How to Choose Art for a Living Room
The right piece for a living room balances scale, color story, and focal point with the homeowner’s personal style and comfort level with bold work. Not everyone wants a loud, colorful statement piece in their most-used room — even if it’s stunning on its own. I work with interior designers to find pieces that hit that balance for their spaces.
Rules of Thumb
Art should always relate to the scale of the space and the furniture within it — think furniture width, eye-level hanging height, and enough wall space for a piece to breathe. A common guideline: art should span roughly two-thirds the width of the furniture below it, enough presence to anchor the space without overwhelming it. A large piece like Homestead (shown below) looks incredible in a hotel lobby or an open living room with high ceilings, but would overwhelm a smaller, cozier room with limited wall space. For those spaces, softer, smaller originals or prints that nestle comfortably on the wall — without competing with everything else in the room — are the better fit.
Color & Palette Matching
The trick to selecting the right piece of art when it comes to color is to pull from existing decor without being too “matchy.” I always start with temperature first — it narrows my choices by about 50%. Is the palette of the room warm-toned or cool-toned? In general, a designer will either lean into one temperature or let it dominate the room. If a room is filled with warm woods, browns, ochres, and creams, I’ll steer away from a piece heavy in blues, greens, grays, and cooler neutrals. Instead, I look for a piece that may not share the exact colors but carries the same warm undertones as the space. Below is an example of a warm-toned room with beautiful browns and creams, and two of my pieces that would work well in it.
Room: A Los Angeles living room by Jake Arnold. Photo: By Michael Clifford. Art: Collage 249 | | Black Walnut
Framed vs. Unframed vs. Canvas Floater for the Living Room
Selecting the right frame is often the trickiest part of the art selection process — there’s usually more than one option that could work, so the goal is finding the one that best highlights the art and complements the room.
In general, a framed original or print — with glass and a mat or generous white space around the art — is the softer choice. This works best for smaller pieces, more delicate room settings, and spaces that call for quieter decor.
A canvas floater frame, where the art is printed full-bleed, is a bolder, more dominant look. Floater frames work well as statement pieces — over a mantel or sofa — and can be shipped at much larger sizes. I also love a small canvas print in a floater frame; it’s a versatile in-between option, though it will still read more dominant than a matted piece. Small floater-framed canvases look beautiful stacked between windows in a contemporary living room, or filling a corner or transitional wall that needs some personality.
Cardboard Box (left: paper print | right: canvas floater frame)
Mood and Subject Matter for the Space
A living room can support either bold, conversation-starting art or something quieter and more contemplative — it depends entirely on how the homeowner wants the space to feel. This is the room where people gather, where families entertain friends, and it’s often the first space people see when they enter a home. Because of that, personality and taste matter more here than almost anywhere else, and this is where an artist and designer really need to pay attention to the client’s needs.
I learned this firsthand. Early on, when a designer asked what I had available, I’d send my whole site, or I’d send the pieces I personally loved most — without really considering whether they fit the room in question. Over time, I realized the better approach was to actually study the details of the space first, then curate a handful of options that genuinely fit: sometimes an older piece that happened to be perfect, sometimes something small and unexpected. I’m used to leaning toward my framed canvas prints, but I’ve learned that a small original is sometimes the right call, even if it’s not what I’d normally lead with.
A statement piece might look marvelous and sophisticated in a living room layout — but if the homeowner wants the space to feel like a calm sanctuary rather than a lively, entertaining one, a bold piece will be a turn-off. Statement art also tends to shine in a more minimal, neutral space — white walls and cream furniture are practically a blank slate begging for something dynamic. A smaller living room with a boho, eclectic style, on the other hand, might call for a gallery wall of multiple smaller framed paper prints.
Designer-Specific Tip
If you're a designer working on a living room project, I offer a trade program with 20% off for ongoing collaborations. Sign up here to get access to the code, plus early looks at new work before it's listed.
Shop the Look
A few pieces well-suited to a living room, depending on the mood you’re after:
Homestead — bold, large-scale statement for open, high-ceiling spaces
Cardboard Box — cool-toned and coastal inspired, with an abstract, flowing, soothing quality
Black Walnut — warm, grounded tones for a room built around browns and creams
Interlude — a quieter statement piece, ideal for a calmer living room (shown at top)