Guide  ·  sizes

What size print goes above a treatment table

A standard portable massage table is 185 x 70 cm (73 x 28 in). A fixed couch runs 190 x 75 cm (75 x 30 in). That object is the widest thing in the room, and art hung above it is read against it.

The framing rule used by galleries and print shops: the art above a piece of furniture should span 60 to 75 percent of that furniture’s width. Against a 185 cm table that is 110 to 140 cm of total art width, gaps included.

One 30 x 40 cm print is 30 cm wide. Even framed with a 5 cm mount it reaches about 42 cm. That is 23 percent of the table. It reads as a postage stamp on a large wall, which is the single most common mistake in a treatment room.

3 pieces, 30 x 40 cm portrait, 5 cm gaps

Total width

100 cm

Total height

40 cm

3 pieces, 40 x 50 cm portrait, 6 cm gaps

Total width

132 cm

Total height

50 cm

2 pieces, 50 x 70 cm portrait, 8 cm gaps

Total width

108 cm

Total height

70 cm

1 piece, 70 x 100 cm landscape

Total width

100 cm

Total height

70 cm

Three pieces at 40 x 50 cm (16 x 20 in) is the most forgiving of the four. It lands at 132 cm, dead centre of the 110 to 140 cm window, and the frames are cheap and stocked everywhere.

Add the frame, not just the paper. A 30 x 40 cm frame with a mount is roughly 40 x 50 cm on the wall. Measure the frames you own with a tape before you buy files.

The standard gallery height is 145 cm (57 in) from the floor to the centre of the art. Above a treatment table, drop it to 135 cm (53 in).

The reason is the table. Its surface sits at 65 to 75 cm. Art centred at 145 cm leaves a 40 cm gap of bare wall between the table and the bottom edge, and the two objects stop reading as one composition. At 135 cm the bottom edge falls 20 to 25 cm above the table, which is the interval that makes them look deliberate.

1. 01Measure the table height. Most are 65 to 75 cm at the surface.
2. 02Mark 135 cm from the floor on the wall in pencil. That is the centre line of the whole arrangement.
3. 03Half the art height above that mark is the top edge. For 40 x 50 cm pieces that is 135 plus 25, so 160 cm.
4. 04Check the bottom edge sits 20 to 25 cm clear of the table. If it is under 15 cm, raise the whole group by the difference.
5. 05Hang the tallest piece first, then work outwards, keeping gaps equal to within 5 mm.

For the first half of a massage the client is face down in the cradle. They see the floor and the lowest 30 cm of the wall. Nothing you hang is visible to them at all.

Face up, they see the ceiling and the top third of the wall at the foot end of the table. They do not see the wall directly behind their own head. So art hung above the head of the table is for two people only: the client walking in, and you, standing beside the table for 60 minutes.

Both of those are standing or seated at about 150 to 165 cm eye height. That is why the arithmetic above uses standing sightlines, and why the wall the client faces when they walk through the door deserves the set, not the wall behind the cradle.

A file that prints cleanly at 30 x 40 cm needs 3543 x 4724 pixels at 300 dpi. At 40 x 50 cm it needs 4724 x 5906. Below 200 dpi the print shows visible softness at arm’s length, which in a small room is the distance a client stands from the wall.

30 x 40 cm (12 x 16 in)

Pixels at 300 dpi

3543 x 4724

Minimum at 200 dpi

2362 x 3150

40 x 50 cm (16 x 20 in)

Pixels at 300 dpi

4724 x 5906

Minimum at 200 dpi

3150 x 3937

50 x 70 cm (20 x 28 in)

Pixels at 300 dpi

5906 x 8268

Minimum at 200 dpi

3937 x 5512

A3, 29.7 x 42 cm

Pixels at 300 dpi

3508 x 4961

Minimum at 200 dpi

2339 x 3307

Every Kiva Home print file states its size in the filename and prints at 300 dpi. If a seller will not tell you the pixel dimensions, assume they are too low.