DIY Art for the Home: Create Personal Decorations
Want to make your home more personal without changing the entire interior? Start with the paintings. When we at Artiley help customers find the right motif, we see time and time again how a single well-chosen painting controls the color, feel and proportions of an entire room. Here we show you how to create DIY art that feels like you – and how to let every decision about color, frame and placement be based on the artwork itself.
Start with the board, not the cushion
Most people start with furniture or textiles and then try to find art that “fits”. We do the opposite. First, choose a motif that awakens something in you – calm, energy, curiosity – and let the painting set the agenda. A large canvas with soft color transitions can make a small living room feel airier, while a dramatic black and white motif sharpens lines and gives an architectural feel. A practical guideline: let a solitary painting be about two-thirds of the furniture it hangs over. This proportion provides balance and makes the painting feel like the natural focus of the room.
Frames and hanging that turn DIY into design
Frame and suspension are the DIY parts that make the biggest difference to the overall impression. A thin black frame frames graphic motifs with precision, while a white passepartout around a colorful print creates breathing space and lifts the colors in the painting. We recommend a center line of about 145 cm from the floor to the center of the painting – this provides a comfortable viewing point in most homes. In picture walls, 7–10 cm spacers work well; tighter spacing means that the works are read as a whole, larger spacing emphasizes each painting individually.
Are you curious about how black and white motifs can create clear contrast next to colorful works? Read our guide How to create contrast in a room with black and white paintings for practical combinations and examples.
Make artistic choices that feel like you
DIY in the art world isn’t always about painting yourself. It’s about curating. Mix a larger canvas with smaller personal touches – like a personal sketch or a smaller travel photograph – but let the main work guide the rest of your choices. We often work with a “main painting + two companions”: a dominant motif in the middle, complemented by two secondary works that pick up a color, texture or line from the main motif.
A good example is the urban, rain-sparkling atmosphere of Urban Reflections . That kind of depth and movement creates perspective in cramped hallways and gives pulse to quiet living rooms.
Color, balance and format – controlled by the subject
A practical method for colouring around paintings: pick out three key shades from the motif. Use the background tone from the painting as the base in the room (for example, matte grey-beige if the motif has hazy tones), lift the midrange in smaller areas (plaid, book spines, lampshades) and let the most saturated accent return super precisely – perhaps just in a single vase or a book cover. The point is not to match everything, but to let the painting be the reference that ties the whole together.
The format also affects the space: vertical works visually lengthen walls, squares calm the surface, panoramas broaden. We see that motifs with clear perspective lines – street lights, rain reflections, distant horizons – are almost always perceived as “deeper” than motifs with flat geometry. This is why urban motifs like Urban Reflections work wonders in narrower spaces.
The psychology of placement: how paintings affect the room
Two identical rooms can feel completely different depending on how the paintings are hung. A single large painting over the sofa provides a safe, unifying focus. Move the same painting to a side wall and build a painting wall over the sofa – suddenly the room feels more social, as if it invites conversation. Want to dampen the noisy energy of a room? Hang several canvas paintings with texture; the canvas absorbs a little sound and the visual rhythm is calming. Need energy? Hang two works a little tighter than expected; the eye reads the tempo.
Quality that lasts – our experience
DIY doesn't mean compromising on quality. Opt for canvas prints printed with archival-resistant pigments and on canvas with a decent grammage. This makes the colors deeper and the shades stable over time. At Artiley, we continuously test how different frames, glass and lighting affect the works. A recurring favorite is a thin frame without glass for large canvases – it minimizes reflections and lets the colors breathe. Do you want spot lighting? Choose warm white 2700–3000 K and direct the light obliquely from above; it highlights texture without dazzling.
Remember that every decision – from the color of the frame to the spacing between the pieces – should be made in relation to the painting, not the other way around. When art leads, everything else falls into place. Your home doesn’t just look beautiful; it tells a story. And that’s where the power of DIY art lies.