Is Large Art or Small Art Appropriate for my Living Space?

Is that a huge portrait of Napoleon in an enormous Burlesque frame? That's cool...

Depends. Tiny studios can be counter-intuitively enhanced by one large piece of artwork while very large rooms in homes can be dotted with several medium-sized framed works of art or photos. It’s about personal taste, creating a point of interest that doesn’t disrupt the flow of the room or home, and giving the art the space it needs to shine.

In addition to what the advice of an interior designer may be, or what you may have seen on an episode of pretty much any show on the HGTV network, ultimately what will drive how you decorate your home with artwork, photos, mirrors, shelves, and other wall-hung fixtures is up to you and what your personal style and intuition guide you to. Maybe you already knew that—but just in case you felt wildly compelled to do something you found in Home and Garden magazine, don’t. Add your unique flair when hanging artwork and photos or you may find yourself sitting in a room where all you can focus on is how much you’re not feeling the love for how something looks or feels to you when you’re in it.

Don’t decorate to please mom and dad, other relatives, or friends—all of these people have their own spaces to decorate and hang art any way they choose. If you like how they do it and want to mimic it, then cool; but if you’re doing what your mother-in-law insists upon, there’s going to be emotional resentment there, and guess what else? She doesn’t have to live there—you do!

When many of us move into a new space, one of the most likely outcomes is that we simply don’t take the time to hang mirrors, artwork, photos, and shelves. But conversely, many of us jump the gun, and start hanging all sorts of business all over the place before we have a connection to the new house, apartment or studio. Let yourself live in the space for at least a week or two and get a sense of its flow before you get trigger-happy with the drill and the picture hanging hardware.

So what size art and or mirrors are “right” for your new digs? It’s completely up to you. While some may love an enormous eight-foot by eight-foot abstract canvas from a local gallery for a wall that can barely accommodate it, others might love the idea of dotting that same size wall with a dozen or more little pieces of artwork, mirrors, or other “off the beaten path” decor. Most important of all: don’t judge lest yee be judged! Unless a friend or relative asks, “What do you think about how I have decorated this wall?” keep opinions to yourself; if they’re comfortable in their new home, let them have it, don’t question how they have hung their art or artifacts, or that crazy African mask they found at Goodwill.

The takeaway? Love your space by doing things your own way, and don’t judge others for how they chose to hang pictures in their space. And of course, always use YOUHANGIT to get those pictures and mirrors up on the wall—one thing we can all agree on is that streamlining the process of decorating a home is never a bad call!