How to Choose Artwork for your Interiors with the help of ArtsHaus

Intro

This week I caught up with the team at ArtsHaus to discuss how to find artwork to match your interior.

We all know that artwork can be a great addition to the home. It can provide a certain personality and presence which is hard to find in many other décor items. However, finding something which is beautiful, affordable and also matches your decor can be quite a challenge.

Of course, buying artwork should always be driven by a love for the work, but when you’ve worked so hard to create a certain feel and look for your home, it’s important to find artwork which adds to that. That’s why the team at ArtsHaus have provided some handy styling tips on how you might choose artwork for a variety of popular interior design styles. 

Moody Maximalist

The long reign of minimalism to finally coming to an end. Make room for the bigger, badder, BOLDER – Maximalist interior. It’s one of the most talked about trends of 2018 and for good reason. Layered textures, rich velvets, and bold artworks are all key tools in creating the perfect maximalist home, but what is the secret to making all these features work together?

Image Source: West Elm

When considering artwork to pair with your maximalist interior, there are a few things to think about. Firstly, with this style, more is more. The above image showcases a fantastic feature gallery wall. If arranged correctly, this is a great asset to any room. Gallery walls are particularly popular in hallways or living rooms, but with maximalist the usual rules don’t apply, so any wall, anywhere, can be covered with artwork.

Maximalist interiors have great depth and detail, and their layered textures can be bold and brash. If you’re not careful, this can drown out any artwork in the process. Make sure your choice of work can hold its own in such a visually noisy environment. Choosing an artwork with a lot of depth or richness of colour can be a good way to go; for example, abstract works with varying light and dark shades can provide a bold counterbalance as above. Or if you have existing work which you’re worried may get lost – bring it together in a gallery wall to create a larger feature and consider using heavier or thicker frames.

A maximalist interior is also the perfect opportunity to incorporate large scale artworks into your house. The below image is an example of how powerful a large piece of artwork can be, but also how well it can fit in with an interior rich with colour and detail. There’s no doubt that the colour scheme has played a key role in allowing the artwork to compliment the interior. Note the accents of orange and red mirroring the central position and colours in the tiger print sofa cushion.

Image source – Tony Burch

Image adapted by ArtsHaus with painting – Dancing Trees by Chris Cyprus

If you are choosing artwork for your maximalist room, think depth, colour and scale. Maximalist interiors, accompanied by the right artwork, can create a powerful, opulent look unlike any other interior style.

Cosy Comfort

No interior style can make you feel quite as at home, as cosy comfort. Accompanied by a cup of tea and a good book; you’ve got yourself a little slice of heaven. 

Image source: alberto pinto- town & country

Throws, candles and natural materials are crucial elements to cosy rooms, but the best accessory of them all, is a piece of art. Colour schemes in cosy rooms often revolve around neutral creams, stones or beiges, especially for walls. Artwork is arguably best appreciated when placed against this plain backdrop, meaning nothing is distracting the viewer (the reason why most galleries have white walls), allowing for more subtle colours and subjects to shine through.

In a cosy environment you won’t want to disturb the tranquility with brash colour or heavy lines. The room above demonstrates how even a large artwork can work well without being too invasive or overbearing. It’s underlying tones of cream and white are an obvious match for the couches and chairs whilst the blues bounce well off the variety of browns in the flooring and furniture.

Textures and layers are also important to creating a cosy atmosphere, especially in places such as the bedroom. This can be replicated in your artwork choices as shown below. Mediums such as oil and acrylic provide added texture which can be warm and calming. Whilst choosing multiple instances of the same artist can create a harmonious flow throughout a room, especially when matched well with furnishings like these cosy pinks. Now all you need is that cuppa! 

Image Source - TrendDecorist

Image adapted by ArtsHaus with paintings – Two ideas & Two strokes in space by Matt Diak

Vibrant Vintage

Vintage décor brings a timeless beauty. Full of quirky character, each item has bags of personality. But in order to make sure your home doesn’t start feeling like a charity shop it’s important to create a coherent atmosphere. The perfect way to bring a modern twist to a traditional look, whilst bringing that consistent theme is through vibrant colour! And obviously artwork has to feature. 

Image source - Jeff Hirsch. Source: The New York Social Diary 

Image adapted by ArtsHaus with print – Ceanthru Thaidhg by Barbara Rae

When choosing artwork for this particular style, as always, existing colour in your décor is important to consider. A good way to decide which highlight colours in an artwork may be harmonious with your room, is to assess the colour of your accessories, e.g. cushions, blankets, lamps or curtains and match the two.  There doesn’t need to be an exact match, but look for artwork which has elements at the same end of the colour spectrum. In the above example, pinks, yellows and oranges work harmoniously. Whilst the abstract style puts a modern spin on vintage.

In fact, putting a modern spin on classic subjects is also a fruitful route to explore! Artists have for centuries reworked classic subjects such as portraiture or still lifes. Below is an example of this. Comparable to work of Spanish masters, this is a very classic looking artwork, however it’s painted with a hint of impressionist style. Frames are another aspect to consider; vintage interior is often linked to brassy gold fancy frames, but displaying work in its natural canvas state, or in a simple black frame can give an old, dated painting a new lease of life! Note the thin, modern frame in the below image adding a further modern element to the painting.

Image Source – Kristin Perers  

Image adapted by ArtsHaus with print – Medierraneo by Jose Royo

If you like what you’ve seen here, this is just a small taste of the artwork from some of the country’s great independent galleries, all available on ArtsHaus!

About ArtsHaus:

ArtsHaus are an online business dedicated to helping you discover amazing, affordable artwork for your home. Atrocious work with independent galleries up and down the country to provide a platform which shows you what’s on offer and where at establishments which provide quality, as well as affordability.

Browse at your leisure to find the perfect piece to match your style, home and budget. Talk to art experts, arrange for viewings or simply buy online, whatever you prefer!

ArtsHaus are a team of interior designers, art historians, curators and general art fanatics who want to make the process of buying art easy and enjoyable. So much so, that the provide free art advisory for anyone who needs a helping hand – they’ll happily work with you to understand your needs, motivations and personality in order to ‘find your original’.