Inches or Centimetres? US and UK Print Sizes Explained

Who sees which unit, and why

The store's rule is simple. Shoppers with addresses in the United States and Canada see every print size written in inches. Shoppers everywhere else, including the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, see the same sizes written in centimetres.

That means the unit you see is a display convention, not a different product line. A print ordered from London and the same print ordered from Chicago are the same object at the same dimensions; the number on the page is simply written in the unit that shopper's region uses day to day. There is no separate US catalogue and UK catalogue hiding behind the two systems.

It is worth being clear about what the store's own pages do and do not say here. They state which customers see which unit. They do not list specific dimensions in either system on the evidence available for this page, so the practical advice below focuses on method rather than particular numbers.

Measuring your wall in either system

Whichever unit your product pages show, the first step is the same: measure the wall. The store advises measuring the wall first and picking a size that leaves some space around the print, so the pattern sits comfortably rather than filling the wall edge to edge.

If you measure in one unit and your product page shows the other, convert before you compare. A tape marked in centimetres and a page written in inches, or the reverse, is where most ordering mistakes start. Doing the conversion once, on paper, before you browse beats doing it in your head at the checkout.

A simple habit helps: write down your wall's width and height in your own unit, convert those two numbers into the unit your pages display, and keep both versions to hand. Then every size option you see can be checked against the wall directly, without a fresh calculation each time.

For a closer look at measuring for a print, including working around furniture and existing frames, see the wall art size guide on measuring your wall before you order.

One caution on conversions: rounding. If you convert a measurement and round it, round in the direction that leaves more space around the print, not less. That keeps the margin the store recommends intact even if your conversion is a little generous.

The same logic applies in both directions. A shopper working in inches who sees centimetres on a page, and a shopper working in centimetres who sees inches, both need one conversion per wall measurement. Neither system is harder; the risk is simply mixing them mid-thought.

How size choices differ by format

The unit question interacts with a second question: what actually arrives at your door. The store offers three formats, and they differ in what comes included, which matters when you are picturing a size on your wall.

The first format is printed on thick matte paper with a soft off-white tone. It arrives ready for a frame of your own, a clip, or a pin board, so the paper is the whole delivery and the display choice stays with you.

The second format is a poster held at the top and bottom by two wooden bars with magnets inside. No pins or holes go into the paper, and the hangers do the holding.

The third format is printed on canvas and stretched over a wooden frame. There is no glass and no mount; the canvas surface is what you see.

What is included differs sharply between them. Only the framed poster includes a frame. The poster with hangers comes with its two wooden hangers, and the canvas comes on its own wooden frame. The plain matte paper print, by contrast, assumes you will supply the frame, clip or board yourself.

When comparing sizes across formats, remember that the same number on the page can describe different objects. A canvas at a given size presents a finished, frame-backed object with no glass, while the same size on matte paper is a sheet awaiting your frame. Measure for the object you are actually ordering, not just the number.

For choosing a framed Morris print in detail, including frames and mounts, see the guide to framed William Morris prints. And for a broader walkthrough of poster formats, the buyer's guide to William Morris posters covers the full range.

The paper itself has a pH above 7, so it resists yellowing. That is a property of the material rather than of the size, but it is worth knowing when you are deciding how long you expect a print to hang in one place.

Common mix-ups when ordering across units

Three mistakes come up most often when shoppers order across the two systems. Each is easy to avoid once named.

The store's own guidance and product information point to these pitfalls:

• Assuming a different unit means a different size. It does not. The unit shown depends on where the shopper is, not on the object; US and Canada see inches, everyone else sees centimetres, and the prints are the same.
• Forgetting to convert. If your tape measure and your product page use different units, every comparison you make is skewed until you convert one side. Convert your wall measurement once, before browsing, and keep the converted figure to hand.
• Misjudging how the surface reflects light. The store states printed colours match the screen very closely but not exactly, because screens differ and matte paper and canvas reflect light more softly than a backlit screen. A softer, less glowing surface can also make a print read slightly differently in the room, so judge scale from the measured numbers rather than from the screen image alone.

The colour point deserves a sentence of its own. Because matte paper and canvas reflect light more softly than a backlit screen, a print can look calmer in person than it did on screen. That is expected, not a defect, and it is another reason to trust your measurements over your impression of the on-screen image when fixing on a size.

A fourth, quieter mix-up is ordering a size for a wall you have not measured. The store's advice to measure first exists precisely because estimated walls produce estimated fits. Ten minutes with a tape measure settles the question in either unit.

Once the print is up, care is straightforward but worth planning. The store advises hanging prints out of direct sunlight, away from damp walls, dusting with a soft dry cloth, and never using water or cleaning spray on the paper or canvas. Choosing a wall that meets those conditions is part of choosing a size, since the biggest wall is not always the safest one.

Where to compare every size in one place

Comparing sizes is easiest when every format sits side by side in your own unit. The full collection of prints and posters lists each design with its available formats, so you can check sizes, convert once, and decide between paper, hangers and canvas in one pass.

As you compare, keep your two figures, the wall measurement in both units, at the top of your notes. Every option on the collection page can then be checked against the wall in seconds, and the unit your pages display stops being a hurdle at all.