Professional Tips for Choosing Artwork for Your Dining Room

Buying artwork doesn’t naturally for most people. Galleries can seem intimidating at first sight, and even speaking to an artist can be difficult because issues such as style and size aren’t very easy to discuss when shopping for artwork for the first time.

However, the biggest issue is picking artwork for public spaces, such as the living room and dining room. While places such as the bedroom and kitchen provide a level of privacy that may mask your flaws, public spaces display your mistakes to everyone, including your guests.

Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone. If you’re wondering how to pick the right art pieces for your dining room, we’ve rounded up five valuable professional tips to help you find the best picks.

1. Find something you love

The first and most important rule when buying artwork is to buy something that gives you excitement. Art should evoke emotion, and one of the best emotions you can get from the artwork is excitement. So choose something that makes you happy. You may also want something that makes you feel calm or one that reminds you of the most important moments in your life.

Professional tips for choosing artwork for your dining room

More importantly, remember that you don’t have to settle. While it’s common to compromise when selecting artwork, you should treat the selection process the same way you’d approach furniture selection.

2. Consider the style and mood of the room

Another crucial consideration when selecting artwork is the style and mood of the room. What mood do you want? For example, an abstract in soothing tones can help create a sense of calm in the dining room. Meanwhile, a landscape or series of black and white photos can help create a sense of connection and conversation.

Professional tips for choosing artwork for your dining room

The style is just as important. For example, if you’re trying to create a Hamptons-style dining room, you need to find artwork with coastal themes in tones of blue. However, if your style leans more towards eclectic, retro prints with bold tones would serve you best.

When in doubt, framing the art piece allows you to blend it better into the décor. This is especially true if you feel that the artwork is a little off. Frame it or swap out the framing to choose a frame color and design that better fits the reigning style.

3. Consider the size of the artwork

You need to consider two things here, i.e., the size of the art piece and the amount of space available on your walls. The reason is that you must achieve balance in the placement. If the artwork is too small, it may not even be visible. Meanwhile, if it’s too big, it may overpower the room.

Professional tips for choosing artwork for your dining room

A professional piece of advice here is to go for one large artwork (one meter or larger in length) if you’re looking for a focal point for your dining room and multiple small pieces (46-60cm long) if you want to create a gallery wall. Medium-sized options are also available and can be grouped or used as stand-alone pieces.

A professional piece of advice here is to go for one large artwork

Still on size, keep it proportional. Pictures shouldn’t be more than two-thirds longer than the largest furniture in the room. Also, consider height. Wall art is best positioned at least 15cm above the highest point of your furniture.

4. Consider color

Another professional tip when choosing artwork for your dining room is to choose a color scheme that ties into the rest of the décor. This doesn’t mean that you can’t mix and match colors. Of course, you can. However, choosing within the existing color scheme can help you find something you love, which is more likely to fit into your décor.

So, we recommend two things when selecting artwork colors. First, make use of accent hues. Find a color or two that are already in your room, and let the two colors help you select the right piece of art. Doing so enhances cohesion and consistency for a simple yet sophisticated result.

Alternatively, go bold but within reason. Select the most noticeable color in your color scheme and translate it into your wall art. Feel free to play around with shades in both approaches.

5. Find your perfect number

Finally, you also need to determine how many art pieces you want in your living room. Maybe just one is enough? Or perhaps you want two or three? It comes down to a number of factors.

First, you need to consider space availability. If you don’t have much space, you must keep the number of pieces to a minimum.

Professional tips for choosing artwork for your dining room

Another factor is artwork size. It goes without saying that if you opt for larger pieces, then you can’t have too many of them in the room. In fact, if you prefer a large piece measuring over a meter in length, then you can only have one such piece within the room, perhaps flanked by a few tiny pieces.

Summary

Choosing artwork for your dining room can be a massive task if it’s your first time. The professional tips above would be an excellent starting point.