The finishing touch on any room’s interior design motif is often the wall art. Whether you opt for a statement piece, symmetrical clusters, or a trendy gallery wall, the pieces of art and photos on just about any wall are what ultimately sets the mood and tone for the space.
Of course, before you can start hanging your wall art and creating the gallery wall of your dreams, it’s important to thoughtfully consider which kinds of pieces suit your style, where you want to place them, and how to hang them all up carefully. Thankfully, the Kathy Kuo Home Design Team is here with some expert tips on all things wall art–from shopping for wall art to finding the perfect spot in your home.
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Wall Art Tip #1: Aim for Variety
When it comes to choosing wall art, you always want to remember: Variations, variations, variations! Play with sizes, shapes, and frames. Your art pieces don’t have to all be the exact same size, shape, or material. As long as all the pieces share some common colors and visual motifs in terms of the art itself, it’s sure to look great.
When adding variety, it also helps to consider whether you want a more casual or more formal aesthetic. Both are good options when you want to dress up the wall. A casual approach can be when you see a lot of different sizes, orientations, and materials; whereas a formal approach looks more linear and aligned.
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Wall Art Tip #2: Balance & Light Are Essential
When choosing the wall art you want to showcase in your home, think of balance in terms of colors, subject, and contrast. You don’t want all the art to compete with each other, but rather match and complement so that all of the distinct pieces form a whole.
Lighting also plays an important role in highlighting and emphasizing your gallery wall. A set of picture light or track light can create an interesting mood that takes your art arrangement to a whole new level, visually. Depending on the layout of your home, you may also want to consider how natural light from your windows will play into the look of a given wall once art has been hung.
Photo via Kathy Kuo Home; click to shop!
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Wall Art Tip #3: Mock it Up First
Once you’ve chosen the pieces you want to see in your home as wall art, doing a mock up is essential to make sure the space works and so you feel confident before you ensure that the size will fit, we recommend mocking up the wall with painter’s tape or paper cutout of the supposed frame size you want to hang up. If you to be super-careful, you may want to leave your mock-up on the wall for a few days to let your eyes get used to it.
Finally, when finalizing the formation of your wall art, remember that sometimes the best motif comes from mixing in non-traditional items (and you’ll want to mock those up, too). A good combination of traditional paintings and photos tends to play with other wall decor that appears sculptural as long as they are well balanced with the art and they have good communication with each other–it can be a mirror, a clock, or a planter.
Photo via Kathy Kuo Home; click to shop!
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