How To Decorate With A Painting: And Make It Pop

Have you ever wondered how to decorate with a painting? I recently found an antique painting that I just had to have and I am sharing some of my tips on how I put this space together – around this one piece of amazing art!

Let me tell you a story, of luck really.

A few days ago, I was out doing a little light shopping. I guess that isn’t anything new for me (or many of you) but I really was just poking around at a little local antique store with no real agenda. I had found a few little things (a cast iron bank and a little set of black drawers) but it wasn’t until I turned the corner that I discovered the best buy of the day, a true gem. There, hanging on the wall, I discovered the most beautiful oil painting – on sale for $40.00.

It was love at first sight. This oil has all of the things that I love. The subject matter, the age, and the colors were all so very perfect for me. There was a little sign next to the painting on the wall at the antique store that explained that the artist was a local woman from North Georgia and she painted this back in 1975. While it certainly is not the oldest piece in my home, it still has some age to it which is what I like. And, the fact that this could be a capture from somewhere in North Georgia makes me happy too. While not everyone may like the subject matter, it is perfect for me. I have long loved seeing old weathered homes and barns in real life, so this really is appealing to me.

Also, the colors in this painting are perfect, especially as we are heading into spring. As soon as I took the oil painting off of the wall at the antique store, I started thinking of where to put it and how to decorate around it. My wheels began spinning and as soon as I got home, I got to work! Now, I am no expert, but below I am sharing my process on how to decorate with a painting below!

How To Decorate With A Painting

Find A Spot

The first thing that I did was to find the perfect space for the painting. There were many open spots around the house that I could put it, but I wanted to find the perfect spot that would compliment both the painting and the frame. The original frame does stand out. It is very chunky and ornate and the golden color can not be missed. I felt that the features of the original frame, as well as the art itself, needed to be taken into consideration as I chose where to place the painting. I carefully walked around the house holding the oil up here and there and I finally decided to hang it above this antique cabinet that I had sanded down a few years ago. The color of the cabinet matched the entire piece nicely.

The Focal Point

Choosing to put the oil painting here was perfect not only because the cabinet complimented the colors of both the frame and the painting itself so well, but also because hanging it in this spot allowed the painting to become a focal point in this large room. As soon as you walk into this space (our large bonus room upstairs), the oil painting is the first thing you will see.

Adding Other Pieces That Supports It

After finding just the right wall to put it on, I then got busy deciding how to decorate around the painting. I did this in two parts:

Pull Out The Colors

The first thing that I did after I hung the painting was to find items that I already had and that complimented the colors in the painting. I wanted to be sure to ‘echo’ some of the colors that the artist used with the accessories that I chose! I was so lucky because spring is right around the corner and the colors in the painting really go well with some of the spring pieces that I already have.

I was able to dip into my stash of vintage planters, like these Roseville planters and these matte McCoy planters, and I was so happy to find that the colors really coordinated well.

I also chose to use some old glass items, like this jug and this old smaller turquoise bottle. I felt the light turquoise color of the glass worked well. I even added in just a few clear glass bottles too.

Lastly, I used some neutral colors to help frame the space, like the browns and whites, that helped to pull it all together!

Pieces That Support The Size and Scale of The Painting

I wanted to be mindful to choose pieces that would not over power the size of the oil painting. As you can see, the painting is not that big, so I chose to use smaller things (like the smaller books and glass bottle, etc) right beneath it and then I added some larger pieces around the bottom of the cabinet. I used these smaller pieces intentionally because I did not want to distract from the beauty of the painting.

I wanted to make sure that I had balance on both sides of the painting. I quickly realized that I needed to build up some height to the left of the painting to help balance out the space. So, I used an old chunky column base as a riser to accomplish that! I added a firkin there on top and then put in a faux fiddle leaf fig (here is a similar sized one) to finish off that side of things.

To the right of the painting, I simply placed an old antique market basket that I got here and filled it with faux stems – it is hard to keep plants alive in this corner of the room, believe me, I have tried. I then filled this hanging ‘rack’ to the side (Does anyone know what that is called? Comment below if you do.) with a few of my grandmother’s old books – I loved the color of the book covers!

That was pretty much it. I kept it simple and tried to:

• Make the painting the focal point of the space.
• Compliment the colors of the painting using smaller pieces, being mindful of scale and size.
• Keep surrounding pieces minimal so they didn’t distract from the beauty of the painting.

Wrap Up

I really enjoy putting spaces together, especially since it allows me to showcase the many antique and vintage pieces that I have found on my many adventures. While my unique, antique-lovin’ themes may not be for everyone, I do love to share my thought process and final result here on the blog so you too can be inspired to build a unique space in your home. Thank you for taking a moment to read about how to decorate with a painting. I hope that this is the first of many really great oils that I find during my hunting journeys – and that I get to share here with you! Cheers to all the pretty pictures out there!

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A tale of discovery.