Do you love art but have a hard time committing? And does it leads to blank walls for days, weeks even months? I don’t blame you – it’s hard task that gets the best of designers too!

Today I want to go through step by step process for you. I definitely want to share all my tips and tricks to make it easier for you.

Completing my living room refresh was a great way to document what I learned along the way about curating art.

Start with One Tone and Theme

Often times we scroll through art websites and fall into a rabbit hole.

And it can be so frustrating!

Even if you have an inkling of what you want ( modern, abstract, vintage landscape, geometric, flora and fauna) it’s still so hard to pull the trigger because you simply can’t see it in person.

Well I am here to tell you about Step 1! First things first. Take a visual cue from the space you are planning to place the art work.

Is it neutral toned or bright and bold? Something in between? What does the room lack? These are great questions to ask yourself.

Once you can answer a few questions about the room, then start curating art that will answer the questions.

For my new living room, it already had bold prints from the rug and the leather added textural interest.

The current living room exuded a modern mountain bungalow vibe to me. There were pops of black here and there.

I knew that a black and white art sketch would lend itself to the pops of black. It also would keep things simple visually. The black and gold frame also upped the sophistication of the art and therefore added a perfect accent.

Finding Original Art

When I say find original art, I do not mean paying several thousand bucks for a NY Met piece of art. I just mean don’t go for the copy cat print version of a Monet or Van Gogh.

That instantly says cheesy art and you know what that means. Cheesy room.

If you are reading this, I am pretty sure you don’t want a cheesy room!

Take a look at my third step.

Be patient

This is the step I believe we often get to and give up. After scrolling past page after page  of artwork, it’s super easy to get overwhelmed.

But everything is a state of mind. If you know going into it that it will take some time, then it will be easier.

Like anything else in life, after acceptance comes freedom.

Accept the fact that you will have to endure a few rounds of scrolling and filter sessions to narrow down pieces and it will release that tension.

For myself, I started with the black and white sketch knowing I had seen others on Pinterest and Instagram, but I didn’t want to use the same one.

It became a personal challenge to see if I could find something with the same vein, but a different pose.

Voila, after a couple scrolling sessions, I found it!

Isn’t she pretty? And this is a pose I haven’t seen before. Due to my budget, I didn’t have to pay a substantial amount of money to obtain the look.

On a side note, I love curating original and artisan work. However in this instance, I put most of my budget into the new furniture. So websites like Aaron Brothers came to the rescue!

Layering Art with Photography pieces

My fourth step is a easy one.

When I find myself not knowing what to pair together, my go to is the photography section.

I then narrow it down even further with black and white photography or color.

In this example, since my sketch was black and white, I wanted to look for something with color. But not too bright.

This cute beach umbrella photo was a fun nod to an otherwise serious artful note. Yet, it is classy enough to add to the existing level of sophistication.

Adding life to a room with photography is a instant fix to the cozy factor. No matter what style you love, you want warmth and cozy.

A sterile room no matter how stylized is not a haven.

And I am 100% convinced a cozy home is a happy home. Am I right?

Picking out Frames

The fifth secret is to visualize the right frame.

Along with taking the time to curate art, and complementing several pieces together, the framing of each art is crucial.

Lucky for all of us, most art websites have visual programs where you can pick the art and frame together to see what it would look like.

This has been extremely helpful for me. Once I can see what the art looks like in a black wide frame or a thin white frame with gilded gold, the decision is much easier.

So do not be afraid to play around with it! If you know Photoshop or something similar, make a mood board and screenshot the frames. Then play with it on a mood board. This trick can totally give you the complete visual you need to click buy on the website.

I am so pleased with the artwork and layering of it all. Tell me, do you like what I did here with the art work? What is your favorite?

 

As always, I look forward to your input. I have conveniently listed the sources down below for you as well. Take a look to see how you can incorporate them into your home!

Happy day!