Curating & Creating Art for My Living Room

Curating ArtworkI’m excited to let you know we’ll be sharing our living room reveal next week! We still have quite a bit of painting to do before I can shoot it this weekend, but we’re on the homestretch (insert happy dance here). There’s one other thing I’ve been organizing and collecting before I can declare the living room finished… artwork. Click through to see how I’m curating and creating art for my living room, along with a fun round up and a peek at the art you’ll see installed next week…

Leaning ArtworkFirst of all, we’ve been trying to pull together the living room for awhile now. It’s been about 70% complete for the past three months, while we worked diligently in the backyard. Once regaining our focus on the interior, I realized I still had a lot of styling and personalization left to do in the living room- one of the big ones being art. We don’t have a ton of wiggle room left in our budget at this point, so I decided to create some of my own artwork, as well as scavenge my house for pieces I’ve done in the past.

Acrylic PaintingLuckily, I found some charcoal pieces I sketched during my time in Italy years ago, and quickly painted / sketched a handful of figure drawings, contour drawings, and basic line art. I inserted some vintage black & white family photos into smaller frames for size variation, and called it done. I kept the framing and color palette consistent. All of my frames were pretty inexpensive and came from either Michael’s or IKEA. Creating most of the artwork myself also kept costs lower.

Black and White ArtworkWhen curating a collection for a room, my general rule is to keep a common thread throughout. Whether it’s color, content, or the framing style, make sure there is underlying connection that ties the entire body together for a cohesive look.

I knew I wanted the overall palette to be pretty neutral, graphic, and bold. I envision a lot of these simple pieces I’ll style into the back of my built-ins. They’ll add depth and provide a nice backdrop for objects and accessories.

Graphic ArtworkIf you’re not an artistic person or aren’t into DIY artwork, don’t worry! I rounded up a ton of gorgeous art below that is readily available and of the same aesthetic that I’m going for…

Curated Artwork01: stretching figure drawing // 02: female nude drawing // 03: otto print // 04: seated figure on newsprint // 05: young fig painting // 06: sidewinder print // 07: standing man figure drawing // 08: grass with seeds line drawing // 09: sketchy lines

See how they kind of all work together even though the content is different? Clearly I’m into graphic prints, and figure / line drawings at the moment, but you get the point!

Neutral ArtworkBasically, I just wanted this post to touch on a couple things… 1.) Share how to curate a collection that is consistent or has a common thread, and 2.) I wanted to give you sneak peek at the art you’ll see blended into the living room next week.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on favorite art, keeping it personal, and what style or aesthetic you’re attracted to. Stay tuned for all things living room next week! Fingers crossed we can whip it out and get everything finished this weekend. Crossing things off the to-do list is my jam… SO gratifying!!

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6 Comments

  1. Those look great :) I’ve been trying to start creating some simple b&w graphic art for our house too, even though it will be a while still. Remodeling definitely doesn’t leave a ton of room in the budget for things like art and decor haha! I’m excited to see your living room all finished!

    1. Exactly!! It was also a nice little break for me to get to do something fun and relaxing. I forgot how much I liked painting and sketching. Thanks so much!! xo

  2. Those blockshop prints are on my list. Excited to see what your final room looks like!

    1. Thank you! They’re so beautiful! Love them.

  3. I have that #5 print from Minted. I was just looking at it a couple of days ago… thinking “I really need to get that framed!” Can’t wait to hang it once I do frame it.

    Most of my art is bought at thrift stores or Minted. I occasionally buy from places like Target… if it looks “handmade” enough to pass for original art. =)

    Love your taste in art. It’s similar to mine. Can’t wait to see your whole room pulled together!

    1. I couldn’t agree more. No to big box art. I do love Minted, and thrifted art is always amazing. I also have lots of work from my talented artist friends. Thanks so much, Georgia! xo