HOW TO DECORATE YOUR HOME WITH PAINTINGS THE RIGHT WAY

 Improving the overall look of your home could mean many things but there is no beautiful and classy interior without some form of artwork. Paintings could completely revamp your environment so it is crucial to know how to choose and display them the best way possible. We will consider types of paintings, how to display them, the properties of their colors, the visual relations between the artwork you acquire and the furniture elements that exist in your home. 

One of the three major properties of color is value. It represents how dark or light an object is. If you look at a black and white photograph all you see is values. Why are they important? Values tell our brains how to navigate through space. 

Things that are close to us seem darker and more saturated and things that are far away appear lighter and less intense. That way your mind could approximate distances and depth. This is the reason our brains prioritize this color property. Now let’s examine how this fact translates into the types of paintings you could consider for your home decor.

Landscapes represent objects that are in nature from the artist’s point of view. Naturally we have things that are close to the viewer so they have dark value. Gradually we see objects that recede from us so they appear lighter and lighter. The top part is usually the sky which is even lighter. To put it simply, if you squint your eyes you see horizontal stripes of different values. Landscape paintings could not have coherent values because they reflect how life looks. 

The artist has no freedom to create a piece with similar values all over the canvas. This is  the reason why landscape paintings are not the best choice for home decoration. If done properly such artwork will have very dark and very light parts that are arranged in rows. The bottom one will always be very dark and the upper will be very light. Such an artwork does not create the impression of a coherent decorative element. This is the reason why most framed prints in furniture stores represent smaller pieces of nature - close up of a wave, sand, flower, far away mountains..etc. 

The idea is to have an image on your wall with values that are scattered more equally through the whole picture. There is a second reason. The walls in most homes are painted in very light colors. Landscapes possess very dark values in the bottom part and the contrast becomes too great and our interior appears unbalanced. 

Framing the painting does not do much to improve this fact. As an exception we could mention landscape canvases that represent far away objects. In that way the values of the colors are more similar to each other. We also could consider a forest painting. 

All the objects are close to the viewer so they appear dark and saturated. Now we have more coherent values and if your walls are dark too this could be a good choice. If not the contrast between the canvas and your walls again will be too great and unbalanced.

 A portrait painting is all about presenting a human face that is always close to the viewer. As a near object it will be created in mostly colors that are dark and saturated. The skin tones are usually light but hair and clothes will mostly possess dark values. 

There is another approach in portrait paintings called chiaroscuro and it was invented in the Renaissance. People are depicted on black background so they can stand out more and look dramatic. To sum up - we have dark objects on a light background or dark objects on a black background. As a part of home decoration, portraits and human figure paintings are definitely better than landscapes. 

We have values that are more coherent because they are divided in two major parts. These pieces of art create a clearer impression of single coherent decorative elements.  Nevertheless they are very dark and will be in great contrast with the walls in most homes.  

As a definition these pieces of art do not represent a specific object and are free of any painting rules. Everything we observe in real life in terms of values and composition is not mandatory in this form of art. We could have values that are balanced and equally scattered throughout the canvas.

This is by far the best choice when you redesign your home interior. An abstract painting could provide the coherence and the feeling of a whole design element which is in harmony with itself and the surrounding environment.

How To See An Abstract Painting's Color Values?

Artists develop a lot of skills and tricks to see values correctly. As a potential painting buyer all you need to do is take a picture or a screenshot of the artwork . The use your phone's filters and turn the image into black and white. There you go. Now you will be able to see if the dark and light portions of the canvas are evenly distributed throughout the canvas. 

If so - this is the first strong sign the painting will look very well as part of your home interior. It will be processed by the human brain as a whole element and it will not present too many distracting elements.

Considering The Tints In The Artwork

Tint is a term that indicates the color family - blue, green, red, yellow… etc. Now we will point out the most important aspect of tints. They can be grouped into 3 opposite (complementary) pairs - blue and orange, purple and yellow, green and red. When such colors are touching each other they create unpleasant feelings for the viewer. Many artists use complementary colors to intentionally create the impression of distress and to emphasize on something. 

As a homeowner you should analyze if the tint of your wall and the dominant tints in the painting are complementary. For example if your room possesses blueish color and the painting is predominantly orange you should avoid this combination.

The good news is that most abstract non figurative paintings are unlikely to be monochromatic or to have less than 3 tints. That way it would be hard for your brain to identify the occurrence of any complementary combination between the artwork and the wall. Most non figurative paintings are full of different colors and your eyes will experience no distress.

There is no complete agreement in the art world what exactly color temperature is. Nevertheless bluish tints are considered cold and reddish ones seem to be warm. Our brains prioritize them possibly because most edible things tend to lean towards red. When you decorate a wall with a painting there is no right of wrong here. 

You simply need to decide how much emphasis on the artwork you want to receive. If the painting you have chosen possesses very warm colors and your walls are mostly light and blueish, contrast will be greater and the painting will be more visible. If you prefer less focus on the painting it should have more cold tints and will look more similar to your walls.

 Hopefully there are no visible brushstrokes on your walls. If you choose a painting with more expressive brushstrokes the artwork will attract more attention and will stand out more. When you look for balance, consider canvases with a softer , more gradual look. 

Expressive brushstrokes possess more painterly quality but also create the feeling of distress. No right or wrong here - simply decide how much you would like the paintings to stand out.

 If you have chosen to decorate an empty wall with one painting the decision is simple - straight in the middle. The empty space left from the painting must be equal to the right one. The same is valid for top and bottom. This information was simple, expected and obvious. We are aware of the need for symmetry. It is an expression of humans' desire to seek order and harmony.

When it comes to proportions and ratios there is more to explore. As we mentioned before, our mind always looks for repeating things. If the wall you are about to decorate with a painting is taller than wider the better option is to buy artwork that is also taller than wider. We repeat some of the characteristics of the wall so we can achieve a more harmonious look.

We can go further and examine more possibilities. Your best option is to custom order a painting so you can have the size you need for the certain place in your interior. We love repeating things even if we are not fully aware of what actually repeats. It is very important to choose a size ratio between the painting and the wall that is not too complicated. Here is a good formula: the height of the canvas should equal the half of the height of the wall. 

The same goes for the width of the artwork : it should be half of the width of the wall. After that we place the painting in the middle of the horizontal and vertical orientation of the wall. It is actually very simple and you can see the example in  the graphics above. The formula goes equally well for walls that are taller than wider, wider than taller and square ones.

 In 2021 gallery walls started going out of fashion. Nevertheless they still have a place in your interior design. When to use it and when not? The simplest answer is if you have a big room you need whole paintings that are also big. Wall galleries are ideal for small spaces. Now let's get more precise. In a previous chapter we said that one of the best ratios between a painting and a wall is 2:1 in favor of the wall. The idea was to enjoy symmetry and harmony. 

To be able to have this ratio and still comprehend the painting itself you need distance from the artwork at least the same as the width of the wall. If there is not so much space the better choice is a gallery wall. It would be best to acquire a painting that is divided in 3 separate canvases. This way you still have the 2:1 ratio we mentioned but the 3 paintings are smaller and your brain could perceive each of them in their entirety.

Conclusion

Your interior design will always need some form of artwork. It is what makes the difference between a home that provides your basic needs and an amazing place that touches your soul. Without paintings an empty wall is just a lifeless space. By choosing the right paintings and displaying them properly you fine tune the emotion that your interior radiates. 

If you want a more silent and subtle feel, let the paintings be more similar to the environment in your house. If you look for a more emotional appearance the artwork should be more different than the rest of your interior design and you will get more emphasis on the art itself. It is up to you.