How to Decorate Your Home With Art

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Reilly

How to decorate your empty walls with art? Decorating tastefully is surprisingly harder than you might think. And to make things harder, the best art sometimes takes a lifetime to find and acquire. But fear not! With some basic knowledge on styling, you can create beautiful walls covered in meaningful art today and not in a lifetime from now. 

First off, the art in your home should be sentimental if possible. If you’re lucky, it should be a visual memory. But if you haven’t had any art passed down to you or made for you, then we can replace the sentimental with art that speaks to you. Either way, the best art is something that is special to you and evokes emotion in you.

Here are 5 tips on styling art to match your home

1. Do a Gallery Wall 

It’s hard to go wrong with a gallery wall. It’s eclectic, full of all your favorite pieces, playful, fills up the walls and can grow!

2. Choose the Right Size

Let’s say you just ordered a pet portrait and you’re so excited to hang it but can’t figure out where it should go, consider the size. At Boopysnoots, we try to keep all our portraits on the small size because though you love your pet, we don’t need their furry little face plastered on your wall as the main piece. It should be almost a subtle addition to a gallery wall or framed and put somewhere that makes sense in your home. I suggest, desk art, above the desk, by the dog bowls or their sleeping area. Put your pet portrait with other art. Just like your fur baby, the art is not meant to stand alone. It needs friends as well as attention. So put it with other art in a place that gets noticed, especially in the living room or even kitchen where guests can see it and appreciate your cute little pet.

3. Framing and Matting Matter

I used to think that pet portraits and other canvas art didn’t really need a frame to look good, but after doing this for a while, I see that I was wrong. The thing is, some art can just come off too strong if it is unframed and unstyled. It can be softened to fit with it’s surroundings with the help of framing and matting. Just go to your local Michael’s to get your piece framed!

4. Go big or go home

Get a huge piece or set that goes together to fill a big empty wall. These are usually more expensive because of the size, but can really make a statement. If you go this route, make sure the subject matter matches the area. For a tasteful living room piece, or other room, consider these tips:

  • find something that matches the accent colors that are already established in your home. 
  • stay away from art relating to your niche hobbies or interests. 
  • abstract is great (and usually adds lots of color)
  • If you’re gonna go big, go all the way big to fit the space. If you skip and settle for something almost the right size, it will look off and still kind of empty. 
 
5. Photographs vs Paintings

This may be personal preference, but I prefer paintings of photographs when it comes to wall art. A photograph is almost too real what the rest of the space is. I often see beautiful images of the great outdoors hanging up on indoor walls but to me it feels out of place precisely because it’s taking the vastness and intricate details of the outdoors into a soft man-made environment. This can invoke the conversation of where is the proper place for a home if not on our walls? I will say, hotels, airports, stores, offices, gyms. These are common places to see really awesome photography on the walls. They are more industrial and create a sense of grandeur. And personally, I prefer to keep my home feeling homey and more intimate and creative. 

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