How to Choose the Right Print Size for Your Wall
Choosing the wrong size print is the most common mistake people make when buying wall art. A print that looks substantial on a screen can disappear on a wall. A print that seems ambitious in your basket can look exactly right above your sofa. This guide will help you get it right first time.
The Single Most Important Rule
Always go one size larger than you think you need. This is the advice of every interior designer worth listening to, and it holds true almost without exception. The human eye adjusts to scale very quickly — a print that feels large in a shop feels perfectly proportioned at home, while one that feels just right in a shop can look underwhelming on a wall.
When in doubt between two sizes, choose the larger. You will not regret it.
Understanding the Sizes
All Brighton Gallery prints are available in four standard sizes, each with a 3cm white border included. Here is what you need to know about each:
A4 — 210 × 297mm (8.3 × 11.7 inches)
A4 is the size of a standard sheet of paper. It is the smallest print in our collection and works beautifully in specific contexts: on a desk, propped on a shelf, or as part of a curated gallery wall of multiple smaller prints. On its own on a bedroom or living room wall, A4 tends to look a little lost — the wall overwhelms it. We recommend A4 when you want to build a collection of prints together, or when you have a genuinely small space such as a narrow hallway nook or a home office corner.
Price from £35.
A3 — 297 × 420mm (11.7 × 16.5 inches)
A3 is our most popular size, and for good reason. It is large enough to make a statement on its own — commanding attention above a bedside table, on a hallway wall, or above a chest of drawers — but proportionate enough to work in almost any room without dominating it. The majority of customers who order A3 wish they had ordered A2. Take that as the advice it is.
Price from £55.
A2 — 420 × 594mm (16.5 × 23.4 inches)
A2 is the genuine sweet spot for most living rooms and bedrooms. Above a sofa, above a fireplace, in a dining room — A2 commands the wall without overwhelming it. It is the size where the detail in our long-exposure photography really comes into its own: the fine grain of the water, the structural complexity of the West Pier ironwork, the subtle gradients of a twilight sky. If you have a room that can accommodate it, A2 is almost always the right answer.
Price from £85.
A1 — 594 × 841mm (23.4 × 33.1 inches)
A1 is gallery scale. When you walk into a room with an A1 print, you know it is there. It is transformative in the way that only art at proper scale can be — the kind of thing visitors notice immediately and comment on. For large living rooms, open-plan spaces, or feature walls, A1 is not extravagant: it is correct. Anything smaller in a large room reads as tentative.
Price from £125.
Room-by-Room Recommendations
Living Room
The living room is the most common destination for a statement print, and the most common place where people undersize. The key reference point is your sofa. A print hung above a sofa should span roughly two-thirds of its width — this is the rule that interior designers use, and it works. For a standard 2-metre sofa, that means an A1 landscape print or an A2 portrait. For a larger corner sofa, go A1 without hesitation.
Above a fireplace, the same logic applies. The print should feel proportionate to the mantelpiece and the chimney breast behind it. In most homes, that means A2 at minimum.
Bedroom
Above a headboard, the print should be narrower than the bed but wider than just the headboard itself. For a double bed (135cm), an A3 landscape or A2 portrait works well. For a king (150cm or wider), consider A2 landscape or A1 portrait. The bedroom is a space for something calming and contemplative — our long-exposure seascapes, with their soft, milky water and quiet horizons, are particularly well suited here.
Hallway
Hallways present a particular challenge because they are narrow. Portrait orientation generally works better than landscape in a hallway — the vertical format suits the tall, narrow proportions of most hallway walls. An A3 portrait is a reliable choice for a standard hallway; an A2 portrait works beautifully at the end of a longer corridor where there is a clear sightline from a distance.
Home Office
A home office print should be inspiring without being distracting. A3 behind a monitor creates a backdrop that transforms the feel of video calls and the texture of a working day. The blues and golds of our Brighton seascapes work particularly well here — calming enough for focus, beautiful enough to notice.
Kitchen and Dining Room
Kitchens and dining rooms are often overlooked when it comes to wall art, but they respond well to it. A3 above a kitchen counter or on a dining room wall adds character and warmth. Our Bandstand print — with its warm amber and teal tones — is a consistent favourite in kitchen and dining contexts.
The Paper Template Test
Before you order, do this: cut a piece of paper or newspaper to the exact dimensions of the print you are considering. Hold it up on the wall where you intend to hang it. Step back to the distance from which you would normally see it. Take a photo on your phone and look at it.
This simple test has saved hundreds of our customers from choosing the wrong size — and almost always results in them going up a size rather than down.
Does the Border Count?
Yes. All our prints include a 3cm white border. This border is intentional and important — it is a built-in mount that creates breathing space between the image and the frame. When measuring your wall space, measure for the full print size (including the border). The image area itself is slightly smaller: an A3 print has an image area of approximately 237 × 360mm, with 3cm of white around it.
Gallery Walls
If you are planning a gallery wall of multiple prints rather than a single statement piece, different rules apply. A mix of A4 prints — three, five, or seven of them — creates a cohesive display that works in almost any room. The key is consistent framing: the same frame style and colour across all prints creates unity. Vary the subject matter and orientation (some landscape, some portrait) for visual interest.
A popular combination is a central A3 flanked by two A4 prints at the same height — this creates a display that reads as a single composition while offering variety.
Still Not Sure?
Use our interactive size guide to see each format visualised on a wall, or browse the full Brighton Gallery collection with size and price filters. If you would like personal advice on what size works best for your specific room, contact us — we are happy to help.