Art can do so much for your home’s decor. It can inform the palette, show your guests a bit of your personality, and can create focal points for each room. I love to purchase and curate art for my clients’ homes, and I have 4 rules that I follow each time. Let’s take a look!

Scale

When you’re looking for that perfect original art to fit a space in your home, always consider scale. In a large room with high ceilings, a small piece of art might get lost or overlooked. In the Houston home I designed above, a large piece of art was needed over the fireplace. It perfectly fills the wall and draws all eyes to it. A small artwork would not have made as much of an impact. You can create the look of a larger piece of art by using smaller pieces in a gallery effect. But scale is always critical.

Color

The perfect palette for a room can be inspired by a stunning work of art, like the one in a Houston primary bedroom I created above. That serene blue was so perfect for the mood I wanted to design for this bedroom, and the art is a huge part of that palette. You can use the art to inform the color of a room, as I did above, or you can complement the colors with a different palette. But always consider the colors of the art and how it will impact the home’s design.

Emotion

This is an overlooked idea for purchasing art, but I think it’s one of the most important! How does the art make you feel?? Rather than just selecting something because it matches your room, look for art that strikes a chord for you. The art should show people a part of your personality and who you are. And you want to feel something every time you look at it. So use your heart to guide your art purchases!

Placement

One of the worst things I see in homes filled with art is the wrong placement. Art hung too high, art hung too low, art hung in the wrong place in the home. Once you’ve selected the right wall and you know the scale works for the room, there’s a good rule of thumb for how high to hang the piece. The center of the art should be about at your eye level. That works almost every time! And if it’s a gallery wall, you would still want the center of that gallery to be at your eye level.

Use these tips to purchase and curate your own art collection at home!

Warmly,

Beth