How to Choose Wall Art for Your Living Space

Home decor can be both fun and physically & mentally exhausting. Selecting themes and styles, listing down the preferred color options, choosing the right aesthetic and functional furniture, and then finally successfully putting them all together is a valid achievement, especially if you don’t hire an interior designer or are not one yourself. And to finish, you need to add some character to your living space - usually in the form of wall arts. The question is, how to choose wall art for your living space? Let’s talk about it.

Choose the right theme

First and foremost, deciding on a theme. Every home has a theme. In fact, every room in every home usually has its own theme. Wall art can be used to complement the theme or enhance it further, but first, you will need to decide on a theme because you don’t want to end up with a wall art piece that stands out too much - or maybe you do - it depends on what style you are looking for. The theme of your selected room is made up of the colour of your walls, the lighting style, furniture, homeware, and the purpose of the room. For example:

• A minimalist home office is a place that usually has a clean and inspiring or creative atmosphere, so you will want art pieces that add value to that concept.
• Your bedroom usually requires a sense of comfort and relaxation. Hence, the wall art you choose for your bedroom should resonate with a theme of calmness and relaxation.
• A boho-themed living room can showcase any sort of art that boasts your personality or your interests, but you have to ensure that it is not too jarring against the rest of the living room. If your living room is already full of colors, patterns, and styles, you could opt for a simpler, less sophisticated art piece, and vice versa.

Select a suitable color

Matching the color schemes of your home is a good way to select the right wall art. The color schemes may not necessarily be reflected by the paint on your walls, it could also be from the selection of homeware and furniture that you have showcased in your space. A great way to do this is to select your preferred colors from the existing color schemes - maybe one or two colors - and to use those colors as a guide for you to select your wall art. This automatically ensures that the art piece will go well with the current scheme of your room or space, while also further complementing the existing color that you have chosen. For example, if your living room has only one wall painted with a vibrant and different color, you can get a wall art that has accents of the same color and hang it up on the opposite wall, creating a sense of connection between that particular wall and the rest of your living room.

Get the size right

Another thing to take note of is the size of your wall versus the size of the art piece you plan to hang up there. Just because you have an empty wall, doesn’t mean you should get the biggest possible art piece and fill up most of the space there. There is a balance that must be achieved and it will require some straightforward planning by doing measurements and considering options of getting either a single piece or multiple pieces that go together. Here are a few guidelines to help you through the process:

• A large or oversized art piece is usually anywhere between 3 to 3.5 ft and above, and it’s commonly placed as a centerpiece of a room. It could be a large painting behind your sofa, or a large artwork in the dining room. Either way, it is there to complement your existing furniture. So, try to pick out something that is no larger than two-thirds of your main furniture piece - like your sofa or your dining table.
• A medium sized art piece is usually around the 2 to 2.5 feet range, and is a more versatile option. It can be hung as a single piece or as a pair, or it can be placed on a flat surface like a large corner table.
• A small art piece isn’t normally used to fill up an entire space, unless it is grouped together with a bunch of other small art pieces. Grouping small wall arts allows for a mix and match of colours and styles. Depending on your theme, you can match completely different types of artwork, or you can choose a selection of artwork from the same artist to be hung up together.
• Don’t forget to measure the distance of 0the edges of your furniture, the ceiling, and the wall edges against the position of your wall art.

There is no absolute right or wrong when it comes to choosing art, but we hope that these guidelines have at least given you a rough idea of what you should be looking for when selecting your wall art. As long as it resonates with you and brings joy to your home, you should go for it.