THE MOST COMMON PITFALLS INTERIOR DESIGNERS WANT YOU TO AVOID. the ultimate guide to saving time, money and avoiding long-term headaches when buying art
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
So you are looking for art for your home or office… art that’s meaningful, art that makes you happy… art that makes your home feel like YOUR home.
Whether or not you ultimately choose my artwork for your space I want to make sure you achieve your vision. That’s where this guide comes in. Because over the years, I’ve repeatedly seen people just like you commit avoidable art buying faux pas that put their vision of a dream space at risk.
I don’t want the same to happen to you.
And so I created this guide. I worked closely with leading local, national and global interior designers, consulted psychologists and many other artists — all with the singular goal to put you in the best position to confidently buy the artwork you love and create a space that invites daydreams.
A lot of it is the same advice I’ve been sharing with my collectors around the world for years, advice that has led to dozens of reimaged spaces (and a plethora of shiny fivestar reviews on Google that I am very proud of!)
Now I’m sharing it all with you, to make sure you start your art buying journey off right and without making costly mistakes. Let’s dive in.
A QUICK INTRODUCTION...
If we haven’t met yet Hi, I’m Lars. I’m an award-winning contemporary fine art photographer with a gallery in West Seattle. I use my camera to turn meditative moments in nature into beautiful artwork for your empty walls. I am on a mission with my art to spread calmness in an increasingly loud world and help you turn your home into a peaceful haven
But I also know that the process of choosing art can be anything but calm. In fact, oftentimes, it can induce bouts of stress and insecurity. I don’t want that for you. Hence this guide.
I’ve used my background as a former journalist to cut through the tough-to-navigate noise of the hard-to-trust online advice world, filtered out the bits and pieces I know you’ll want to use and intentionally kept all of this as practical, easy-to-apply, real-life advice.
Are you ready to dive in and meet your new artwork?
WHAT’S INSIDE THIS GUIDE?
THE CLIFF NOTES: 6 QUICK TIPS THAT WILL HELP YOU FIND ART FOR ANY SPACE PAGE 6
TIP #1: DON’T FALL INTO THE SAME TRAP AS MOST HOMEOWNERS PAGE 7
TIP #2: KNOW THE ART OF BIOPHILIC INTERIOR DESIGN PAGE 9
TIP #4: HOW DIFFERENT COLORS INFLUENCE YOUR MOOD DIFFERENTLY PAGE 16
TIP #3: STOP THINKING ABOUT “DECORATING” YOUR SPACE PAGE 12
TIP #5: YOUR ROOM NEEDS A FOCAL POINT, NOT MORE CLUTTER PAGE 19
WHAT’S INSIDE THIS GUIDE?
TIP #6: SIZE MATTERS. BUT SO DOES PROPORTION PAGE 22
TIP #7: THE WAY OUT OF ANALYSIS PARALYSIS PAGE 24
BONUSES: PERSONALIZED ART SUGGESTIONS, SIZING HELP & A SAVINGS CODE PAGE 26
THE CLIFF NOTES
6 QUICK TIPS THAT WILL HELP YOU FIND ART FOR ANY SPACE
Art is a hyper-effective interior design tool. The right piece of art is one of the most effective ways to quickly change the visual appeal of any room and how the space feels.
Consider the size and scale of your room. Large pieces of art make a statement in spacious rooms and make smaller spaces look bigger. If you don’t have much wall space, a smaller piece of art will still add a lot of interest to your room. Know that a piece of art that’s too small for a big space can feel insignificant, and a piece that is too large can overwhelm a space. Take advantage of my free mockup service to confidently choose the right size.
Consider the color scheme of your room. Is your room dominated by a mostly neutral color palette? Consider a colorful piece of art for the eye to be drawn to Already have a lot of color? Choose more neutral colors for your artwork, or calming blues & greens for the eye to retreat to.
Love the art but it doesn’t match the room’s style? Choose a frame that connects the art to the room.
Looking to make a statement? Big pieces of art in bedrooms, gathering areas and offices are a great way to make a bold, beautiful statement in those special spaces that you spend so much time in.
Taking lighting into account. The available light in your space will have a significant impact on the visual appeal of your artwork. Thinking about light does not necessarily mean artificial light, though. My artwork is produced using paper that have a dynamic relationship with light, shifting depth perceptions based on the angle of the light, while the TruLife acrylic works to reduce glare. If you do go the route of wired lighting for your piece, there are several options available, and I’d be happy to help walk you through them.
OKAY... ARE YOU READY TO REALLY DIVE INTO THE MISTAKES TO AVOID NOW?
TIP #1: DON’T FALL INTO THE SAME TRAP AS MOST HOMEOWNERS.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT BLANK WALL NOW OR ELSE…
Most people who look for art do so for two reasons you tell me which camp you fall into… You either just moved into a new space (or remodeled). Or you have been in your space for quite a while, and that empty wall is really starting to stare you in the face. There’s a third group, of course (and if this is you, feel free to skip ahead to Tip #2): You weren’t actually looking for artwork, maybe you think you don’t even have space for it, but something about my work just speaks to you and now you are reading this guide (how exciting!).
But if you are Team New Space or Team Procrastinator, let me tell you you’ve got a lot of company. I talk to dozens of people just like you every month about art for their spaces. What I hear over and over again was recently also pointed out in an article on the Redfin blog: At an alarming rate, homeowners consider wall art only at the very end of the interior design process. Walls are left untouched until everything else is “done”. That’s a mistake.
Let me ask you this: Have you ever lived in a
Art and nature are refuges for exhausted minds. Use my artworks to turn any room into a dream space.
place that felt like it was completely “done”? I sure haven’t. There’s always projects. Most of them we put off for years and years, because once we get the space to an acceptable state, we are too tired / burned out to actually tackle yet another big decision or life just simply gets in the way. The result? Team New Space slowly becomes Team Procrastinator, often through no fault of their own, and the walls stay empty Meanwhile, our busy lives keep us indoors for 80-90 percent of our days, all in uninspired spaces. Sound familiar?
The problem is that more than likely, empty walls mean the room lacks character, and you are left longing for a feeling of “homeyness”, despite your best intentions and despite advice from interior designers who will tell you that the best thing you can do to make a space feel like home as quickly as possible is to put up art
on your walls that makes you feel comfortable emotionally.
Instead, you continue to feel restless, stressed out, overly anxious. Why do we do this to ourselves? "It can be so unexpectedly calming to take actions you’d been fearing or delaying", writes psychologist and author Oliver Burkemann. "When you can no longer turn back, anxiety falls away." Buy the art you love Not someday Today
Just to be clear: Of course, your space needs somewhere to sit down during the day and lay your head at night first. That’s a given. Couches, chairs, beds are essential for physical comfort. But art, my interior designer friends don’t tire to point out, is essential for emotional comfort in your home. Only when you feel both physically AND emotionally comfortable will your space ever get close to being “done”.
TRUTH #1: DON'T WAIT TO CHOOSE ART UNTIL EVERYTHING ELSE IS "DONE". LIFE WILL CONTINUE TO GET IN THE WAY. DON'T LET IT.
TIP #2: KNOW THE ART OF BIOPHILIC INTERIOR DESIGN
YOU ARE ALREADY PART OF A NEW INTERIOR DESIGN MOVEMENT.
We are genetically pre-disposed to love nature. Even if hiking and camping aren’t your thing, a love for nature and the way it relaxes tired minds is in your genes. Scientists call it Biophilia.
I dare you to disagree. You don’t like looking at water, or the sound of the ocean? Hate the smell of flowers? A walk in the woods repulses you? The touch of leather or wood doesn’t do anything for you? Listening to a bird’s song might as well be construction noise? I thought so. It’s in our genes.
But what does that have to do with your home and choosing art?
Well, for a few years now, there’s been a groundswell in the interior design community to more consciously incorporate the concept of Biophilia in creating nature-inspired living spaces. If nature makes us happy and more relaxed, it only makes sense to surround ourselves with it as much of it as we can, right? Especially when we spend more and more of our lives inside, despite our best intentions…
“Lars’ art manages to give emotions space and shape. His images are a garden for the soul that can be entered at any given time to find rest and relaxation ” Nicole Traxel, collector
Doctor’s offices and spas have been taking advantage of the calming qualities of nature for decades. Now residential interior designers are catching up and are starting to consciously use more natural elements as well including artworks depicting nature scenes.
West Seattle’s own Paula Kennedy is at the forefront of this new Biophilic interior design movement. Paula is a dear friend of mine, and she and I have had many hours-long conversations specifically about the power of nature-based artwork in interior design.
“Even though it’s of course always better to be outside, we get just as many benefits health-wise, mentally and spiritually, by bringing nature into our homes”, Paula, who grew up along the Oregon coast, told me. “Having a piece of art showing me the Oregon Coast, having that memory of my childhood that I get to connect with, having that split-second of a micro break in our busy lives, is filling us emotionally and helping us feel nurtured in our space.”
Biophilic interior design is also a concerted effort to create a home that connects with its surroundings. After all, you are proud of where you live, aren’t you?
It may not surprise you that scientists have come up with a name for that “live local” bond as well, and it leans heavily on the Biophilia idea: They call it topophilia becoming more grounded emotionally and spiritually by creating a strong bond with the place where you live, as author Ruth Allen explains in her wonderful book, “Grounded How Connection With Nature Can Improve Our Mental And Physical Wellbeing”.
“If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace. ” French philosopher Gaston Bachelard in, “The Poetics of Space"
Or, as the neuroscientist slash author Heather Sternberg explains in her book “Healing Spaces”: People who have learned to associate a place with a positive feeling will benefit from simply being in that place or even just looking at a photograph of it.
It’s a good explanation why most of my collectors buy art that celebrates local natural beauty and in one case, why they chose to hang my image GUIDING LIGHT in their home, even though they are looking at the original lighthouse right outside their window.
Curating a space, choosing art, is all about connection. Ask yourself: What memories and places do you want to feel connected to? Where does your mind wander when you let it?
TRUTH #2: THE STUDY OF BIOPHILIA HAS SPARKED A NEW WAVE OF NATUREINSPIRED INTERIOR DESIGN PRACTICES. THEY ARE MEANT TO HELP YOU CONNECT TO YOUR INNATE LONGING FOR NATURE EVEN WHILE YOU SPEND TIME INSIDE. DON’T DISREGARD ITS POTENT IMPACT ON YOUR MOOD.
“Lars worked me to find the perfect piece and size, and I am absolutely obsessed with it. While this is my first piece of his, I have a feeling that it won’t be my last.” Sarah Gallagher, collector
TIP #3: STOP
THINKING
ABOUT “DECORATING” YOUR SPACE
INSTEAD, THINK ABOUT CULTIVATING AND CURATING ENERGY. HOW DO YOU WANT TO FEEL WHEN YOU WALK INTO THE ROOM?
Whenever West Seattle interior designer Paula Kennedy starts working with a new client, she doesn’t start talking about different options for sofas, tables, or kitchen finishes for a good long while. “Clients don’t always know what they want,” Paula says.
So what does she do instead to find out what it is that her clients actually want?
She asks a simple question. “How do you want to feel when you come into the room?”
“This is a much better approach, because the answer to this question they can feel in their gut,” Paula says. There are certain answers she hears over and over again: We want to feel nurtured, rejuvenated, refreshed. And: We want our spaces to be an escape from the world, a safe haven from the busyness outside. All of these wishes, it turns out, are variations of a common theme: the desire for calmness.
The second question Paula asks: “Where is your happy place?”
With that question, she brings a crucial piece to how you feel into the equation: your memories. The more a space sparks positive memories, the more likely it is you feel yourself returning to a place of emotional comfort and calmness.
You can, nay, you should, use that same approach to your advantage when you choose art.
Stop thinking about art as merely another piece of decor, and instead start looking at it as a vehicle to curate the kind of energy you want to feel in your space. After all, most interior designers don’t tire to point out: Art is one of the most potent ways to change how a room feels. And if you change how a room feels, you change how you feel when you’re in it. Art is a window into the world you want to live in.
But how do you choose a piece of art that will repeatedly and reliably make you feel the way you want to feel in your space?
For (obvious) starters, the piece will have to make you feel something inside when you look at it. Plus when you think about your happy place, my fine art nature photography has the distinct advantage that it can take you there time and again. But if, beyond first glance, you are looking to curate a certain energy in your space, you can also borrow from the psychology of
“A beautiful piece of art that will always bring us back home.” Mark Lewis, collector
interior design and even the ancient art of Feng Shui to choose the art that will help you achieve your goals.
Take, for example, the layout and orientation of the elements in your space (and your artwork). “Linear lines are very relaxing”, Paula says. “Vertical lines, on the other hand, are very dynamic and high energy. So, often, in bedrooms and bathroom spaces in particular, I like to work with horizontal lines to achieve a relaxing feeling.” In those spaces, panoramic photographs work well, as well as any fine art photograph with great depth that has a distinct horizon line present, like coastal scenes, or a wide meadow, or images of gently rolling hills.”
Suzanne Roynon always works with natural elements in her clients spaces. Notably, Suzanne doesn’t fancy herself an interior designer as much as an interiors therapist, meaning she specializes in working to create the kind of energy her clients desire in their homes using time-tested Feng Shui principles. Suzanne and I had a fascinating, long conversation about how to use my fine art nature images in her line of work, and she had lots of helpful examples.
“Let’s use some of the images on your website,” she told me. “If somebody told me: I need strength, I need to feel able to stand up for myself and feel a
What if your happy place was just a glance away?
sense of stability and surety, I’d say: Let’s use mountain imagery.” Or: “If you are prone to feeling frazzled, if you have a hard time relaxing, then take advantage of the calming energy of water images so that stress is just wiped away in that area of the house.”
And if you are looking for art for your office, where you may desire productivity, growth and prosperity? “If you wanted your business to grow and grow, imagery of a strong tree growing skyward would help you visualize that”, Suzanne suggested.
You can read more of Suzanne’s specific room-by-room recommendations in this Homeward Journal essay I wrote a while ago. But in the meantime, stop thinking about art merely as a decor item to be checked off the list, as you are robbing yourself of an amazing opportunity to curate a space that feels the way you want to feel. You’ll get there when you adopt Paula’s and Suzanne’s mindset of tapping into the energy and emotions and memories you desire most.
TRUTH #3: NATURE AND NATURAL ELEMENTS HAVE INFLUENCED INTERIOR DESIGN AND FENG SHUI PRACTICES FOR DECADES. ART IS YOUR WINDOW INTO THE WORLD YOU WANT TO LIVE IN. IT STARTS WITH ASKING YOURSELF HOW YOU WANT TO FEEL.
Water contemplation, calmness, acceptance, forgiveness, therapeutic. Water is the element of emotion
Light & Air — Flow, peacefulness, serenity, mindfulness. Air is the element of intelligence, creativity and beginnings (the first breath).
“Lars was easy to work with and helpful, and his digital mockup service made me feel confident in both the choice of artwork as well as the right size for my space. ” Eric Graham, collector
TIP #4: DO YOU REALIZE HOW DIFFERENT COLORS INFLUENCE
YOUR MOOD?
What’s your favorite color? Do you know why it’s your favorite color?
The reason I ask is a whole lot more interesting than learning a random piece of trivia about you
Over the course of centuries, the field of color psychology has helped us understand how certain colors influence our moods differently. There are the calming blues and greens, and the motivating happy yellows. There are the clean whites and the energetic reds.
Understanding colors powerful emotional cues helps you understand your deep-seeded desires. You may not even be aware of this connection, but that doesn’t weaken the link. If you are a lover of blues, chances are you love water, chances are one of your primary goals is to cultivate calmness. If you are drawn to yellows and oranges and reds, chances are you are a highly energetic person, someone who has trouble sitting still for too long because the world is just too big a place.
Is it just me or isn’t this stuff fascinating to think about?!? Read On —>
Modern art interior design is all about creating a sleek, sophisticated space that reflects your personal style and aesthetic.
Knowing how our favorite colors impact our moods, we can use that knowledge to our advantage when choosing art to curate a space that makes us feel a certain way (which you have all figured out now after reading Tip #3). After all, “nothing creates a sense of belonging quite as much as color does,” writes Karen Haller, the leading International authority in applied color psychology, in her book, “The Little Book of Color How to Use the Psychology of Color to Transform Your Life”.
Remember how I talked about West Seattle interior designer Paula Kennedy being at the forefront of the Biophilic interior design movement? Does it surprise you that she incorporates a lot of earthy colors, calming neutrals and nature-inspired greens and blues in her design especially given that most of her clients live in the Pacific Northwest, where those colors reign supreme?
Nope, me neither. It all starts to make sense. Which begs the question: Why are not more of us using this knowledge consciously? Turns out, studies show that 95 percent of people are nervous about choosing colors for their home, and 75 percent design their homes not to please themselves but someone else.
I am here to help you change that. Because when it comes to choosing colors for our
homes, it is not even just about cultivating a mood or a specific kind of energy in a space, as Haller writes. “Color will always create a mood, but what we are looking for is the impact it has on the way we behave. When you know the behavior you want to see, you can choose the colors that will support it.”
Make sure you you refer to this handy chart to find the perfect colors for your space and artwork needs
And if you want to know more about the fascinating world of color psychology, I suggest you read Haller’s book or start with this Homeward Journal article. In the meantime, for your convenience, there is an option on my website to view all my artworks organized by color so once you have chosen which energy you want to cultivate in your home, you can chose a piece of art whose primary color will help you achieve your goal.
TRUTH #4: UNDERSTANDING BASIC COLOR PSYCHOLOGY
AND CHOOSING ART ACCORDINGLY WILL HELP YOU GET WELL ON YOUR WAY TO UNLOCKING THE KIND OF ENERGY YOU LONG FOR IN YOUR SPACE.
“In addition to him being an amazing artist, he is an even more amazing person. He personally delivered our art and helped us decide where best to hang it The final testimonial to his unending customer service is he hung our art!” Mari Siceloff, collector
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COLORS
WHAT MOOD DO YOU WANT TO BE IN?
CHOOSE YOUR LIFE’S COLORS ACCORDINGLY.
Blue calming, serene, reduces mental stress and relieves tension light blues great in relaxing bedrooms and studies that encourage creative thinking as well as turquoise tones in bathrooms to wake up the mind peacefully.
Green restorative, calming, peaceful, harmonious, reassuring green is a psychological primary color that works its restorative magic in a variety of spaces, including living rooms, bedrooms and home offices.
Neutrals soothing, airy, the perfect baseline to make a pop of color stand out against
Yellow, Orange happy, focusing, motivating, creative great in usually dark hallways, welcoming entryways and sunny breakfast areas
Red energizing, strength, power, courage great in bedrooms (passion) and dining rooms to stimulate lively conversation
White clean, airy, simplicity, makes spaces feel bigger — great in bathrooms and kitchens for a feeling of cleanliness.
Black and White timeless, vintage, classic, clean, no frills, sophisticated
TIP #5: YOUR ROOM NEEDS A FOCAL POINT,
NOT MORE CLUTTER.
CALMNESS, BALANCE AND CLARITY GO HAND IN HAND IN HARMONIOUS SPACES.
The Japanese have a concept called “Ma” It loosely translates to “negative space” Ma is all about the space around or between objects, a “free zone” making it possible for dissimilar things to coexist The idea behind Ma is this: “How we spend our time and shape our space directly impacts our progress If we have no time, or our space is restricted, then we cannot grow.”
Ma is at the center of what a lot of interior designers are trying to achieve, and what artwork plays a crucial role in: creating balanced spaces that the eye and the mind feel comfortable in. It’s the artful exercise of balancing curated items full of meaning while removing unnecessary clutter and leaving enough negative space, Ma, in between for the different pieces in your space furniture, artworks, finishes, etc. to work together in harmony. Ma always reminds me of one of my guiding principles: It’s not easy, but it’s simple
“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman’s Odyssey.
Read On —>
Chances are, you are no interior designer, so you may b sitting there wondering right now how on earth you ever make that happen in your own space. That’s wh I’m here for.
The best place to start in any room is by making sure yo have a clear focal point.
“Any space we walk in, our brains look for a comfortab path through, toward that focal point,” explains We Seattle interior designer Andrea Bushdorf. Think of th focal point as a magnet. Sometimes, that focal point pre-determined, like the big, prominent fireplace in th living room, or a set of big windows at the end of narrow space.
Other times, most times, actually, it’s less obvious. Tha when a piece of art can come in really handy to give yo space that sense of direction, to be that magnetic poi that the room flows toward. Whatever your focal point that’s what you design your room around.
To get some inspiration on how to effectively create a good balance between negative space and a prominent focal point, I suggest you take a look at the many wonderful spaces designed by Axel Vervoordt (just type Axel Vervoordt interiors into Google). Vervoordt is a master at turning toward nature for inspiration to create calming spaces and incorporating the often overlooked fact that some of the most soothing landscapes are expansive open spaces with lots of breathing room. TIP #5: YOUR ROOM NEEDS A FOCAL POINT, NOT MORE
“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature
It’s why we love to spend time by the sea, and it’s the reason for the siren song of the wide open spaces of the American West. All of a sudden, it’s no longer a surprise that scientists have concluded that humanity’s favorite landscape to look at are the open spaces of the savannah. “With less clutter, there is more space for our eye to pause and linger on a few key focal points of interest,” as the fine folks at Ellei Home point out.
My goal when I create an image in the field is to turn a meditative moment in nature into a beautiful piece of art for your home. Turns out, I find a lot of those meditative moments in exactly those environments, where clutter and mental fog are removed and the mind gets to explore the open space around a singular defined point of interest, rather than bouncing around a busy scene. My goal for my art is to expand your space, to command attention, yes, but to do so calmly, the way that nature does.
Esther Sternberg lays out another way to think about focal points. She has done extensive research on our brain’s stress response in different environments, and has written the wonderful book, “Healing Spaces The Science of Place and Wellbeing.” In it, she talks about the idea of creating “landmarks” in your space. “We know from the study of human movement that the brain searches for and identifies landmarks as we move, and that landmarks are very important in our memories of place and space,” she writes. “So a strategically located landmark is sure to make a n order to be a st have several e big enough to be eds to be different at it stands out. It ve associations in And it needs to be mark in your room? tographic art that ons and memories ce of art that gives nd peace?
CURATE YOUR CONSIDER A T AS THE ROOM’S AVE CLUTTER BY
TIP #6: SIZE MATTERS
BUT SO DOES PROPORTION.
Ask an interior designer what’s the most important thing to think about when curating a space, and nine out of ten times, their answer will include this: Size and proportion.
Don’t believe me? I’ve asked them. A lot of them
Take Katrine Martensen-Larsen, for example. Katrine is maybe Denmark’s preeminent interior designer who regularly appears on TV, authored a variety of books and is a global go-to authority on all things Scandinavian inspired design “Art is all
West Seattle interior designer Paula Kennedy hits the same note. “Size and proportion are so important,” she says, and adds: “Since most of our homes usually don’t have a lot of large, uninterrupted walls, “it all comes down to what impact you want the art to have in your space. The ceiling height, what type of furniture is in the space, how big is the space those are all considerations for choosing the right artwork size.” As a general rule of thumb, though, Paula tends to prefer using larger rather than smaller artworks especially for realist pieces like fine art nature photographs, “because the closer the art is to human scale, the easier it is for us to visualize ourselves in it.”
It’s the time-tested adage that the best art expands your space (which, by the way, is why big artwork can make a small space seem bigger). It’s also why small artworks on a big wall can feel insignificant.
Here’s another way to think about this: Art makes a statement in your space a statement about yourself, your home, and what you hold dear. At the risk of going all motivational speaker on you for a moment here: Don’t whisper what you have to say. Say it with your chest! Aka, budget allowing, don’t be afraid to be bold with the size of your artwork, and watch how that large piece completely transforms your space.
Of course, there’s a healthy medium, and that’s what Paula and Katrine and so many other interior designers talk about when they mention “proportion.”
You can’t just go as big as your budget allows on the artwork size, either because a piece of art that’s too big can overwhelm a space and feel out of place. As with the art itself, choosing the right size is all about balance and harmony in your space.
I totally understand that this can be a tricky thing to figure out, particularly when you don’t have interior designers on speed dial. That’s where my free, no commitment mockup service comes in so handy. I use it to help dozens of home- and business owners every year to choose the right size artwork for their unique space, taste and budget without any hassle! Try it today get started in just a few minutes.
TRUTH #6: BIG ART WILL EXPAND YOUR SPACE AND YOUR HORIZONS.
“I have a very small house with not a lot of wall space, so I am very selective about the art I hang. Neither do I have a large budget for artwork. Happily, Lars was able to help me on both fronts. Now I have a fabulous and personalized piece of artwork I will enjoy for a lifetime!” Alice Kuder, collector
TIP #7: AVOID ANALYSIS PARALYSIS
AND IF IT’S TOO LATE, HERE’S A SIMPLE WAY OUT OF THAT OVERWHELMING FEELING OF HAVING WAY TOO MANY CHOICES.
So you’ve made it all the way through this guide, to this point. Your head is buzzing with ideas, you realize how much potential your walls hold. But how to decide on what artwork to buy and hang in your space? There are a million choices, and then some.
That kind of overwhelm, or analysis paralysis, is a common thread among many of my prospective collectors So you’re in good company And what’s even better news is that I’ve developed a framework of questions designed to get you to narrow down those seemingly endless choices. Read On —>
“His artwork is so much more than a photograph, and its presence in our house elevates our spirits and brings a tremendous amount of joy. The color, details, and depth are stunning.”
Susannah Neal, collector
Here are four questions to get you going.
How do you want to feel in your space? (Remember, art has a unique ability to transform how your space feels, whether that’s energizing, calm and serene, or something in between…) Where’s a place where you’ve made some of your most cherished memories? Maybe it’s a place you miss dearly today, or a place you revisit often. (Remember, art expands your space and takes you to the places you see when you close your eyes…)
What’s your favorite color, and why do you like it? (Remember how different colors influence our moods differently )
If you could move anywhere in the world, where would that be? (Remember, art reminds us of the person we want to be and puts our dreams front and center…)
These questions are all designed to help you find what you respond to emotionally. Considerations such as space and available budget, though no doubt important, need to come secondly. “You need to buy art with your heart,” Danish interior designer Katrin Martensen-Larsen told me.
TRUTH #7: BUY ART WITH YOUR HEART, NOT YOUR MIND. ONCE YOU’VE FOUND A PIECE YOU LOVE, STOP COMPARING IT TO WHAT ELSE MAY BE OUT THERE AND HANG IT ON YOUR WALL!
Take this brief quiz, answer a few questions, and I will send you a curation of personalized artworks that I think would be a great match for your personality AND your space.
ALREADY FOUND THE ART YOU LOVE BUT UNSURE ABOUT THE RIGHT SIZE?
Already know the art you love but unsure about the size? Take advantage of my free, no-commitment mockup service to quickly and easily find the right size art for your unique space, taste, and budget.
Use the code WELCOME10 at checkout and save 10% on your first artwork purchase. That’s potential savings of up to $700!
