Your living room is your sanctuary and the centerpiece of your home. It’s where people come to gather and relax in a space that is uniquely yours. That’s why choosing art for living rooms is so important — and so tricky!
With decades in the gallery business, we have many pro tips on how to choose and hang living room art decor properly.We’ll explore our key 9 recommendations below:
- Choose Living Room Art Decor Wisely
- Make Sure People Won’t Lean On Over-Sofa Art
- Choose The Width of Over-Fireplace Art Correctly
- Use Paper or Cardboard to Plan Out Art Hanging
- Leave At Least 4 Inches Of Margin Space
- Use The Right Hanging Materials for Heavy Artwork
- Use A Level!
- Hang A Salon-Style Gallery Wall Correctly
- Consider Leaving Curating, Hanging, & Framing to a Professional
What You’ll Need
- A level
- A piece of paper or cardboard cut out to the size of your artwork
- Rulers or measuring tape
- Painter’s tape
- Nails or screws, depending on the size and weight of your artwork
- A hammer or drill
- The right drill bit for your screws and wall material
- Choose Living Room Art Decor Wisely
Choosing the right art for living rooms is the hardest part of the process. You want art in your living room that:
- Speaks to you on a personal level
- Makes the space feel inviting and welcoming (it is a room for living, after all)
- Fits in your space and coordinates with your color scheme
Sometimes you have artwork in mind right away, but other times, picking the right living room art decor can cause stressful indecision. It doesn’t have to be so difficult if you know a few tips. When it comes to choosing living room art prints, keep these factors in mind.
- Scale. Is your artwork too big or too small? Make sure you choose the correct margins and you’re hanging most pieces at eye level (more on that below).
- Height. Do you have enough wall height to hang the artwork at eye level, or will it look cramped?
- Color. Does your artwork suit your interior’s color scheme?
- Make Sure People Won’t Lean On Over-Sofa Art
Hanging art for your living room over your sofa is a great idea, but watch out: don’t hang your artwork so low that people can accidentally lean on it!
Don’t fall for this pitfall, even if you think the artwork looks better if it’s slightly lower. Your artwork needs to stay safe and your space needs to stay liveable at the same time.
- Choose The Width of Over-Fireplace Art Correctly
Hanging living room art decor over a mantle? A general rule of thumb is to ensure the width of the painting is about as wide as the opening of the fireplace itself, not the full mantle. This gives an even and “correct” visual appeal.
- Use Paper or Cardboard to Plan Out Art Hanging
If you’re not sure if your artwork is the right size, cut out a piece of cardboard with the same dimensions and hang it up with painter’s tape in your desired space. Afterwards, mark the ideal spot with pencil.
- Leave At Least 4 Inches Of Margin Space
A crucial principle of visual design when choosing art for living rooms is creating balance by sticking to consistent margins. If your artwork or furniture is separate from each other, the brain will not blend them together. To the untrained eye, it simply looks less busy or messy.
A good rule of thumb is to leave at least 4 inches of margin space between artworks.
- Use The Right Hanging Materials for Heavy Artwork
Solid wood or metal frames can be very heavy, and the last thing you want is for your valuable living room art prints to fall!
Learn what you’re drilling into. If you’re drilling into concrete or brick, you’ll need a concrete drill bit and a wall anchor. If you’re drilling into wood, a normal drill bit will suffice, and you should still use an anchor for added safety. Try not to hang on drywall, but if you absolutely must, use a toggle bolt and stick to its weight rating.
- Use A Level!
Please use a level when you’re hanging your artwork! This easy and inexpensive tool makes all the difference. Your eyes can deceive you, especially when you’re hanging artwork up close, and constantly shifting your piece back and forth might drive you a little crazy. Use a level for every hanging, both when measuring for the drill holes and when actually hanging it.
- Hang A Salon-Style Gallery Wall Correctly
A salon-style gallery wall with many pieces of artwork grouped together can be quite an involved process to create. You can spend a long time obsessing over correctly grouping and positioning art for living rooms.
We have a few tips on how to create the right gallery-style art wall in your living room.
- Make sure spacing is consistent! An even spacing between each artwork will make the overall feel much neater and more intentional-feeling.
- Symmetry isn’t always necessary. If you have many different works of different sizes, trying to force symmetry and balance is less natural than embracing the asymmetry and hanging the artwork in a varied cluster.
- Put the central artwork at eye level.
- Consider Leaving Curating, Hanging, & Framing to a Professional
When in doubt, the best decision can be for a professional gallery curator or interior designer to frame your pieces and choose the location of your paintings for you. If you’re worried you’re going to mess it up and you don’t have an eye for design yourself, you may never be satisfied with what you create. In these cases, you may be happier spending the small extra amount hiring a professional to help curate art for your living room.
Consider reaching out to the professionals at Marcus Ashley Gallery. If you’re in the Lake Tahoe area, we can even take pieces from our gallery to arrange a private showing in your home. This way, you can see for yourself in person how our pieces look in your space.
For any more questions or to work with one of our art consultants directly on your art selection, don’t hesitate to contact us.
