5 Things to Keep In Mind While Buying Wall Art for Your Home

There’s a reason so many successful people and celebrities pay large sums of money to interior decorators when it comes time to decorate their houses! Choosing the right wall art for your home can be an intimidating and stressful task, as it plays a major role in how your house will appear and be perceived by guests. Luckily, by following your intuition, heart, and a few simple steps, you can easily make your home look like it was put together by a professional.  

No matter what aesthetic you are going for, from country cottage, to modern chic, to inner-city industrial, there is a perfect combination of form, beauty, and function that can come together on your four walls. While you may not have a specialized degree like most interior designers, you can still follow some simple guidelines and apply them to your art selections. So, let’s take a look at the five most important things to keep in mind when selecting wall art for your home.  

Tip #1: Color palettes are critical.

Before purchasing any art or making any final decisions, you should sit down and work out a potential color palette for each room. Begin with an overall theme for the house, for example, ocean blues with some ocean photography and blue accents, or fiery reds, with a sunset theme and hot colors. Additionally, you can do a unique theme for each room, with a color scheme and feel that changes depending on where you are in the house. 

Whether you go with a unified house theme or a room-by-room scheme, you can diversify each area to keep it interesting. Be sure to look into common complementary colors, such as red/green, yellow/purple, and orange/blue, and use this color wheel technique to your advantage.  

Tip #2: Don’t neglect the centerpiece.

One of the most important jobs of interior designers is to find the proper combination of proportions, placement, and grouping. If you can nail these three design functions, you will be well on your way to a beautiful, natural-feeling design setup.  

One major tip towards accomplishing this goal, especially for more spacious walls, is to begin with a large focal point piece, such as an oversized canvas with a glossy finish. Make sure it is somewhere that a guest’s eyes will be immediately drawn to it, and try to create a natural “flow” around the room from there. If you have a fireplace or mantle, that’s an excellent place for a centerpiece, otherwise, above the couch usually works well.  

Tip #3: Create a unique aesthetic feel for each room.

One of the rules of interior design is that what works in one room will often not work in another. Bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms - each room should have a unique feel that makes it stand out from the others. For a living room, consider adding a mirror for some space, while for a bedroom you can go with a more intimate-feeling oil painting.

Tip #4: Consider art form vs. art style.

One of the main things designers focus on is finding the right combination of art style versus art form. First, pick the art style that you want in each room, which can be anything from modern, to impressionist, to country, to industrialist. Art styles are highly varied and dynamic, so be sure to choose this first.

Then, you’ll want to choose an art form. This is the medium of expression that the art uses, and can range from functional objects like maps or calendars, to collages, to photography, to tapestries or rugs. Don’t limit yourself to only art gallery-style paintings, there’s a whole wide world of art forms that look great hung up on a wall.  

Tip #5: Contrast makes it work.

Part of what makes certain interior designs so compelling is the contrast between various art choices. For example, an older, weathered-looking frame in a modernized room can spice things up nicely. Try to find a balance between contemporary/classic and vice versa, and always keep things fresh.  

Don’t let yourself get stuck in a rut. Rules don’t always have to be followed, and sometimes choosing a small, surprising splash of color somewhere you wouldn’t expect it to be can make or break the design of a room.

However, if you follow all of these rules but don’t select art you love, then what is the point? The main point everyone can understand is to always follow your heart and select pieces you are passionate about. That way, you love looking at them, and they can serve as a conversation piece more easily. 

After all, no one will be looking at the art as much as you. Follow your intuition, be true to the art you love, and pick pieces that speak to your soul, and you will always have a house you are happy to be living in!