Hanging different pieces of large wall décor throughout your home is an opportunity to tell a unique story about your humble abode. Few home décor features pack the same punch, but there are so many fun and distinctive style options out there.
So, how do you choose something best suited for your home? When presented with a big home decorating decision, it can help to start at the beginning. What’s the story you want your wall décor to tell?
From elegant fine-art pairs to bursts of dramatic feature colors, here are a few simple examples of how a carefully focused idea or emotion can inspire a genuinely distinctive décor statement.
Peel Back Time and Honor a Room’s History
If you live in an older home — or even an area with a venerable history — you may be sitting on a gold mine of home design potential. Piecing through architectural research may give you the perfect seed of an idea to create a crisp homage to your home’s architectural roots.
Another option is to delve a little into local history or even your family ancestry. Whatever angle you choose, the trick is to settle on both a color palette and one or more interesting focal points about which you can later tell a story. These may be portraits, old photographs, or even carefully mounted tools and equipment.
The convergence of design and history is bound to spark some interesting conversations.
Invoke Harmony and Cohesion with Fine-Art Pairs
What if the story you want to capture about your home is more so a feeling of peace and contentment? Your design go-to’s here will be calming colors, a judicious spacing of design features to create an airy feel and careful attention to light — which should be neither too cold nor too claustrophobic.
One powerful design strategy you can employ and play around with is building a subtle sense of resonance with fine art pairs. These cohesive artworks visually “talk” to one another in uniquely harmonious ways. Now, say you’re looking for a side-by-side visual statement. You’ll then want to search for fine-art pairs that offer a different perspective on the same scene — a coastal view, for example.
But if a more subtle story of welcome and calm is more your style, seek out a diptych whose design elements convey a less literal visual resonance. For instance, you might be drawn to fine-art pairs with a similar color range or pairings that explore different angles on the same design elements.
Go Big with Bright, Bold, Daring Contrasts
Of course, a big wall offers an enticing opportunity for grandeur. Moreover, it’s a standing invitation to be bold and daring with your décor. Big, high-contrast artworks are ideal here, but avoid clutter and surrounding décor paraphernalia at all costs.
A word of caution, though: You’ll need to be utterly unapologetic in your search for the perfect artwork; it needs to be for you and no one else. A daring statement, by definition, can’t be bland. Nor should it be harmonious, as we saw with our fine-art pairs.
Let that single statement piece command your whole room, without a hint of distraction or compromise.
Go Small! Invite Closer Inspection
Let’s look at an equal and opposite design possibility. Instead of inviting visitors to stand back and admire your décor from afar, lure them in with an intricate assortment of intriguing personal objects for careful inspection.
If your goal is to tell a visual story of details, you can successfully side-step a hokey vibe by activating your visitors’ five basic senses. Give them unusual pieces to touch and inspect from all angles. Incorporate items that mysteriously rattle. Invite curiosity!
Your Opportunity to Weave a Story
Why not let a story idea be your design guide? Deciding between period-accurate colors and the harmony of fine-art pairs — or any of the myriad of design possibilities — may boil down to one simple question: What does your home mean to you?
