How to Choose Art for Your Home, an Artist’s Perspective
Featured art: "Take Me with You" by Stefanie Rapoza
Everyone drools over the HGTV homes with perfect interior decor and beautiful art on the walls. But let’s get real, we’re not all interior designers nor can we afford to hire the pros to style our entire home. So let’s get savvy. There are ways you can style a room to take it to the next level and it involves choosing great art.
So how do we choose the perfect piece and make it work cohesively in our space? Well there are different opinions concerning how to go about this. As an artist myself, let me tell you how I design a space with art.
1. Start with Color and Mood
What colors do you gravitate towards? For me I tend to lean into earth tones in some cases and blues for other rooms where I want to create a calm feeling, such as the bedroom. For color palette ideas and exploring what colors work well together head over to Pinterest and get pinning. Search with phrases like, “Interior color palettes” or “Color palettes with blue” to get some ideas. Typically you’ll want cool colors in bedrooms and more lively colors in shared spaces where all the action is. However, if you are a blue fan like me styling your living room with blues is completely acceptable too.
2. Determine the Subject Matter
Take into account the type of art you gravitate towards. Do you love abstracts or are you always captivated by portraits or landscapes? Take time to scroll through Pinterest by search terms or Instagram through hashtags. There are so many great artists and a wide range of subject matters to choose from. Don’t worry if you decide on portraits but then you’re not sure what style of portrait to go with. We’ll take a look at that in the next step. Different subject matters can also cohesively work with color to create the mood you are going for. For example if you are wanting to decorate with blues and create a calm feeling consider choosing a seascape painting or abstract blue piece that looks similar to flowing water.
3. Define Your Interior Design Style
When it comes to choosing art you will need to think about what your interior design style is. If you tend to like a mix of many different styles like me, there are some great free quizzes online to help you narrow down your style. For a very simple quiz head over to decorist.com. Of course there are some more involved quizzes out there but this will give you a general idea. I also found this article on decoraid.com as a great resources for helping to understand the different interior design styles.
By defining you interior design style you will be able to better choose the art that works cohesively with the furnishings in your space. For example having a living room with mid century modern decor would lend itself to more minimalistic art than one furnished with traditional elements.
4. Decide What Size the Art Should Be
Now it’s time to define where the art is going on your walls. Once you have the wall space picked out there is a general rule of thumb for choosing the size of the art. You will want it to be 2/3 to 3/4 the size of the available wall space. Keep in mind that the artwork should hang with the center of the art (focal point) at eye level unless it will be hung above furniture, in which case it can go higher. If the art is going to hang above a couch for example, the bottom of the art can sit about 4 to 6 inches above the top of the couch. Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that the art needs to go in the center, equal distance from the top of the couch to the ceiling but that can cause there to be too much space above the couch and look awkward.
If you are creating a gallery wall think of it as all the pieces taking up one big space together and abiding by the 2/3 - 3/4 rule. And keep in mind that each piece should be hung about 2-3 inches a part from each other. This applies even at times when you are hanging two pieces. They should hang closer together and not sit too far apart from each other.
5. Where to Shop for Art
There are so many places to shop for art! Now of course I am biased, but I believe the best is to collect straight from the artist. If you are working within a smaller budget, you could purchase prints instead of originals, but regardless you will get the best price by purchasing directly from the creator. There are many online marketplaces where artists sell besides their own website. Here are a few:
Saatchi Art - One of the best online galleries with paintings, photography, sculpture, and drawings by over 60,000 artists from around the world. You can utilize their personalized art advisory service giving you access to your own expert curator, free of charge.
Fine Art America - An online marketplace with over 500,000 artists. This site gives you an option to search for artists in your area which is amazing! Imagine finding a fantastic artist mere minutes away with the potential to visit their studio!
Artfinder - An online marketplace that connections you with independent artists from around the globe. From painters and printmakers to sculptors and photographers, each artist sells on their own terms and controls everything from pricing to packaging.
Etsy - Although there are many digital products sold on Etsy, you can still find artists and makers selling handmade, one-of-a-kind pieces. This marketplace gives you the ability to search for unique art and connects you directly with the artists. Purchasing from Etsy gives you the chance to uplevel your decor while while also supporting small business owners and artisans.
6. Recap
Choosing art for your home doesn’t have to be daunting; it can be a fun experience in elevating your space and expressing your unique style. Remember these steps: define your colors, determine your subject matter, match your interior design style, follow the 2/3-3/4 rule for sizing, and lastly try an online resource for finding local artists in your area or purchasing directly from artists online.
If you are interested in the unique landscapes or floral art that I create, check out the Mini Landscapes & Florals section of my site where new pieces are added continuously. If you have any questions about the art feel free to contact me.
