By now, using prints on canvas for your interior decorating isn’t a new thing. It’s a well-established arrow in the quiver of home design, and it’s used by amateurs and professionals alike to bring their design visions into reality. When it comes to ‘mainstream’ uses of canvas art on the walls, there are very few surprises, and the main way to express a new approach using canvas art lies with the images selected, and the way they are positioned in the room.
But there are some less obvious ways to use these pieces of art that go beyond the merely design-oriented and can be more practical. Yet you won’t read about these in most design guides because they’re not really design as much as ‘life hacks’. Yet for those in need of a little creative help in their homes, these hacks can be life-savers.
Hidden Use for Prints on Canvas: Hide Defects
If you live in an older home, or even a newer home that has been the victim of children or raucous pets who have damaged the walls, prints on canvas can be your salvation. With some planning and a good eye for balance, affordable wall art can quickly and effectively hide even large holes in your walls until you have the time and money to have them fixed. They can also be used temporarily to hide any defect that afflicts an otherwise well-appointed room or passageway, turning an unsightly eyesore into a beautiful design display.
Bringing Balance
Anyone who has worked in the interior design business knows there are some minor but baffling architectural details that can make designing for a room more difficult than it should be, including:
- The off-centre window: Often the result of sloppy renovations or a poorly-thought-out architectural plan, a single window that’s just not situated correctly on the wall can ruin the symmetry of a room – and appropriately shaped and sized wall art can restore it.
- The off-centre soffit: Even worse is an interior soffit built to hide wiring or plumbing or some other piece of the home’s infrastructure, often intruding in off-centre locations. The ability to create a piece of wall art to sit on this bump-out turns it into a feature column.
Instantly Fixing Colour Palettes
Applying a little colour science can save you a paint project and instantly make any room work. Sometimes you walk into a room and the choice of wall colours, flooring, and accent or pop colours make you cringe. The bad news is painting the room can cost money and take a few days, not to mention the trouble of moving and covering everything. The good news is if you know how to work a colour wheel and understand the relationships between colours, you can save the room by adding wall art that features colours that tie everything together and make it work harmoniously. While this hack takes some skill, it’s a skill that can be learned and can be used again and again as you decorate your future homes as well.
