Landscapes, still lives, modern art, sculptures, photographs, oil paintings and so on. How do you choose which one (or ones) is right for your home? Unless you have a trained eye, it can feel overwhelming to know whether you should match the colors in your oil painting exactly to the pillows on your couch or if you should hang an oversized mirror on the wall instead. If you’re looking for help on how to choose the right art for your home, consider the following guidelines:
Choose Complementary Colors
It’s a common misconception that you need to match the colors in your art exactly to the other accents in your room. Even though it’s not a no-no, it’s not a requirement either. The key is to make sure all the colors in your room complement each other. For example, if your room is made up of mostly neutral colors (blacks, whites, tans, grays), then you should look for art that brings in pops of color to the room (think of reds, pinks, blues, yellows). On the other hand, if you have a brightly colored sofa, you may want to complement it with a black-and-white photograph or a more subdued painting. You also can choose complementary colors to pair against each other, so you don’t have to match exactly but can work with a wider palette of color options.
Understand That Size Matters
One of the most important aspects you need to consider before buying art is its size. If you’re hanging a piece above your couch or bed, the art should be about two-thirds the size of the piece of furniture. Your artwork should fill up the space appropriately and not look like it’s dominating the room (too big) or like something’s missing (too small). Just like most rules, however, there are some exceptions. If you plan on creating a gallery wall, you can collect a variety of sizes in your artwork and photographs. Just be sure to plan out the space to make sure you have pieces that work together in size, shape and color. Huffington Post also points out that if you fall in love with a piece that isn’t the right size, you can contact the artist to see if they will make a custom piece in the dimensions you need.
Consider Contrasting Styles
Just like with size and color, you don’t have to exactly match the styles of every item in your home. So, even if your furniture is mostly modern, you can still pair it with a classic landscape oil painting. Or if your overall design aesthetic is country chic, you can create a nice contrast with a modern geometric piece in bold colors. This guidelines even holds true with the piece of art and its frame — you can use contrasting style to draw the eye. If you’re not quite sure how to pull this off, let the design experts give you a little help and buy pre-framed artwork for your home.
No matter how you choose to pick out art for your home, go with what you love. If the piece doesn’t speak to you or make you feel something, then it’s probably not quite right. You want it to match with the rest of your style, but you also shouldn’t settle for the first thing you see. After all, the art in your home should tell a story and say something about who you are.