Living With Art | 5 Practical Ways to Bring Soul Home
The art that matters most isn’t kept behind the proverbial velvet rope. The pieces that need a little dusting every now and then, the ones you grab from your local market and of course from your favorite online art space. (*hint hint) are often the ones that help us carry forward meaning and make the spaces we live in feel more true and real. Yet for so many of us, the distance between loving art and actually living with it can feel pretty wide. Where do you begin? What if you choose “wrong”? What if your walls stay bare because the perfect piece hasn’t arrived yet? The struggle is oh-so-real.
Here’s the good news: there's no single right way to bring art home. There is only your way. This is a core belief of ours here at Rhythm & Hues. Through our Rhythm of Home conversations with artists, collectors, curators, and homemakers this year, we’ve noticed that the most soulful spaces tend to share a few simple, practical habits – none of which require a designer, a big budget, or a finished home.
We think of a home less as a project with a finish line and more as a conversation and story that continues to unfold. Living with art is one of the most beautiful ways to keep that conversation going.
5 Practical Ways to Live With Your Art
- Start with what you already love. Before you buy anything new, take a slow walk through your home. Look for the things that already hold meaning – the woven basket passed down from your grandmother, the photograph from a trip that changed you, the textile you’ve carried from apartment to apartment. Then ask yourself: if this room could hold onto only one thing, what would it be, and why? Begin there. When new art arrives, let it be in conversation with what’s already rooted in your space, rather than competing with it.
- Choose story over trend. Trends move quickly but stories stay. A piece that holds a story you can tell will keep meaning something long after the season changes and the moment passes. Take Gloria Mwivanda’s The Red Hut. On a hike up Kenya’s Mt. Suswa, Gloria’s eye was drawn to a single red building standing bright against the green plain. It turned out to be the heart of the village – where people come to pray, and where they come together. Hang it in your home and you’re not just adding a pop of color, you’re carrying a story of community into your everyday.
- Give your art room to breathe here and there. A single, well-placed piece often speaks louder than a crowded wall. (Although we do love a good gallery wall, too.) As a practical starting point, hang art so its center sits at roughly eye level – about 57 to 60 inches from the floor. Above a sofa or console, leave about 6 to 10 inches between the furniture and the bottom of the frame, and aim for a piece that spans about two-thirds of the furniture’s width. And a bare wall isn’t a problem to solve. Negative space gives the eye somewhere to rest and lets the pieces you do have stand on their own. Don't be afraid to place your art in non-convential spaces and places throughout your home. A great example is from our story featuring author and stylist Kemide Lawson.
- Let light and texture lead the way. Notice how light moves through your home over the course of a day. Those are often the places where art comes more alive. To protect your prints, avoid hanging them in harsh, direct sunlight that can fade color over time. Then layer in texture around them: worn wood, linen, clay, a woven basket at the base of a console. Art feels most at ease when it’s surrounded by things that show signs of use and affection. When you don't quite have that perfect, textured piece go for art that infuses it into the space with pieces like this.
- Build slowly and move things often. You don’t have to fill every wall at once. Start with one piece you love, and let your collection grow season by season. If you’re unsure about placement, lean a frame on a shelf or mantel for a week before committing to a nail. This is also a renter-friendly approach that lets you live with a piece before deciding. We love the statement that pieces like this bring to a room.
There’s an African proverb we return to often: “Houses are built with bricks and mortar, but homes are built with love and peace”. Art, at its best, works the same way. It isn’t about filling space – it’s about filling a space with meaning.
That’s also why we care so deeply about where our art comes from. Each print in our collections begins with a photographer’s eye, and half of what you pay for it goes back to the person who made the image. When you bring a piece home, you’re not only telling your own story. You’re honoring someone else’s, too.
So start small. Start with what you love. Start with one wall, one corner, one story. The rest will come in its own time, and at its own rhythm.
Now we want to hear from you. What’s the piece in your home you’d grab first? Share it and tag @rhythmnhues_yourway so we can see the story on your walls.
Curious how others are doing it?
Step inside more homes through our Rhythm of Home series, and find everyday inspiration on Instagram and Pinterest.