ADDING COLOR TO ANY SPACE
Do you dream in color? Unleash your inner artist by adding brightly colored wall art to your home. Whether you’re looking to perk up an otherwise neutral room, elevate the energy in a space or create a vibrant sense of cohesion in a gallery wall display, colorful art adds dimension to your walls.
If diving into color is new for you, it may feel overwhelming. Colorful wall art is our bread and butter at Minted, so we’re delighted to take the lead here while you relax. We break down the basics of color themes and how to choose the perfect frame for colorful art. Plus we’ll share our tips for blending bright wall art into your existing décor.
HOW TO CHOOSE COLOR THEMES
Many of us learned about primary and secondary color groupings in kindergarten through structured and free experimentation with Play-Doh and finger paints. As grownups, the ideas of color theory and the color wheel can help us navigate the sea of options for enhancing our personal and work spaces. Once you refresh your understanding of how colors relate to each other, grouping them into themes can make choosing a palette for a room much easier. The theme you choose will help set the overall tone for that space, be it calm blues, invigorating oranges or fresh greens.
Check out these themes, then see how you can tailor them to the spaces in your own home:
- Playing It Cool - Cool tones evoke a sense of calm, serenity and peace. We often associate these hues with places in the natural world where we find peace, like a deep blue ocean, crystal blue sky or leafy green forest. All the blues and greens fall into this theme, as do grays and some purples. Choose cool colors for a guest bedroom, the master bath or the home office.
- Warming Up to Color - Warm tones can generate passion, energy, spontaneity and a sense of happiness. Think about a mesmerizing bonfire, the warmth of the sun on your face or the joy of a brightly blooming daffodil. Reds, pinks, oranges and yellows are all toasty hues, as are red-leaning shades of purple and most browns. Go for deeper warm colors in spaces you’d like to feel cozy, like the den or living room, and pair them with rich leather furnishings. Opt for brighter warm hues where you want a more energized vibe, like the kitchen or the kids’ play room, and consider extending the palette to all three primary colors: red, yellow and blue.
- Going Naturally Bright - If you’re going for a nature theme in your décor, you may think colorful wall art won’t be a match. But think of how vivid and varied the natural world is! Modern art prints often feature a balance of warm and cool tones when they depict landscapes, seascapes or mountains. Picking colorful art for any room is a breeze when you stick with images that are both bright and natural, like flowers, botanicals or animal art prints. Gallery wall ideas include organizing your bright wall art by subject matter and unifying the images with a cohesive frame choice.
Minted Pro Tip: Colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary because they have enough contrast to hold their own when paired. Solid color pairing choices include yellow and purple, red and blue, green and orange.
HOW TO CHOOSE A FRAME FOR BUSY COLORFUL PRINTS
Once you’ve selected some small or large colorful wall art, it’s time to strategize your presentation. Minted gives you a variety of choices for framing modern art prints, including the medium they’re printed on. Here’s a breakdown of options:
- Paper vs. Canvas Wall Art - The main difference between printing our bright wall art on paper and canvas is the need for glass. Modern art prints on paper must be protected from UV exposure to resist fading, which is why we offer UV-Plexiglass and archival materials when you choose a paper print. Our canvas wall art needs no glass, making it a lightweight alternative for kids’ rooms and other areas where a heavy piece might be unsafe.
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Mounting & Matting - Paper-printed small and large colorful wall art can be presented three ways:
- Float Mounted - Your colorful art appears to “float” above 100% museum-grade cotton matte board for a contemporary look.
- Matted - Matting doubles the framing effect, providing a clean border around the artwork that draws the eye into the center of the image. This is a more traditional option that delivers the classical feel of a gallery show.
- Full Bleed - When colorful art extends all the way to the edge of field, it draws the eye outward and invites deeper exploration of the image’s details. This treatment delivers a clean, uncluttered look.
- Frame of Mind - Colorful art requires a careful choice of frame. Matte black, white or silver frames are great choices for balancing the vibrant content of colorful abstract art prints, but don’t entirely discount a wood frame for your bright wall art. Consider other aspects of your interior design, like the molding and cabinetry, and choose a wood type that complements them. Natural raw wood frames give off a light and modern vibe while gilded wood frames add an opulent touch to modern art prints.
Need help arranging your small and large colorful wall art? Use our augmented reality tool on your smartphone to preview your selections in your space, adjust positions and angles, and save images to share with family and friends.
STYLES FEATURED ON THIS PAGE
- Impressionism - Dynamic depictions of light infuse dreamy modern art prints that leave the details to your imagination.
- Art Deco - Bold colors, clean lines and a strong sense of movement characterize this style from the early 20th century.
- Abstract - Artists take liberties with color and form to evoke an emotional response without directly representing the natural world.
- Realism - Straight-forward depictions of real people, places and things deliver vividly realistic and bright colored wall art.
