Above a bed is the second most-asked-about wall in the house, and the rules are not the same as above a sofa. You are hanging something heavy over people’s heads, and you see it lying down.
Width: match the headboard, not the bed
Above a bed, the reference is the headboard if there is one, and the mattress if there is not.
- Double / full (135–140 cm) — a piece 90–110 cm wide.
- Queen (150–160 cm) — 100–110 cm, which is the top of our ladder, or a two-panel set.
- King (180–200 cm) — a single piece will not carry it. Use a set, or hang one large piece and accept that it is a centre point rather than a span.
A piece wider than the bed looks like a mistake, not a statement. That is the one hard limit on this wall.
Height: 15–20 cm above the headboard
Slightly tighter than above a sofa, because a headboard is taller than a sofa back and the ceiling is the same. If there is no headboard, measure from the top of the mattress and leave 60–70 cm.
Then check it lying down. A piece that looks perfectly placed standing in the doorway can hang in your eyeline when you are in bed reading. Ten seconds on the mattress before you drill.
Fixing: this is the wall to be careful on
This is the only wall in the house where a piece falling matters. Our large sizes weigh several kilograms and are hung on standoff bolts with multiple fixing points.
- Plasterboard / drywall: above 70 cm, at least one fixing point into a stud. The paper template lets you shift the piece left or right a few centimetres to find one before you commit.
- Brick, block or plaster: the supplied plugs are enough at every size.
- Never hang a large piece on adhesive strips above a bed, whatever the packet claims about weight.
How to hang metal wall art covers each wall type and what is in the box.
What to hang there
Bedrooms take the quiet end of the catalogue. The pieces people choose most for above a bed:
- Ocean horizon — the flattest, widest design we cut, and the one drawn with this wall in mind.
- Mountain horizon and the single-line mountain and forest.
- Line art — a single-line face or floral faces, often as a pair either side of the bed rather than one piece above it.
- The minimalist lotus and zen balance.
- In a faith household, praying hands or a plain cross at 40–50 cm, which is the traditional placement.
What tends not to work above a bed: dense, busy designs and anything with strong diagonals. The wall you look at last thing at night is the wrong place for visual noise.
Finish in a bedroom
Gold is chosen more often for bedrooms than for any other room in the house — on a pale wall in lamplight it reads as jewellery rather than as a picture. Black is the graphic choice and holds up in daylight. White on a deep or dark wall is the quietest combination we make. Bronze suits wood and warm textiles. See all five on the same design in the finish guide.
One last check
Bedroom lighting is usually two lamps at bedside height, throwing light upward. That is close to ideal for cut steel — the 15 mm standoff casts the shadow up the wall and the piece gains depth at exactly the time of day you are looking at it. If your bedroom light is a single central ceiling fitting, expect a flatter effect and choose a design with more internal detail to compensate.
Every piece is cut to order in 3–5 business days, shipped free worldwide with duties included to the US, EU and UK.
