“Live with art, It’s good for you!” – Jen Beckman
Did someone say art? This week’s Happy House Rules is a bit like last week’s plant challenge: when added to your home it has a HUGE impact in changing the atmosphere of your space and life.
“Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.” ~ Plato
And so it is with art. You don’t need to own a particular artist’s piece or subscribe to a particular style. The art we’re talking about is art in your home that’s personal and makes you smile, feel inspired or remember wonderful moments in your life. It needn’t be scary or unreachable (though of course we encourage you to dream about some original you think is awesome ;). We’d like to introduce you to the idea that living with art is great, and even better, it can be really be FUN.
1. How to NOT get overwhelmed
There is a lot of art out there so I can imagine that it is a daunting task to figure out where to start – the best suggestion I have is to look around the web, in museums, fairs, friend’s collections and start saving pictures of the types of things that catch your eye – you’ll notice a pattern after a while of the things you like which can help inform you on the type of art to buy.
2. You don’t have to commit: Lean It
Consider leaning your art up against the wall, a windowsill or on some magazines. Also nice if you are too scared to make holes in the wall or can’t hang your art because you’re in a rental. Don’t let that little detail stop you! Piero Gemilli’s place above should be inspiration enough to try it.
3. Buy (or paint or print) ONE BIG WOW piece
The above pic is also a great example of how 1 single piece of art can change the entire vibe of a space – just place your hand over the B&W face in the picture and see what happens. Interesting huh? The takeaway is, once piece CAN completely change the feeling of a room. The paintings below are also a perfect example of how one piece can give your room the ‘wow’ factor it needs – in addition, they are huge relative to the size of the room – which is another designer trick that ups the fab stakes. Don’t be afraid to supersize your art, especially if your space is small! I should know, my place is narrow but the second pic below is in my home. It actually makes the space feel bigger.
4. Consider Poster Art (Trending)
If buying paintings isn’t for you, then a very big trend right now, which is also relatively cheap and easy to do, is poster art. Never before has there been as huge a selection to choose from, from daintily drawn numbers to graphic text and shapes in black and white and full colour! I wanted to show you my faves but, as there are so many, instead here are some posters from some of my favourite people Mariela, Cat and Kerry (click on the pic to get to their webshops):
5. Buy what you love
Above all, the best advice when it comes to adding art to your homes is to buy what you love, unless you’re an aficionado and are buying for investment purposes. Though, even in that case, I would suggest to only buy it if you love it because you will have to look at it everyday. (Art should never be hidden away in my opinion!).
I’ll be back later in the week with some tips about different ways to think about and display your art and a bit about 3D art too. Until then, we’d love you to play with us on Instagram, Facebook or Tumblr or send us an email, whatever is easiest for you but definitely play our happy house rules this week and:
SHOW US YOUR ART!*
* if you’re playing on social media – snap a pic, tag us @apartmentdiet & #showusyourart so we can feature you
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