Adorning your walls with art is one of the more fun yet still stressful parts of decorating a room. The possibilities are more or less endless. You want them to be pretty, cool, show your personality, connect to them, have them inspire you, make you smile, feel curated but not too curated, etc. Not to mention you want the scales and colors to be right and give each wall its own configuration (see this post if you need help with that:)) Well, that’s at least what I want (and strive for when choosing pieces). So today I thought it might be fun to walk through a bunch of art I’ve pinned so that I can sort through my art plan while showing y’all a bunch of awesome art AND giving you all of the online art sites I love/have been looking at.
I decided a while back I needed a separate “Art” pinboard for my living room makeover because currently, my general inspo board has over 1000 pins. I needed some order. What I quickly came to realize was I have a type. An art type, that is. Let me just show you…
I Have An Addiction To Shapes
Look at my old gallery wall. It’s full of all kinds of different shapes. And while I feel that I balanced it out enough with those few other art types and framing styles, I really want to make sure that I mix it up a bit more in my “new” living room. But we’re off to a geometric start ha.
Those pieces on the left are already hanging on one of my walls. I think the whole print set was $50 from Zara Home and I love them (sorry no longer available). While they are abstract shapes, I love the pops of subtle yet fun colors and are great jumping-off points for my color palette. The piece on the right was from the Lawson-Fenning x CB2 collab and I may never forgive myself for not getting it when I had the chance. I just wasn’t 100% sure if I had the right place for it at the time and because of that, spending those few hundred dollars didn’t make sense. FOOL! I think about it most days. I love the colors and that frame shape. If you have one and feel like parting ways with it please let me know in the comments!! Let me also say that I still have all of the art from my old apartment and plan to use a lot of those pieces. But I also want some new art energy (and have some new colors to incorporate).
Also, I FOUND THE RUG!!!! This poorly photoshopped photo doesn’t do it justice nor is the scale right but I think it’s going to be perfect. However…showing this rug to you all is important because it too has shapes all over it and reminds me how important mixing up the style of wall art is. But since we are on the topic of “shapes” I thought I would show you what I’ve pinned in this category (well most of what I’ve pinned:))
Geometric Shapes
1. Offering | 2. Geometric 11 | 3. Loves The Final Word | 4. 6am | 5. Cascade | 6. Luna Woodblock Print
I love the structure that these prints bring and I would happily own any of them. #2 feels both modern and ancient architecture-inspired which I love. The colors of #3 make me smile and we’ve all seen the power of a Block Shop print in the modern organic living room so this would also be beautiful.
Organic Shapes
1. Distant Hug | 2. Ficus Indica 25 Tiles Panel | 3. Forte De Sao | 4. Pieces 01 | 5. Green (Trough) | 6. Shapes 01 | 7. Brown Handmade Paper Collection (3) | 8. Rising Tide | 9. Montauk
This type of shape, the more organic type, might be my favorite. I love the bold fluidity of how the shapes of each piece work together. #1 is a little under $200 but is 39″x39″!! That’s HUGE!! Plus that bright blue is so happy. I really want to make sure that a handful of my art pieces have “happy colors” (at least happy me) and don’t just consist of traditional neutral tones. I love neutral tones and black-and-white art but given that there are already a decent amount of dark wood tones in the space (a big one being the floor), I want to make sure the room feels joyful and layered. For example, #9 is incredible and a darker piece I would LOVE if it wasn’t sold already but #5 and #6 are brighter.
Oh and #2 is actually a collection of tiles (that I’m pretty obsessed with) which probably belongs in the next category…whoops!
3-D Shapes
1. Realism No. 45 | 2. Blue Beauty | 3. Construction / II
If you have that episode of Parks and Rec where Tom (Aziz Ansari) commissions a piece of art that is just a bunch of shapes and he becomes completely mesmerized by it…me too and I am clearly Tom. But “3-D shapes” or pieces of art with texture that include shapes are such a great way to add dimension to your wall and I love all of these. I wish that one from Minted wasn’t sold out.
So Let’s Mix Up The Mediums
Textured Materials
1. Domestic Bliss | 2. Dove | 3. Textile Wall Art | 4. Indoor/Outdoor | 5. Geometric Textile Art | 6. Form 62 | 7. Mendocino | 8. All Animals Come Out Of The Cage | 9. Lines XX Painting
Speaking of texture and layered art, let’s talk about it. But first a disclaimer. Some of these pieces belong in more than one category but I tried to categorize them as best as I could. Now, I think having art made out of materials like fabric, cut-up pieces of paper, etc will give you a ton of visual dimension in your space which is important to me. I think this is also a fun place to add color like in #4 and #8. They look a little weird and modern which I think is something I need in at least a couple of my pieces.
Photography
1. FormH2-2 | 2. Constantine the Great | 3. Polaroid Peace
In retrospect, I had zero photos in my last apartment. What a crime! Like not even of my loved ones! But I love photography. Back when I was attempting to act in NY, I got my headshots done by this really cool woman who had the most amazing West Village apartment. All of the walls were covered in black and white photos and I remember thinking to myself, “I want my home to look like this one day.” I should have also been thinking, “you love interior design more than acting so maybe rethink some things.” Hey at least we got here and I continue to have a deep love of black-and-white photography (duh) and want to incorporate it in this room – maybe not floor-to-ceiling quite yet though. I’ll save that look for my amazing New York apartment I’ll have one of these days:) I like the idea of having an artsy photograph like one of the shots above but I am also considering framing an old family photo. Since I just went through all of my family’s really old photos I have some cool vintage photos that might make the cut. HA.
Still Lifes (ish)
This is a piece of art that belongs to my cousin’s husband (my CIL??) and I’ve loved it for years. Is it right for my living room? No. Plus stealing it might bring me down on the favorite family member’s list. I intend on staying near if not at the very top. But I love the idea of some more modern still life-ish/still life-inspired pieces.
1. Vintage Pink Bathroom Art Print | 2. VASE 04 Print | 3. Bottle of Secrets Painting | 4. Mystic Mood Board Painting | 5. Pomegranate Collage Print | 6. Brown / Olive green Downloadable Print
#1 was my attempt at seeing how I felt about finding something with the same essence as my CIL’s piece. And while that happy pink is a color I am incorporating into this room, it ultimately doesn’t feel right. It’s cute though! #2 and #5 seem much more in line with the general vibe so I might see if those are real contenders! I do though love love love #3 and #4. They are fun and playful and real paintings (which understandably also makes them not super affordable).
Typography
1. I Know Print | 2. Black Ace Card Poster | 3. When You’re Ready | 4. Hold Tight Baby Illustration | 5. Tea Towels for the New Math Collection x Craig Damrauer | 6. Kiss Print
Like most designers (not that I am one), I am very particular about typography art. While there’s nothing wrong with a “Live, Laugh, Love” sign, that’s just not for me. I do apparently, like a mildly ironic piece of typography art. #1 is by the same artist that makes the legs print I have and cherish. I also have #5 in hot pink from when I lived in Melbourne back in the day and that saying still makes me smile. But a hot pink tea towel is not something I want framed, hanging in this room. But a light blue tea towel is something I could get on board with. Plus it feels fun and fresh. We’ll see! Now I wish I could get my hands on an original “Hold tight Baby” piece!! I just couldn’t love it more. Not shown is an artist that my friends just told me about when I was visiting NY this past weekend. His name is Andy Blank and he makes really fun art, typography and otherwise, but this set is currently my favorite (and my friends’ favorite too).
Nature
1. Flume Watercolor Print | 2. Clouds | 3. Runyon Canyon 1 | 4. Clouds
A pretty easy way to contrast a bunch of abstract art pieces is with realistic to semi-realistic nature art. These are great to get vintage and I feel are pretty accessible at flea markets and thrift shops. But the internet is also full of them and these four are my favorites that I found. I will definitely have one that I hang in my living room:)
Line Drawings
1. Willow | 2. Shepherd Strumming A Lyre Mid Century Drawing | 3. “Florecimiento” | 4. Balance | 5. Beige Lilies | 6. The Woman 18P8 Drawing
Outside of organic shapes, line drawings have my heart! All six of these are so special! There were more on my pinboard but they were inpso shots from Tumbler so it sadly would have been useless to you. But line drawings are another one that can be super affordable or really expensive. It just depends on where you find your treasure. I’m pretty in love with #2.
Bodies Baby!
1. Pastel Dazed | 2. Undefined | 3. Untitled | 4. Bleu | 5. Mexico City Blues Print | 6. Indigo Blue Print
Ok so I bought one of these, can you guess??? It’s #3! For whatever reason when I saw it a couple of years ago I just loved it and haven’t stopped thinking about it since then. So I was very thankful that it was still available! The colors are happy, there isn’t a ton of detail, and I just like it. Not sure if I’ll buy any many more art with bodies on them since I have a few in my collection at home. But love all of these!
Misc.
1. Seminara Masks | 2. Large Shades of Navy Rosette | 3. Ring
Because of what I’ve learned over the years, I know the power of a 3-D/non traditional wall piece that isn’t framed art. Take my squiggle from Katie Gong that was in my last apartment. It made the whole space. So naturally, when I was searching I went to her site and again fell for her wall ring. What a simple but impactful piece of art. But if you are looking at that ribbon, thinking it’s not very on brand for me you are not wrong. I just loved it in this house tour from The Design Files (that I can’t find) and wanted to include it here:) Lastly, that mask from Minted is really special and I would genuinely love to have that in my house. Reminds me of my acting days ha.
Well, that’s the general idea! Of course, there are other things like mirrors, etc to consider but this is where my head is at and I hope you found some new places to shop from:)
Love you, mean it.
Opening Image Credits: Design by Scott Horne | Styled Velinda Hellen and Erik Kenneth Staalberg | Photo Sara Ligorria-Tramp
THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED HERE.
