Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Deciding on Artwork

India Hicks via Domino
Deciding on art for a room is one of the hardest things for me.  There are so many options.  The sources are endless.  And, to top it off I am very fickle.  I'm ashamed to say we have virtually no artwork hanging in the house.  I know.... sad.
After deliberating for months, I have finally decided on artwork for my bedroom (mind you, only 1 wall).  And, it wasn't until I did this post that I realized I followed a series of steps to make my final decision.  So, here are the steps I took.  The first question I asked myself, given the space I was considering, is what style do I want?  For example,
1) Framed series vs. Mixed gallery vs. Single piece?  
Steven Gambrel  
Kristen Buckingham 
I decided to do a framed series.  While I love the mixed gallery look, I don't have a ton of art to fill the space right now.  Besides, when doing a mix, I would like the look to appear like it has evolved over time and not to be too staged.  I don't have the budget to do a large piece of artwork so, I settled on the framed series.  I, then, asked myself 

2) how do I choose the art?

I have no design experience so I don't know the rules per se. What I've learned is that you need to consider scale.  This consideration tailored my search.  For example, for a framed series, I already had 11 x 14 frames (which would fit well in the space I was considering) so the art I chose couldn't be bigger than 11 x 14.  

Michael Penney via CHH 
Then, I tried to visualize the feeling I was trying to create in the room.
3) What feeling am I going for (ethereal, vintage. organic, etc.)?
Etsy 

via absolutely beautiful things 
Then, I asked myself...
4) What colors need to be in the art to complement the color scheme I am using?
When I found a piece of artwork that had potential, I asked myself, do you love it?   If the answer was 'yes', it was a keeper.  So, when you're staring at a blank wall, how do you decide what artwork should go there?
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4 comments:

  1. carlee {deliciously organized}April 27, 2010 at 2:52 PM

    What wonderful steps you've taken on deciding. I think it's important to love what you put on your walls. I seem to change mine up a bit, but that's tough on my walls. Maybe if I put more thought into it, I wouldn't have to change it up so much!

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  2. Karen April 27, 2010 at 3:47 PM

    Excellent suggestions. I want to see what you did though! One thing I did when I decided to do a wall arrangement was to first decide on how large I wanted the entire perimeter of the arrangement to be. Then I used brown craft paper to simulate the perimeter. I finished by finding various frames and arranging them on the paper until I was happy-so I wouldn't put unnecessary holes in my walls.

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  3. Mary Ellen (ME)April 28, 2010 at 5:43 PM

    I think it is so interesting to learn about other peoples processes... I mean, there is no real right way or wrong way- just the way that makes the most sense to you. I can't wait to see your finished art arrangement!!!
    -ME xo

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  4. spark! (Ada-Marie)April 29, 2010 at 2:57 PM

    I can't wait to see what you decided on! Good luck -- design is always a journey!

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