Large living room walls are somewhat intimidating. All that blank space feels like an endless voice and can result in staring blankly for weeks wondering how to fill it. Sound familiar? I’ve been there! My last home had towering 18-foot living walls, and I must have paced in front of them for a solid week rolling around ideas.
If you have a loomingly large space to fill, stop fretting, and keep reading. I’ve been on the hunt for the best art for a large living room wall this week, and I’ve found some amazing DIY options. Let’s get cracking!
Upgrading Your DIY Art
Creating your own art is often the way to go for ultimate personal expression and minimal wallet-busting. However, you want pieces that look professional if you’re hanging them in your home. That’s why we’ve created our Acrylic Pouring Color Theory Mega Printable Pack and Muddy to Masterpiece Masterclass. These resources are just what you need to master color theory and start creating art that is truly eye-catching!
Art for Large Living Room Wall: Common Mistakes
When it comes to decorating a large space, I see a few mistakes in many households that instantly throw off the eye. Before we hop into the good options, it’s important to understand why they work, so you can mimic the idea in your space and avoid disaster. When thinking about your big canvas, take these common oopsies into account, and avoid them at all cost!
1. Choosing Art That’s Too Small
When choosing or making art, you should always seek to fill the space. Hanging a painting that is too small for the area instantly makes the art and the room look cheap. For instance, when hanging over a sofa, the artwork should be at least 2/3 the length of the sofa. I prefer it to be 6-8 inches smaller than my couch.
2. Hanging Art Too High
Another rookie mistake is hanging artwork too high. For that gallery feel, you want the center of the artwork to hang between 60-63 inches when working with a standard 8-foot ceiling, and hanging in an open space.
For taller spaces, you may have to bump it up a few inches. When hanging art above furniture, you typically want the bottom of the piece no more than 6-12 inches above the table or sofa.
3. Playing it Safe
Many of us, myself included, love a modern space that isn’t overwhelming. Color is scary for a lot of people. It feels like a big commitment! However, in a big space, going too simple in your artwork causes the viewer to pass it by and focus on the empty space instead.
Whether you go bold with texture, color, pattern, or arrangement, you want your art to be interesting enough to hold the viewer’s attention, especially in an otherwise big and empty space! Don’t be afraid to choose a bold piece that is unexpected in some way.
4. Not Utilizing Height
The last error when hanging art especially applies to large living room walls. Art hung in a room with a high ceiling, must reflect that vertical shift of the eyes. I recommend hanging long artwork, bumping it up a foot or so higher than normal, arranging smaller pieces in vertical groupings, or visually breaking up the space with a change of paint color or a horizontal shelf. Use that space!
The Best Art for Large Living Room Wall
Taking the former talking points into consideration, I’ve chosen five easy art ideas to help you conquer your perplexing walls. Here are my top choices for making the most of a big space. All of these options can be done as a DIY challenge, or purchased easily online (or even better from a local artist)!
1. Nature-Inspired Mural
This stunning mural brings the beauty of nature right into your home. The mountains and trees create a calming vibe— perfect for a large living room wall. It’s a great way to add a touch of the outdoors without leaving your couch!
Why We Love It: This concept embraces the vastness of the wall space by encouraging the eye to escape into the great outdoors. These self-adhesive murals are easy to apply, relatively budget-friendly, and can be easily removed when you get ready for a new look. You can find murals like this one on Amazon.
Tip: Be careful! Some of the self-adhesive murals are not a full 8-foot tall. You may need to build a DIY frame for it, paint a dark color behind it as a border, or choose a larger traditional, nature-inspired wallpaper to fill the space.
2. Textured Canvas Art
Textured canvas art is a fantastic choice for your large living room wall. When filling a large space, you want art that sucks the viewer in and keeps them interested. A highly textured piece does just that!
Why We Love It: Textured abstract art is one of the easier pieces to create if you’re a beginner artist. From inexpensive silicone caulk to kid’s plaster, almost anything can add interesting texture to your work, and textured pieces are incredibly forgiving, allowing you to cover or fix errors easily.
3. Interactive Chalkboard Wall
This interactive chalkboard wall is a fun and creative way to express yourself. When it comes to art for large living room walls, it doesn’t get much more flexible than this. Use it as a message board for family, scroll out your favorite verse or inspirational phrase, or get out a yardstick and create a pattern or alternating straight lines for that cool geometric look. The options are endless!
Why We Love It: Though chalk paint now comes in a variety of colors, traditional black or charcoal has a very grounding effect, which is great for a tall wall. It brings the eye down and holds focus, while also bringing vibrancy to art and furniture. Plus, you can change the vibe any time you feel!
4. Personal Photography Gallery
A gallery of photos (or small paintings) you created yourself can truly brighten up your living space. It also creates a cozy atmosphere where family and friends can gather and share stories.
Just make sure to keep your collection cohesive in some way. You can choose matching frames, paint a large colored square behind them as a grounding effect, or choose photos that are similar in style or topic, like the nature photos shown above.
Why We Love It: Choosing this kind of art for large living room walls allows you to utilize smaller frames and photos that you have lying around, without having to spend big bucks on large canvases.
5. Bold Geometric Triptychs
If you really want to make a statement, go with a bold, geometric triptych. The vibrant colors and interaction of different shapes draw in the eye, encouraging the viewer to stay a while and soak it all in.
Pairing an over-the-top painting with an otherwise neutral space is an unexpected focal point, that ticks all the boxes and fills the space emotionally. When a painting is this bold, you can sometimes get away with a smaller size due to the enormous visual impact.
Why We Love It: Triptychs are the perfect art for large living room walls. Three smaller canvases, combined into one, allow the art some space flexibility, as you can control how much room to leave between the canvases.
Art for Large Living Room Wall-Final Thoughts
I hope this list has given you some new ideas for your overwhelming wall space. Finding art for large living room walls is confusing at first, but if you remember the basics, you’ll land on the perfect piece.
Find pieces that have color or textural depth to hold the focus of the viewer. Look for art that can be grouped in a visually appealing way, and if all else fails, a self-adhesive nature mural is always a win. Just remember to fill the space, and don’t be afraid to go bold!
For more incredible DIY decor ideas, check out “Creating Art With Limited Supplies: Ideas for Resourceful Artists.” It’s full of budget-friendly art inspiration to help you make a big impact with minimal spending and using what you already have around the house!
Until next week…Happy Creating!
