Hang 'em high, but not too high

I'm just going to say it.  Most people hang their pictures too high, in some cases way too high. When we were out looking at houses, it was amazing to me just how many people have no idea how to properly hang a picture.  There seems to be some notion out there that the picture/object for some reason should be centered on the wall to have the same distance between the ceiling and the object below.  No.  You don't need to fill up the space near the ceiling. Dissuade yourself from thinking that you need to fill up the wall.  You don't. No one cares about that space.The other one I hear is "I'm tall so of course my pictures are high" No. This should not be part of your criteria.... unless you are in fact, a giant, but if that were the case all your furniture would also be bigger and the same rules would apply.  So here is the rule.  The bottom of the frame or piece, should be NO MORE than 12 inches above the object it resides above.  Usually more like 6 or 8 looks about right.  It needs to be visually connected to the piece below otherwise it just looks disjointed.   So here are some examples from our house. 

12 inches above the couch

8 Inches on the Mirror, about 4 on the clock

A mere 3 inches

Examples of too high placement

Images via google images

The other part of this rule is when you aren't placing a picture above anything.  Here's a good rule of thumb.  The center of the picture or object should be about 60" high. 

Cheers!