Hang it above the bed, or on the wall right beside it. That is the short version. Pick the wall your eye finds first when you walk in. Put the hoop at eye height or a little above. Nothing should dangle where a sleeper, a toddler or a cat can reach it. One hoop per sleeper is plenty. And let the wall choose the size, rather than the other way round.
Here is the room-by-room version, the hoop size that suits each wall, and the spots to leave alone. ✨
| Room | Where exactly | Hoop size that works | What to avoid there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedroom | Above the headboard, or beside it | 16–17cm | Hanging it low enough to touch |
| Nursery | The far wall, in the baby's view | 12–16cm | Over or within reach of the cot |
| Lounge | A big blank wall, or a stairwell | 17cm and up | Above a heater or a fireplace |
| By a window | Beside the frame, not on the glass | 12–17cm | All-day direct sun |
| Hallway or doorway | Above the frame, or the return wall | 16cm and up | A spot where shoulders catch it |
| Car | Only if it clears your view | 12cm, short drop | Anything crossing your sightline |
Room by room 🌙
Where to hang a dreamcatcher in a bedroom
This is the classic spot, and it still works best. Hang the hoop above the headboard, centred, roughly 30cm above the pillows. If your bed sits under a window, use the wall beside it instead.
Give it room to turn. A hoop pressed flat against the wall loses half its charm. Half the pleasure is watching the web move when someone opens a door.
If you share the bed, one hoop for the pair of you is fine. Two small ones, one on each side, also looks lovely. Tradition holds that the web catches what you would rather not carry into sleep, and the good dreams slip through the middle.
Where to hang a dreamcatcher in a nursery
Hang it on the far wall, where the baby can see it from the cot. Do not hang it over the cot, and do not hang it anywhere a small hand could reach.
New Zealand's Product Safety guidance is blunt about cords near a sleeping baby. Its cot advice is to keep the cot out of reach of curtains and window blind cords. Anything on a cord belongs in the same category. Eight New Zealand children have died since 2008 from strangulation by a window-covering cord, which is why mandatory safety standards for corded blinds are being introduced here.
There is a lovely irony here, and it is worth knowing. The original pieces really were tied to a baby's cradleboard. But they were fixed onto the wooden hoop of the board itself, not hung above it on a string. A modern hoop on a cord is a different object with a different risk. So: visible, admired, and completely out of reach.
A small 12cm hoop suits a nursery wall without dominating it, and a crochet one has no feathers to shed.
A large dreamcatcher in the lounge
A big hoop earns a big wall. Above a sofa, beside a bookshelf, or in a stairwell where people look up. This is the one room where a 17cm hoop can look lost.
So go larger, or hang three together. For a cluster, space them about a hand-width apart and stagger the heights, with the largest lowest. Hang the group off-centre above a sofa rather than dead centre, and it will look considered instead of hung.
Hanging a dreamcatcher in a window
Windows give you the two things a dreamcatcher wants most: daylight and a little moving air. Hang it beside the frame rather than across the glass, so it catches light from the side. Just avoid a spot that bakes in sun all afternoon, because that is what bleaches the colour out.
Hallways, doorways and campervans
A doorway is a lovely, slightly old-fashioned choice. Hang it above the frame, or just around the corner on the return wall, so nobody wears it as a hat. In a campervan or a sleepout, use a small hoop and a hook that will not rattle loose on gravel roads.
Hanging a dreamcatcher in your car
Plenty of people hang one from the rear-view mirror. Do it carefully, or not at all.
A warrant of fitness inspection can reject a vehicle when a windscreen or front side window is "so dirty or obstructed that the driver's vision is impaired". That sits under the Land Transport Rule covering glazing and mirrors. A big feathered hoop swinging across your view is exactly what an inspector will fail you for.
So keep it small, keep the drop short, and check from the driver's seat that it never crosses your sightline.
Where not to hang one
Five places that will cost you either the piece or your patience.
- Over a cot, or within a child's reach. The cord is the problem, not the hoop.
- In a bathroom. Steam wilts the feathers, spots dyed thread and works into glued joins.
- Above a heater, fire or heat pump. Dry rising air makes threads brittle, and dust settles fastest there.
- Outdoors on a deck or porch. New Zealand damp, wind and salt air will finish a decorative hoop in a season.
- In all-day direct sun. The colour goes, and it does not come back.
What size hoop suits your wall 💎
Hoop size is the decision most people skip, and then regret. Measure the clear wall space first, then choose.
- 12cm — a nursery wall, a desk, a car, or a cluster of three at different heights.
- 16–17cm — the everyday choice. It suits a headboard wall without swamping it, like this 17cm rainbow crochet hoop.
- Larger, layered or multi-hoop — for a wide lounge wall or a stairwell.
Then check the drop, because the hoop is only half the measurement. Feathers, beads and tassels add a lot. That same 17cm hoop is about 50cm long overall, hook to feather tip. On a low ceiling, that is the number that matters.
Here is a small pleasure for you. The earliest ones we have a written description of were about 9cm across — roughly the size of your palm — and their webs were dark red, not white. The big pale hoops we picture today came much later.
Hanging it so it stays up
Most dreamcatchers weigh almost nothing, so the fixing is easy. A single small hook or a picture pin will hold one.
Renting, or hanging it without nails? An adhesive wall strip is fine for a light hoop. Press it onto clean, dry paint and give it an hour before you hang anything. A removable hook over a picture rail works too, and so does a drawing pin pushed into the top of a door frame.
On plasterboard, a hook-and-pin fixing beats a bare nail, which works loose. For a ceiling, use a proper screw-in hook and find the joist. Leave a little slack in the cord, so it turns freely instead of sitting rigid against the paint.
Choosing a piece 🧿
Start with feathers or no feathers, because it settles most of the rest.
Feathers give you softness and movement. They also shed a little, collect dust, and are irresistible to cats. Crochet, macramé and beaded hoops give you the shape without the shedding, which is why they suit nurseries, offices and homes with pets.
After that it is colour and detail. A tree-of-life centre suits a calm, natural room. Chakra colours brighten a plain wall and give a child something to name. Versions with chimes add a little sound as well as movement. If you would rather be pointed at a style, our dreamcatcher quiz asks six questions and suggests one.
What it costs
Prices in our dreamcatcher collection start at around $12 for a 16cm illustrated hoop. A 12cm crochet teardrop sits near $20, and so does the bamboo peacock. Around $25 you reach the 17cm tree-of-life hoops. Bigger pieces with beadwork and chimes run up to about $45, including a 16cm windchime version.
We ship New Zealand-wide, and you are very welcome to come and turn one over in your hands at Shop 62, Westfield Manukau.
Keeping it lovely ☀️
Give it a small seasonal habit. Lift it down, take it to a window with morning light on it, and shake it out gently. Brush the web downwards with a soft dry paintbrush, then rehang it. Some people like to do this on the first morning of a new season; there is no rule, and the point is that you actually look at it.
Two things fade a dreamcatcher: light and dust. Light is the bigger one. Museum conservators put it plainly — drop the light on a textile from window brightness to a dim corner, and its colours last roughly a hundred times longer. Dyed thread and feathers do not recover once bleached. So enjoy the window, but not the all-afternoon western sun.
For dust, that soft brush is enough, or a hairdryer on cool from about 30cm away. Do not wash it. Water flattens feathers, stains dyed thread and loosens glue.
Once a season, look closely at any feathers. Clothes moth and carpet beetle larvae eat feathers as happily as they eat wool, and they start where you cannot see. If you store a hoop away, keep it out of the wardrobe with your jumpers.
Where the tradition comes from 🕯️
The longer story is in our history and magic of dreamcatchers. The short version belongs here, because it changes how you hang one.
The dreamcatcher belongs to the Ojibwe, or Anishinaabe, people of North America. In Ojibwe, asabikeshiinh means a spider, which is the whole idea in one word. The making is far older than any book about it. The first written description we have comes from 1929, and it records small red webs tied in pairs to a baby's cradleboard hoop, said to catch "any harm that might be in the air".
They spread far beyond the Ojibwe in the 1960s and 1970s, and around the world after that. The hoops in shops today, ours included, are decorative pieces made for homes rather than ceremonial Ojibwe objects. That is worth saying plainly. If you want one made inside the tradition it came from, buy from an Indigenous maker. 🔮
Ready to choose one? Find a hoop that fits your wall.
Common questions
Can you hang a dreamcatcher above a cot?
No. Hang it on the far wall instead, where the baby can see it but not touch it. New Zealand's Product Safety guidance says to keep a cot out of reach of curtains and blind cords, and anything hanging on a cord follows the same rule.
Where should you not hang a dreamcatcher?
Over a cot or within a child's reach, in a steamy bathroom, above a heater or fire, outdoors on a deck, and anywhere it sits in direct sun all afternoon. In a car, keep it clear of your view.
Which way should a dreamcatcher face?
There is no fixed rule. The common habit is to face it towards a window, so the morning light reaches the web first. Practically, face the prettiest side into the room.
Can you have more than one dreamcatcher in a room?
Yes. A cluster of three small hoops at staggered heights looks better than one lonely hoop on a wide wall. In a shared bedroom, one above each bed is a nice touch.
Can you hang a dreamcatcher in your car in New Zealand?
You can, if it never blocks your view. A warrant of fitness inspection can reject a vehicle whose windscreen is obstructed enough to impair the driver's vision. Choose a 12cm hoop with a short drop, and check the sightline from the driver's seat.
How do you clean a dreamcatcher?
Dry only. Brush it downwards with a soft paintbrush, or use a hairdryer on its cool setting. Never wash or soak it, and never put it in a machine.
Sources
- Frances Densmore, Chippewa Customs, Smithsonian Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 86 (1929), pp. 52 and 113 — archive.org
- The Ojibwe People's Dictionary, University of Minnesota — asabikeshiinh
- The Indigenous Foundation — Dreamcatchers are not your "aesthetic"
- Product Safety New Zealand (MBIE) — Sleep safety: cots, bunk beds and baby slings
- MBIE — Safety standards for corded window coverings
- NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi — Glazing, in-service warrant of fitness
- Canadian Conservation Institute — Caring for textiles and costumes
Related reading
- Six interesting facts about dreamcatchers — the short, surprising version.
- How to place crystals for restful nights — what else earns a spot by the bed.
- How to create a meditation space at home — for the quiet corner a hoop often starts.