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Art That Makes a Room Feel Bigger: A Simple Buyer's Guide
The right art can visually expand your space. Learn which types of art create the illusion of more space and how to choose pieces that make any room feel larger.
8 min read
Discover how to choose landscape art that enhances your living room's atmosphere, complements your decor, and creates a welcoming focal point. Learn about color palettes, sizing, and style considerations.
What Kind of Landscape Art Works in a Living Room?
The living room is the heart of your home—a space for relaxation, conversation, and daily life. The artwork you choose here sets the tone for the entire space. Landscape art, with its natural beauty and calming presence, can transform a living room into a sanctuary. But not all landscapes work equally well. Here's how to choose the perfect piece.
This best-selling minimalist piece from Africa creates a sophisticated focal point that anchors the space while maintaining visual calm—perfect for living rooms where art serves multiple purposes.
Living room art serves multiple purposes:
This best-selling versatile piece from Africa addresses common living room challenges—works in high-traffic areas, adapts to variable lighting, and fills large wall spaces beautifully.
Living rooms often face unique challenges:
This award-winning piece from Africa demonstrates perfect color matching—neutral tones that complement any existing decor, from warm wood furniture to cool modern spaces.
The most successful living room art complements your existing color scheme rather than competing with it. Consider:
Neutral Palettes: If your living room features beiges, grays, and whites, landscape art with soft, muted tones creates harmony. Think misty mountain scenes, foggy coastlines, or desert landscapes with subtle color variations.
Warm Tones: For rooms with warm wood furniture, cream walls, or earth-toned textiles, landscapes with golden hour lighting, autumn scenes, or desert sunsets work beautifully.
Cool Tones: Modern spaces with cool grays, blues, or whites pair well with icy landscapes, ocean scenes, or mountain vistas with blue and white tones.
Bold Accents: If you have colorful accent pieces, choose landscapes that share one or two of those colors. For example, a blue sofa pairs beautifully with ocean or glacier photography.
This best-selling piece from Asia shows perfect visual balance—the symmetrical composition and balanced color palette create harmony with any room's color intensity.
The color intensity of your art should balance with your room:
This award-winning large-scale piece from North America demonstrates perfect sofa placement—the impressive mountain and lake scene creates proper proportion above large seating areas.
The most common placement for living room art is above the sofa. Here's what works:
Large Sofas (8+ feet): Choose artwork that's 60-75% of the sofa's width. A large horizontal landscape (36-48 inches wide) creates proper proportion.
Standard Sofas (6-8 feet): Artwork 24-36 inches wide works well. Consider a single large piece or a triptych of smaller landscapes.
Sectionals: For L-shaped or large sectionals, consider a large horizontal landscape or a gallery wall of related pieces.
This award-winning piece from Asia works beautifully on any wall—the grand forest scene adapts to different sizes and creates visual interest without overwhelming the space.
For other living room walls:
This award-winning piece from Europe demonstrates proper height placement—the dramatic ocean scene works beautifully at eye level, creating an impressive focal point.
Hang artwork so the center is at eye level (approximately 57-60 inches from the floor). For very large pieces above sofas, the bottom edge can be 6-12 inches above the furniture.
This award-winning piece from South America creates perfect calm—the still glacier reflection with soft, diffused light creates a peaceful, tranquil atmosphere ideal for living rooms.
For a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere:
This best-selling piece from South America adds energy and movement—the dramatic glacier scene with dynamic ice formations creates visual interest and natural drama.
To add energy and movement:
This award-winning piece from Europe demonstrates sophisticated elegance—the atmospheric mountain scene with dramatic lighting creates a refined, upscale feel perfect for elegant living spaces.
For a refined, upscale feel:
Mountain landscapes bring a sense of grandeur and stability to living rooms. They work particularly well:
Water scenes are universally calming and work in almost any living room style:
Desert photography brings warmth and texture:
Forest scenes add depth and natural warmth:
For contemporary living rooms:
The frame should complement both the art and your room:
For traditional framing:
ChromaLuxe metal prints offer:
Use landscape art to create visual hierarchy:
When using multiple landscapes:
Proper lighting enhances landscape art:
The best landscape art for your living room is one that:
Remember, your living room is where you spend significant time, so choose art that you genuinely love and that makes you feel good. The right landscape photograph can transform your living room into a space that feels both sophisticated and welcoming—a true reflection of your home.
Browse our complete collection of deserts photography with 45 prints available.
The right art can visually expand your space. Learn which types of art create the illusion of more space and how to choose pieces that make any room feel larger.
Glacier photography has unique qualities that make it perfect for modern interiors. Discover why these icy landscapes create such stunning focal points in contemporary spaces.
The right art can make your space feel larger and more peaceful. Learn the specific characteristics that create a sense of space and stillness in any room.