If you've had neck pain that has doctors scratching their heads, lowering the art on your living room walls might just might help.

According to Darrell Fung, owner of Coordinated Systems, many people tend to make the mistake of hanging pictures too high, out of comfortable view. “;It's 'old style'; you had to look way up at the art. It was traditional practice in entryways of homes with an open-ceiling type of room. Even now people still think that's where art should be.”;

As someone who has overseen placement of art in many of Hawaii's hotel rooms and lobbies, he should know. The company he started in 1978 coordinates installation of furniture, fixtures and equipment for businesses that are upgrading or renovating. His specialty is the hospitality trade.

“;We just got through with the Trump Tower. There were a lot of pictures to be hung.”;

Although commercial properties are his focus, Fung, who manages the enterprise with sons Austen and Tyler, receives many referrals from Pictures Plus when homeowners have pictures framed or purchase art.

“;Hotels always think about safety—for instance, what would be appropriate so a kid playing on a couch or bed wouldn't hit his head on the frame?”; Fung said. “;When we do someone's home, we ask for their preference and hang according to their individual tastes.”; Even so, there are general guidelines he follows and he offers these tips for do-it-yourselfers:

General placement: Fung usually has art hung at eye level from the center of the picture, accounting for an average height of a 5-foot-8-inch person, about 64 inches from the floor. The 64-inch mark is where the center of the picture should be.

For a picture above a sofa: He has the homeowner or designer sit on the sofa and places the bottom of the frame two inches above the person's head. It averages to about 41 to 46 inches from the floor. “;Especially for hotels, the key is safety; they don't want people to crack the glass or frame when they sit down and lean back.”;

For art along a stairway: Follow the steps, again at eye level based on each rung of the stair.

For a grouping: Spacing between works of art is determined by the homeowner's preference. “;For the average frame, about 30 or 36 inches square, we would leave about four inches between each picture horizontally. It's the same for vertical placement,”; Fung said. If the pictures are bigger, leave more space in between, accordingly.

For hardware: Homeowners usually use a wire in the back of their art and hang it on a hook. “;Even if we give a quote to homeowners, we will, at no charge, always replace those with security mounts; it's the way pictures are hung in hotels and offices.”; Called “;safeguard metal security hangers,”; above, they come in a packet and can be purchased at Pictures Plus for about $5. “;It's all the hardware you need,”; Fung said. “;It keeps the picture level and safe from falling if kids bump into it.”;

More advice from the Web

Sites like Apartment Therapy (apartmenttherapy.com), based in New York and run by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan with his brother, Oliver Ryan, are a valuable resource for do-it-yourselfers.

For hanging art, AT advises using 57 inches as a center, a standard for museum galleries, lower than Coordinated Systems' 64-inch center, which keeps safety of hotel guests in mind.

In any case, AT advises picking a number and sticking with it as having such a “;center”; creates a harmony among all the pictures in the home. “;They will always hang in relationship to one another from their centers, not their sides.”;

“;This 57 inches also applies to groups of pictures. Think of a group as one picture. After you arrange how you want them all to hang (doing this on the floor makes it easier), start with the center picture/pictures and get them at 57 inches on center. Then surround them with the rest of the group.”;

When hanging groups of pictures, a blogger on AT known as Emily suggests using butcher paper to arrange your pictures on the floor on top of the paper to create a pattern that can be transferred to the wall. (Or substitute a roll of craft paper, usually used to line luau tables; find these at GBC Boxes at about $7 for a 25-foot roll.) Once you're happy with the arrangement on the paper, trace around the frames. Remove the frames from the paper and mark approximately how far down the nail should be on each. Then tape the paper onto the wall. Hammer the nails through the paper, take the paper down and hang the frames.

This will save you from having to make tons of pencil marks or holes in the wall until you're happy with the look.