies by product; for heavy mirrors and TV mounts, check the value on the pack.
Wall decor dimensions table
| Dimension | Value | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Picture center | ≈ 145–150 cm | common practice (132–152 in galleries) |
| Above sofa, bed, console | 18–25 cm | common practice |
| Picture width | ≈ 2/3 of the furniture | common practice |
| Gallery wall spacing | 5–8 cm | common practice |
| Bathroom mirror | bottom 100–125, top 200–220 cm | manufacturer recommendation (Geberit) |
| Accessible mirror | bottom ≤ 90, top ≥ 190 cm | Türkiye’s Accessibility Guide |
| TV screen center | ≈ 100–110 cm (55-inch) | manufacturer recommendation (Samsung, Vogel’s) |
| Bathroom hook | 110–120 cm | manufacturer recommendation (Geberit) |
| Cable zones | below ceiling, above floor 15–45; beside openings and corners 10–30 cm | standard (Germany, DIN 18015-3) |
Common practice is not regulation; it can vary with the height of the people who live there and how the room is arranged for sitting.
Wall decor in Nodaform
In Nodaform’s Furniture step, the Wall decor category has 20 objects: framed pictures, a large canvas, a seven-frame gallery wall, mirrors, a wall clock, shelves, a coat rack, wall lights, a wall-mounted TV and an acoustic panel. Five are free on every plan (small framed picture, wall clock, floating shelf, round mirror, coat rack with shelf); the others are on the Plus and Pro plans.
When you select a wall object, the properties panel shows a Height from floor (bottom edge) field. For an 80 cm picture whose center will be at 145 cm, you type 105; the object appears at this height in the 3D view and in sections, so you can see the gap to the sofa or TV unit in advance.
The dimensions in this post are taken from sources checked on 1 November 2026. Picture, mirror and TV heights are not regulations but common practice or manufacturer recommendations. If you’re not sure where the wiring runs, ask an electrician before drilling.