Colour changes how a room feels. Some shades settle you, some sharpen your focus, some just make you smile every time you walk past. But most advice about using colour at home starts with "pick up a paintbrush", which isn't much use if you're renting, if you're not sure yet, or if the thought of repainting a whole room makes you want to lie down.
You don't have to start there. You can bring a great deal of colour into a space without touching a wall, and art prints are the easiest place to begin.
Here's how I'd go about it.
Why start with art prints
Prints are the lowest-commitment colour decision you can make. Compared with a sofa, a rug or three coats of emulsion, a print is affordable, reversible and portable. Don't like it in the hallway? Move it to the bedroom. Bored of it in two years? Swap it.
They're particularly good if you rent. Landlords tend to paint everything magnolia or a safe pale grey, on the theory that it makes rooms look bigger and offends nobody. It also makes them look like nobody lives there. A few bold prints will convince the eye that the whole room has more colour in it than it actually does, you're borrowing the impact of a painted wall without losing your deposit.
And they're a way of finding out what you like. Most people who think they don't like colour have simply never lived with any. Put something vivid on the wall, live with it for a month, and you'll learn a great deal about your own taste.
Buy what you love, everything else follows
This is the only rule I'd insist on.
Buy art because it does something to you when you look at it. Not because it matches the cushions, not because it's the right shade of green for that alcove. Art bought to match a scheme has a short shelf life: the moment you change the sofa, you resent the painting.
Art bought because you love it works the other way round. It survives every change you make, and it tends to pull the rest of the room towards it. I've watched customers buy one print and then, over a year, quietly rebuild an entire room around its palette, not because they planned to, but because they kept reaching for those colours.
Trust yourself. It's your money, your walls, and you're the one who has to look at it over breakfast.
One big piece, or several small ones?
Both work. They do different jobs.
A single large piece is the more confident move. It reads as deliberate and slightly formal, it gives a room an obvious focal point, and it's the better choice above a sofa, a bed or a fireplace.
A group of smaller pieces feels more relaxed and more personal, and it's far more forgiving, you can add to it over time rather than getting it right in one go. A gallery wall is also excellent at drawing the eye away from something you'd rather not look at. A television, for instance. Surround a TV with enough colour and it stops being the thing you notice first.
If you're not sure, start with one piece you're certain about. You can always build outwards.
Getting the size right
The single most common mistake is going too small. A print that looked substantial on screen can disappear on a wall.
A few rules of thumb:
- Above a sofa or sideboard, aim for artwork roughly two-thirds the width of the furniture below it. One large piece, or a group that adds up to that width.
- On an empty wall, the artwork should fill somewhere around 60% of the available space. Leaving a generous margin is fine; leaving a small print marooned in the middle of a large wall is not.
- When in doubt, size up. Almost nobody regrets going bigger.
Cut a sheet of newspaper to size and tape it to the wall before you commit. It takes two minutes and it will change your mind more often than you'd expect.
Where to hang it
Height. The centre of the artwork should sit around 145–150cm from the floor. This is roughly average eye level and it's what galleries use. Most people hang art too high, if you're standing on tiptoe to place the hook, come back down.
Above furniture. Leave 15–25cm between the top of the sofa back (or sideboard) and the bottom edge of the frame. Any more and the picture floats; any less and it looks crowded.
Gallery walls. Keep 5–8cm between frames, and keep it consistent. Lay the whole arrangement out on the floor first, take a photo, then hang. The eye reads even spacing as intentional and uneven spacing as an accident.
Light. Keep prints out of direct, prolonged sunlight. Archival inks are impressively stable, but nothing survives a south-facing window forever.
Pull one colour out and repeat it
Here's where a print stops being decoration and starts doing real work in a room.
Look at the piece you've chosen and find its dominant colour, or better, an unexpected supporting one. The hot pink in the wildflowers. The mustard in a puffin's beak. Then repeat that colour somewhere else in the room, twice if you can.
That's usually a cushion. Our designs run across the whole range, so the same illustration you've hung on the wall exists as a velvet cushion, a lampshade and a blanket which makes the repetition easy without tipping into matchy-matchy.
Three touches of a colour, spaced around a room, read as a deliberate scheme. One reads as an accident.
Where it tends to lead
Colour confidence is cumulative. It really does work like this:
You hang one bright print. Nothing bad happens. A few weeks later you add a cushion in the same family, then a lampshade. Then you notice the neutral wall behind it all looking a bit apologetic, and you find yourself in a paint shop holding a card you'd never have considered a year ago.
That's the whole point of starting with art. It's a low-stakes way of discovering what you actually respond to, and by the time you're ready for the bigger commitments, you already know the answer. Some of our customers get as far as fabric and wallpaper in the same designs. Others stop at the print, love it, and that's that. Both are fine.
If you'd like to see how other people have done it, our customer gallery is full of real rooms, usually far braver than anything I'd have suggested.
About our art prints
Every print is hand-illustrated by me here in Yorkshire, then produced using the Giclée process, the fine art printing standard, on museum-quality, heavyweight 200gsm matte paper.
We use archival, fade-resistant inks, rated to hold their colour for up to 100 years when displayed indoors away from direct sunlight. Prints are available framed or unframed, so you can use your own frames if you'd rather.
Find your print
- Floral and botanical prints: blooms, blossom and gardens in full colour
- Birds and wildlife prints: puffins, herons, garden birds and big cats
- Abstract prints: pattern and colour, no subject required
- Yorkshire prints: landmarks and landscapes from home
- London prints: the capital in colour
- Signs and wall hangings: for something other than a framed print
Or browse every art print and see what stops you.
Michelle x
Frequently asked questions
What height should I hang a picture? Centre the artwork about 145–150cm from the floor, roughly eye level. Above a sofa or sideboard, leave 15–25cm between the furniture and the bottom of the frame.
What size art print should I buy? Above furniture, aim for around two-thirds the width of the piece below. On an open wall, fill roughly 60% of the space. Tape up a newspaper template before you decide and if you're torn, go larger.
How do I add colour to a rented home? Art prints, cushions, lampshades, throws and rugs will all transform a neutral room with nothing permanent involved. Prints do the most work for the least money, and they come with you when you move.
What is a Giclée print? A high-resolution fine art printing process using pigment inks on heavyweight archival paper. It reproduces subtle colour and fine detail far better than standard commercial printing, and it's what galleries use.
Are your art prints framed? Both options are available on every print, choose framed or unframed at checkout.
Do you ship internationally? Yes. Prints are made to order in the UK.
How do I stop my print fading? Keep it out of direct, sustained sunlight. Our archival inks are highly fade-resistant, but no paper-based artwork should live in a sunbeam.