12 Creative Ways To Display Wall Art Around Your Home

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These stylish country homes are full of inspiration...

Hanging wall art brings life to uninspiring spaces, but where and how you place it will dictate its impact as much as the art itself.

You can display art anywhere in the home, but conventional design wisdom would often have it centred above sofas, filling alcoves, or hung in a row along a hallway. It takes a curious eye to find more imaginative ways to present it.

"When designing a scheme, it is important that artwork pieces are not afterthoughts but incorporated as part of the design scheme as a whole," says Alexander Shepel, founder of design studio Shepel. "Of course, over the years, an artwork collection will grow and change but it must be a carefully considered element.”

There are a few ways to display art without the need for a hammer and nails:

"How you display a piece of art can depend on its colours, the lighting of the room, as well as the overall feeling of the piece you are displaying," says Lucy Steele, paint and interiors expert at V&CO. "While some may be tempted to stick to whites and creams, colours like the greyish Teal Shade 2 and earthy Green Shade 5 make great backdrops for artwork."

Look to art galleries and museums for a lesson in applying deep colours to draw focus. "The V&A uses colours such as dark reds to draw attention to specific works," says Lucy. "The muted tone of these colours don’t distract from the art, but they provide a dramatic backdrop that draws focus to the painting."

If you prefer neutrals in your artwork or use a lot of black and white photography, Lucy suggests a contrast on your walls. "Black and white photography looks great against bright paint colours," she says. "Whether it’s a burst of bright blue or statement orange, or a bold but muted dusky pink, the neutrality of the artwork against the liveliness of the wall paint will really make the photography sing."

We've written previously in 20 ways to decorate on a shoestring that frames can be incredibly expensive, so it can in fact be the economical choice to leave artwork unframed.

If you have a piece on canvas it can go straight on a wall, no frame needed. If you have prints, a common trick is to hang them from bulldog clips – it's often a nice touch in a home office. You can also add hard backing or use a mount to give it some support and prop it up on a shelf. Smaller postcard sized pieces or photos can be tucked into the frame of a mirror, or added with a magnet to a fridge.

Below, we've drawn inspiration from 12 clever country homes that have found unique spots and creative ways to show off their artwork...

Kitchens are usually crying out for decorative accents, as they are often devoid of the softening influences of rugs, curtains, cushions and upholstery. No need to hang your pieces, just pop on a shelf along with your kitchenware. And while the subject of your art really doesn’t matter, something natural like plants or illustrated herbs are an particularly appropriate choice.

Don't forget to tour the rest of this colourful Edwardian home too.

This is precisely what we mean when we say look for imaginative spots for your artwork. This painting replaces the mirror you expect to see above a sink and its nautical theme is a lovely fit.

Tour the the rest of this Georgian farmhouse for more design tips.

Art can be arranged to pull focus from a television. The Samsung Frame TV that displays artwork when not in use – here it is displaying hanging grapes – is already an effective disguise, and the pieces around it serve as further distraction.

For more disguising tips, don't forget to read our guide on how to hide the eyesores around your home.

It’s not just about gallery walls, but they are a fine solution for displaying lots of art. The magic is in the mix, which means varying your sizes and frames as well as mediums – black and white photography next to watercolours, next to pencil sketches. and so on. Also, remember that a gallery wall can look a little underwhelming if it doesn’t fill up a space.

Mounting shelves around the perimeter of room in this way helps to lower the line of vision wherever ceilings are very high – and they are a great spot for artwork. As your pieces will sit up and out the way, you can afford to fill them generously.

Pictured: Country Living Charlbury Sofa at DFS

A series of small pictures can work well hung in a vertical stack, and the empty space next to a shower is a really novel spot. Bathrooms are a very personal space, so do well with pieces that have some emotive meaning. A metal or robust plastic frame is a sensible choice in such close proximity to a steamy shower.

Pictured: Ca' Pietra Jamboree Ceramic Chocolate Tri

XL spaces often need XL art, which can be astronomically expensive to buy, not least to frame. Hanging a set like this is a far more economical solution. It can be difficult to find the right height for large pieces – too high and they hover ominously over a room – and it is often easier to centre them over big pieces of furniture like consoles, sofas, banquettes or a dining table.

Even the most functional room in the home could use some artwork. The straight lines and symmetry of these six pieces is a nice complement to the frilly fabric below.

Pictured: Ditsy Tiles and Trim at Petra Palumbo

Bathrooms are not the most obvious place to display art, which makes it all the more effective when you do. In interior designer Sophie Robinson's maximalist bathroom, a traditional still life contrasts with the modern Ottoline De Vries’ Improvisations wallpaper. “Because this bathroom doesn’t have a shower, it doesn’t get very water splashed," says Sophie. For more lessons in maximalism, explore the rest of Sophie's farmhouse.

A neat run of coordinating prints would be at odds with the relaxed styling in this Victorian cottage's living room – the asymmetry here feels more informal and spontaneous. If you have a single polaroid or printed photo that would typically be too small to hang on your walls, go big with your frame and include a generous mount as this homeowner has done.

Here, a strip of fabric has been hung – raw edges and all – as a backdrop to a collection of art. This has a really charming and slightly lopsided DIY element to it, which makes it totally achievable for anyone with a hammer and nails to hand.

If you have a bookcase or built-in cubbies like this, give over a few spaces to artwork. We love the little print taking up its own spot in the middle.

You'll also find more inspiration in our guide on how to style and display accessories in your home

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