A Gallery at Home

“Blue Moon” watercolor and ink print, tuftluck Studio

One missed opportunity I see in a lot of homes I enter is that the walls are too bare. People tend to hang art in the most obvious places, like above the bed or above the couch, but neglect the home as a whole made up of little vignettes. Each space the eye is meant to fall should be intentional and complete. And while a lot of those spaces or small or not primary, finishing those details is often what makes a home look impressively styled. Read: please do this. Or hire me to. Okay.

It definitely takes some getting out of your comfort zone, both in choosing the art and playing with sizes, placements, and combinations of things.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

I used the word vignettes really purposefully here. The things you place in one particular zone make up a scene as a whole. You don’t have to center your artwork over an entry table if there’s a tall lamp to the left. The art can be shifted to the right and the “vignette” remains in balance.

Mix styles throughout your house. I’m going to include at the bottom of this post an inventory of the art in my home, and you’ll be able to see that there aren’t just photographs, or only oil paintings.

Just like with anything in your home, keep within a color palette and set of subjects that tell the story of who you are. It doesn’t have to be a narrow category (i.e. all the art doesn’t have to be trees, or even nature themed, etc.), but the collection of what you choose says something about who you are, what you love, and how you live.

Avoid the “hotel art trap”, as I call it. I see a lot of art when I’m sourcing that I think “that could be hanging in a hotel”. Or a corporate office. Or, kind of anywhere (which is the point). It’s not unpleasant to look at but it is so very versatile that it could be hung anywhere and fit right in. You want your art, in your home, to be uniquely yours. Let people come in and say “Wow - that wouldn’t work in my home, and how amazing it looks in yours.”

Here’s the art I have hanging on walls in my entryway, living room, and dining space, and where I got each:

• Vincent Van Gogh “Montmartre in the Upper Mill” Print (antique store)

• Female Figure Lithograph (marketplace)

• The Lone Bellow signed concert poster (at concert, custom framed)

• photograph of my daughter in a modern frame

• a cross-stitched whale in a wooden frame

• ”Black Plant” by Alisa Galitsyna printed in gold metallic (Minted)

• photo booth film strips of me and my daughter in a floating frame

• ”The Cowgirl Collection #5” by Ben Christensen framed photograph (HeadWest Studio)

• ”Ever Green” abstract painting by (Dallas Renee (Shaw))

• “The Flood at Port Marley” by Alfred Sisley (torn from an art book and framed)

• Corita Kent print, black text on white (postcard sized, bought at a store years ago and framed)

• “Blue Moon” cowboy or cowgirl watercolor and ink print by Kara Rose of tuftluck Studio (print from marketplace, and frame by I’ve Been Framed)

Here’s a look at themes: much trees/nature, lots of blues and greens and browns, a mix of old and modern, and some western-made-chic.

Questions about choosing art, blending art, or creating vignettes? Let me know!