If you’ve ever spent an hour in Home Depot carefully narrowing down thirty different shades of pale blue (do you want the warmer one? The one with more gray? The warm gray one?), only to finally choose three samples and find out that they’re all too dark when you try them on your wall, you know that choosing a paint color can be a tough decision.
Things get even more complicated if you’re trying to match the shade of paint to furniture or art you already own, a necessary consideration if you want your end result to look cohesive and well-planned. It’s not an uncommon question for our clients who are moving into a new home to ask us: should my wall art and paint color match?
The answer? It depends. Here are a few things to consider.
Is the art work purely decorative?
If you’re not a huge art aficionado, and the things you hang on your wall are purely to compliment your décor scheme, then you probably don’t need to think too hard about how the paint color will go with your art work. You can just swap out what you own for options that are better suited to the new color scheme. Similarly, if you’re working with a decorator who is picking pillow colors to match the chandelier, and picking art to then match the Emerald wall, then the art is there at the service of the wall color, not the other way around. The bottom line is, if the décor in the room if the priority, the art work doesn’t need to be heavily considered.
Are you an avid art collector, or do you have pieces you really want to showcase in that specific room?
On the other hand, if you’ve got a fine art collection you want to showcase, than it is important to consider wall color first.
The expert’s paint color of choice? White. “If the art is more important then the wall color, I personally like white, and not an off white that will look overly subdued,” says David Kassel, owner of ILevel.
If white isn’t your thing, instead of making your wall art and paint color match, David advises choosing something a bit “off.” “Museums get out their pantone swatches and look at wall colors from a historical, branding and aesthetic point of view, and some times it looks overly considered,” he says. “I like just a little off kilter. matching but just a notch off in a good way. I like when the color is coordinated with the ‘art’ but not with swatch books.”
Need some help choosing the best paint color to compliment your wall art? Our art arrangers and installers can help you weigh your options. Contact us anytime!
ILevel is on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook! Be sure to follow our accounts for more art and design inspiration!