Which painting for your living room: colour, style, and the spot above the sofa
The living room is the room you look at most, and the wall behind the sofa is the one that is waiting. Here is how to choose a painting that holds the room, without getting the colour or the size wrong.
01The wall you look at sitting down
Before you choose a painting, choose the wall. In a living room, two of them count: the one you see from the sofa, and the one above the sofa. The first is the one you look at longest. The second is the one guests see as they walk in.
If you only have one work, put it facing the sofa, where your eye lands when you sit down. The sofa wall comes next: it carries a wide format very well, because nobody ever looks at it up close.
- A wall that gets direct sun in the afternoon isn’t a good wall for a canvas: the colours fade. Better a wall lit from the side.
- The wall behind the television is a bad wall: the screen always wins.
02Modern, cosy or beige living room: which painting?
What people type into Google already says a lot: “painting for a modern living room”, “cosy living room”, “beige living room”. Three moods, three different answers.
- The modern living room - straight lines, white, grey, black, a little wood - takes bold abstraction well: large shapes, two or three colours, a canvas without a frame or in a thin black one. A single large format calms the room better than several small ones.
- The cosy living room - wood, wool, warm light - likes visible texture: thick paint, a canvas with raw edges, a pale wood frame. Warm colours go without saying; a touch of green or deep blue wakes the whole thing up.
- The beige living room, or anything in soft tones, is the easiest: it takes everything. A dark painting gives it depth; a bright painting gives it a starting point. The only mistake would be a painting that is beige too: it disappears.
The style of the painting doesn’t have to copy the style of the living room. An old landscape in a very modern living room, an abstract canvas in a family living room: the contrast often does more for the room than a perfect match.
03Choosing the colour: pick up, or go against
Two routes, opposites, and both work. The first: pick up a colour that already exists in the living room - a cushion, the rug, an armchair - and find it again in the work. The room looks considered, without anything being matched.
The second: go against it. One strong colour, carried by nothing else in the room. The painting sets the tone, everything else becomes the background. It takes a little courage, and it is what makes the living rooms people remember.
What doesn’t work: a painting chosen to “go with” the sofa, in the same shade. It melts into the furniture, and you stop seeing it.
04Above the sofa: the right size
The rule of thumb that avoids the most common mistake: the work is about two-thirds the width of the sofa. For a 210 cm sofa, aim for a painting around 140 cm wide, on its own or in several pieces hung close together. A 50 cm painting above a large sofa floats, and the wall looks like it is still waiting.
Leave 15 to 25 cm between the backrest and the bottom of the painting. More, and it seems to drift away; less, and you knock it with your head when you sit down. A landscape format is almost always the right one above a sofa: it follows the furniture.
- Before you buy: masking tape in the dimensions of the work, on the wall, for two days. You will know.
- If the budget won’t stretch to a large format, three 50 cm works side by side fill the same width, with the same gap between them, 5 to 8 cm.
05One large piece, or a wall of several
A single large format calms the room: one point, and the eye rests there. A wall of several tells more - works of different sizes, frames, memories - but it needs a rule so it doesn’t turn into a jumble.
- The same gap everywhere, a single type of frame or none, and the centre of the group at eye level, around 145 cm.
- Lay the group out on the floor first, photograph it, move things around, start again. You only drill when the photo pleases you.
- A wall of several carries a single original work very well among posters and photographs: it is the one that gives the whole its value.
06Finding the painting, and seeing it in real life
A painting for the living room is chosen in real life. The colour on a screen lies a little, and the size lies a lot: a 100 cm work in a photo looks like a 60 cm one. A canvas you have seen at the artist’s doesn’t disappoint when it arrives at home.
And if what you are after is an original painting rather than a mass-printed canvas, Belgium is full of artists painting tonight, less than an hour from your home, with no gallery to show them.
That is what arvel organises: a gallery for every Belgian artist, original works, and a handover in person. The price you see is the price you pay, and the artist keeps all of it. The client’s money is held until the handover, and refunded if the work doesn’t match. Art doesn’t travel: we meet.
arvel isn’t open yet. Today the site lets you take your place on the waiting list, nothing more. We would rather write it than let you guess.
The questions we get asked
- Which painting for a modern living room?
- Bold abstraction, in a large format, with two or three colours, without a frame or in a thin black one. A single large painting calms a modern living room better than several small ones.
- What colour painting for a beige living room?
- Almost any, except beige. A dark painting gives depth, a bright painting gives the room a starting point. Pick up a colour from a cushion or the rug if you want it to look considered.
- What size painting above the sofa?
- About two-thirds the width of the sofa: 140 cm for a 210 cm sofa. Leave 15 to 25 cm between the backrest and the bottom of the painting, and choose a landscape format.
- Abstract or figurative for the living room?
- Both work. Abstract is easier to match and ages well; a landscape or a portrait tells a story and holds a conversation better. Choose what you can bear to see every day for ten years.
- Where to buy an original painting for your living room in Belgium?
- From the artist, direct, after seeing it in real life: artist markets, open studios, or a platform with a handover in person. arvel will bring Belgian artists together with a meeting for every work; it isn’t open yet.