Art In Environments: Creative Ways to Bring Art into Your Home

BRINGING ART INTO YOUR HOME

Whether you are looking for art as a finishing touch to an existing room, designing a room around a painting you just found or pulling from art you already have, there are creative ways to make art work for you. Art has energy, color and shape that can impact a room and wake up a space. In this post I’ll share a few ideas on adding original art to your home.

WHICH COMES FIRST, THE ROOM OR THE ART?

Art can either dictate or enhance the color palette and look of interior spaces. By “dictating” a space I mean the artwork comes first. You find and invest in a statement piece of art for a particular room and then select furnishings, fabrics wall color and floor coverings by keying off the color, texture and style of the painting. Having art in hand before decorating begins gives the room design a place to start and inspiration to make the room uniquely yours. As an artist I’m biased towards designing this way, especially if you consider the ratio of paintings that you love to the thousands of paint chips and fabric swatches that are available out there. When you find the right piece of art I believe it is much easier to pull paint colors, fabrics, etc., that blend with the painting than it is to create a space and then look for art to go with it.

I’ve done this in my own home with art from other artists. We found some Murano art glass pendant lights in Italy before we remodeled our kitchen. While working with a decorator, we were able to pull from colors in the lights and even emulate the line work in the glass when selecting counter tops, tiles and cabinet finishes. The end result is a polished room with impeccable visual flow.

More common, however, is selecting art to “enhance” the look of a room. In this scenario, the space is completely pulled together before art is considered. This method of art purchasing is normally done by a homeowner that is searching for a new piece of art to fill empty wall space or a professional decorator whose clients space is complete and ready to accessorize. It takes a little more time to find just the right painting to go with an existing room design, but the hunt is often part of the fun. No matter which comes first, the art or the room, there is no doubt that art brings fabulous character to interior spaces.

CREATE A ROTATING GALLERY WITH YOUR ART

Every time a batch of my paintings leaves to exhibit in a gallery or show (click here to take a peek at my exhibition at the Strecker Nelson West Gallery), the selected pieces leave storage and occasionally come right off my walls. Since I’m an artist, I have the luxury of choosing a variety art pieces all the time, from my own portfolio and other artist’s works, to shake up my interior spaces. I’ve learned first hand the benefits of moving art from one room to another and I do it quite frequently. Not only can you see the art itself in a whole new light, but rooms will take on a completely different look and feel when the art is changed up.

Most people don’t have extra art at their disposal like artists do, but when thinking about the art you do have, could it be swapped from one room to another? Creating your own rotating gallery at home is easier than it sounds. First, walk through your home and take pieces off of the walls that aren’t absolutely tied to a space or piece of furniture. This will most likely be pieces from the smaller rooms such as dens, bedrooms, reading rooms and don’t forget the bathrooms! Next, line your collection of art on the floor against the wall just as you probably did when you first moved into your home. Then, take one painting at a time to every room in the home, other than the one it just came from, to see how it fits with the decor and available wall space. Lastly, hang your pieces in their new location and evaluate the new arrangement.

You’ll notice that since you have selected every item in your home that your personal style flows throughout it and your art can mix and match in multiple spaces. Once you have relocated your artwork you will be amazed at how refreshed your home feels and how much energy is moving throughout your interiors.

HAVE FUN WITH ART

Purchase and play with your art! Don’t feel that once a painting is hanging on a certain wall in your home that it can’t be used in other ways. Also, don’t feel that if a designer recommends a piece for a certain room that down the road you can’t use that painting to get decorating going in another room in the house. Give it a try!

Are you the type of person that designs a room around an art piece or do you choose your pieces to compliment existing decor?