Print Size Guide
Prints are sold in standard A sizes, so they fit frames you can buy anywhere. Here is what each one actually measures, and how to choose without guessing.
The sizes
| Size | Millimetres | Inches | Works well |
|---|---|---|---|
| A5 | 148 × 210 | 5.8 × 8.3 | Shelf, desk, small cluster |
| A4 | 210 × 297 | 8.3 × 11.7 | Gallery walls, narrow gaps, hallways |
| A3 | 297 × 420 | 11.7 × 16.5 | The safe default. Above a desk or bedside |
| A2 | 420 × 594 | 16.5 × 23.4 | Above a sofa, bed or console as a single piece |
| A1 | 594 × 841 | 23.4 × 33.1 | Statement wall, high ceilings, stairwells |
Choosing a size in ten seconds
Measure the furniture, not the wall. Art hung above something should be roughly two-thirds the width of the thing below it. A 200cm sofa wants about 130cm of artwork — that is one A1 landscape, or three A3s side by side with gaps.
When in doubt, go bigger. The most common mistake is a print that is too small, floating in the middle of a wall. Undersized art makes a room look unfinished; oversized art almost never does.
Test it first. Cut the size out of newspaper and tape it up for a day. Free, and it settles the argument.
Hanging heights
- Hang so the centre of the print sits 145–150cm from the floor. That is gallery standard and roughly average eye level.
- Above furniture, leave 15–25cm between the top of the sofa or headboard and the bottom of the frame. More than 30cm and the two stop reading as a pair.
- In a stairwell, follow the stair line rather than a level line — measure 145cm from each tread.
Gallery walls
- Keep gaps even and tight: 5cm for small prints, 7–8cm for larger ones. Uneven gaps are what make a gallery wall look accidental rather than composed.
- Pick one thing to hold it together — same frame colour, or same palette, or all one subject. Vary everything else.
- Lay the whole arrangement out on the floor first and photograph it before a single nail goes in.
- An odd number of prints usually sits better than an even one.
Framing
Every size here is a standard A size, so any high-street or online frame in that size will fit.
If you want a mount (the card border inside the frame), buy the frame one size up from the print — an A3 print goes in an A2 frame with an A3 aperture mount. It makes a print look considerably more expensive than it was.
Prints are trimmed to the exact size listed with no white border, unless the design itself includes one, so they sit flush in a frame with no overlap.
Paper
[Confirm your paper stock and finish before launch — e.g. 200gsm matte fine art, uncoated. Buyers ask about this constantly and a specific answer converts better than a vague one.]
Still not sure?
Send a photo of the wall with a rough measurement to hello@koveandpaw.com and we will tell you what to order. We would rather spend two minutes on that than process a return.