How to choose art for your living room

After fifty years of painting for other people's walls, Donna has watched hundreds of paintings meet their rooms. Some sing immediately. A few have to be moved three times before they settle. Here is what she has learned.

Start with the wall, not the painting. Measure the space you have: a painting above a sofa or sideboard usually works best at roughly two-thirds the width of the furniture beneath it. Too small and it looks lost; a painting that slightly overfills a wall always looks more confident than one that underfills it.

Let the room lead on colour. You do not need a painting that matches the cushions, but it should talk to them. A colourful abstract can carry a neutral room entirely; in an already busy room, look for one or two colours in the painting that echo something already there.

Think about light. A painting opposite a window will change through the day, which is part of the pleasure of an original over a print: layered paint and texture catch the light differently morning and evening.

Finally, choose with your gut. The right painting is the one you keep thinking about after you have looked away. Everything else is just hanging it straight.

You can try any of Donna's paintings on a living room, bedroom, dining room or study wall, at real size and in nine wall colours, with the See it in a room feature on each painting's page.

Source: Donna's gallery ↗