How To Choose Art For Your Home How To Choose Art For Your Home

How To Choose Art For Your Home

Choosing art can be a daunting prospect, but if you bear a few simple tricks in mind you will be curating your own home gallery in no time.

2 minute readMarch 1, 2016

Choosing art can be a daunting prospect, but if you bear a few simple tricks in mind you will be curating your own home gallery in no time.

1. All About Scale
Picking the right size artwork for your wall is one of the most important aspects of choosing an artwork. Too small and your artwork will look out of place or too large and it will dominate your space. As a guide, look at what you are hanging your artwork above, if you hanging above a console or mantle it is usually best to make your artwork a little bit narrower. By having something wider underneath, the narrower artwork above will look grounded.

One large artwork above mantel.

Centering artwork above furniture is a classic choice, but if you wanted a more modern approach, try hanging it off center and balancing the other side with a vase or lamp.

Large abstract hung off centre.

2. Position & Layout
Artwork should be hung at eye level so it can be seen easily. You don't want to be straining your neck in order to look at the work.

Gallery style hangs are always a great idea if you have a large space. It's also great if you have a lot of smaller scale artwork of different sizes which you wish to showcase together. This style often works best if you keep frames to a set style or colour. Alternatively, you could try all different types of frames, but have a common theme running through the artwork, such as, all black and white photos or all painted portraits.

Diagram of how to create a gallery wall.

If you are after a more formal and sophisticated feel, hanging artwork in a perfect grid of the exact same frame gives a sense of order whilst still having a big impact.

Palm prints hung as a grid.

A great trend at the moment is to not hang artwork at all! Instead, let it lean against the wall on a console table or mantle, to create a casual feel. This also gives you the flexibility to rotate the artworks easily without having to rehang every time.

Painting leaning against wall.

Starfish canvas print in bookcase.

3. Colour Scheme

Art is a great way to introduce colour into a room. Art can greatly effect the mood and tone of a home which is important to consider when selecting. A great way to make sure your artwork compliments a space, is to pull out a few colours and use these as accents around the room. This can be easily done with cushions or other decor items.

abstract

4. Heart
Always choose an artwork you love and that speaks to you. While the above points about scale, position and colour are important you need to make sure that it is also a work that you will love to look at. A painting or photograph is a great opportunity to eject your personality into the room and add some heart to a space.

Have you seen our latest collection of hand painted canvases? You can view the new canvases and other artworks on our website.

View artwork >

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