When you have just finished furnishing your brand-new home, you still see it as empty as long as its walls are bare. But where do you start when there are so many choices around you? 

When it comes to decorating your walls, you might want a set of criteria to follow rather than randomly choosing pieces that don't match the room's style and mood. Here's the thing: try to set yourself some practical rules for what to hang in a room and what's best to hang elsewhere. 

We want to make your life easier by providing a room-by-room guide to house decor ideas that, along with your personal taste and overall home style, will help you create a warm and welcoming home for you and your loved ones.

Start With the Material

Before you start hanging wall decorations, it's worth considering what your pieces are actually made of. The materials your wall art is made from, whether that's textured canvas, archival paper, framed paper prints, or original wooden-framed paintings, determine how well they resist light, heat, and humidity, and how well they suit their surroundings. Matching the right material to each room's conditions keeps everything looking its best for years and saves you from disappointment and wasted money.

The Living Room: The Gallery Wall

We start with the living room, as it is where you intend to host your guests and spend time with them. It goes without saying that you might want to put some extra effort into this room's decor.

If you have saved some of your grandparents' pieces, this is the right room for them. This is where you want to place all your delicate, unique pieces to enhance the room and add value. If you intend to buy some wall art, opt for original textured paintings or framed canvases.

For positioning, choose a focal point, typically right above the sofa, and ensure the colours complement the furniture. Then work on the other walls; use eye level as your guide and stick to it. It is where you want your guests' eyes to fall. 

As for sizes, dream big! This space is for you to gather all the fine art. You can also pick a collection of small pictures and give them a gallery-like appearance, but make sure you respect proportions and spacing.

The Kitchen: Where Durability Wins

When choosing your artwork, always consider the environment. This is particularly important in the kitchen, where heat reigns; it’s one of the major enemies of paintings. You should be careful about what you hang and where you hang it.

Save the original paintings and antique photographs for other rooms with good ventilation. Wall prints featuring fresh food and botanicals, or small posters above the dining table, are more durable and better suited to the environment when kept away from direct heat, steam, and splashes.

The Bedroom: Let Your Mood Guide You

The bedroom is your space only. You can express all your creativity and emotion without worrying about damage. Keep in mind, though, that it is a restful place. Avoid overwhelming the room with colour. Keep the visual noise to a minimum, but keep it inspirational.

Choose framed black-and-white photographs, quiet abstract pieces, soft-coloured landscape paintings, and large, minimal posters in neutral colours, avoiding overcrowding your walls and sticking to a colour palette that perhaps matches your bedding. Gentle imagery on archival matte paper helps the space feel serene rather than cluttered.

A large piece above your bed can create a beautiful focal point. Then work around it. Leave one wall free, ideally for your wardrobe and a mirror, and populate the rest with calming pieces.

The Hallway: Where Your Home Welcomes You

As the first spaces you see when you walk through the door, the hallway and corridors give the first impression of a well-decorated home. It's where the home's overall personality should be focused.

Ask yourself: how would you want to be welcomed? Imagine getting back home. What do you want to see and feel when you walk through the door after a long day?

When hanging wall decorations here, aim for a warm, welcoming look. Be yourself. Both delicate paintings and prints work well, so focus on subjects and colours that suit the space. You can pick your favourite original painting or a big framed canvas. Make a statement and think big. Alternatively, you can opt to create a small gallery of prints, but always stick to a single topic.

Avoid overcrowding this space, as it would create a disorderly impression before you reach your bedroom. Yes, we all have our chair-wardrobe there.

Your House Decor Speaks for You: Make It Personal

How you choose to decorate your home says a lot about your personality. These house decor ideas are just a starting point, giving your creativity the space it deserves. Each piece is part of your past and present, and every feeling is linked to subjects and textures.

The only rules you should keep in mind concern mood and the protection of your artwork. Make sure you save your delicate, unique pieces of art for shared spaces where everyone can see them and where they’re safe from humidity and heat. Industrial prints are equally good and visually impactful, depending on the subject and the space in which you display them.

If you want to give your prints an even more luxurious finish, you can frame them in gold or silver. 

At The House Outfit, you can choose from our range of personalised and abstract prints to make your home feel uniquely yours, and select from a range of frames to protect and enhance your walls. Pick your favourite and match your mood.