Image: Design Soda
.
I think wall art has got to be one of the hardest things to get right in a home, it’s a constant dilemma for me, it can be hard to find just exactly what you want, especially on a budget, and most of us don’t want to wait 15 years till we’ve acquired pieces with meaning before we can cheer up a hallway or a blank wall area. Small collections and items grouped within a theme work well in small areas to add interest, and once you know what you want are fairly easy to complete. But how do you approach a great big space like a hallway wall to add personality? Some people fill these walls with family pictures which is a nice way of personalising a space. But I always want something a bit more abstract than my own family (sorry guys!). There are places that you can get cheap wall art but where you also know your purchase won’t feel unique to you – I think we all know a particular and rather brilliant Swedish furniture company I’m aiming at here, they do many things very, very well but when it comes to artwork I don’t want to find my latest purchase in the living room of someone from Eastenders! (not that there’s anything wrong with soap interiors, per se, it’s just that my childhood self has never quite got over sharing my wallpaper choice with Ron & Bev from Brookside!). Well to my mind you can’t really go wrong with a collection of posters online from Desenio.
Image: Design Soda
.
Not only are they really good quality and very cheap but they also make some really eye catching and well thought designs in a fabulously huge range. Whether you like Scandi or quotations, drawings or abstract, maps or nature, bold or monochrome, you are sure to find prints to fit your taste at a very accessible price point. So, when Desenio gave me a healthy budget to buy some prints I was really delighted to finally be able to jazz up our slightly lacklustre hallway space and my newly decorated study. I chose things that spoke to me, and as is fairly typical of my magpie style I didn’t pay much attention to cohesion. I had a vague sense that something graphic and something colourful were the requirements based on art we already own and the feel I wanted in the space but I was so impressed with the design choices available that I felt sure what I had chosen would work together regardless of themes. There are a few supposed rules for gallery walls and you can find all kinds of guides to layout etc on Pinterest. But to be honest laying them out on the floor first for a vague idea of placement is a good rule of thumb and if you want something fairly organic like me (and share my laziness for spending hours leaning over banisters being a perfectionist focused on the terribly exact) this is really all you need to do, past thinking about shape and texture which I come to next.
.
Images: From the Desenio website
Image: Design Soda
.
I love all of the prints I chose for the hallway and they all work really well with what’s there, I’ve added some texture in the form of plates and trays etc, I think it’s a good rule to add some circular items and also some that jar in order to create tension and interest. The faux horns have been up forever and again I think they are a great foil to the architectural and graphic elements of the prints. I really love the blue abstract paint lines and they look great in the oak Desenio frame, which come with the added benefit of plastic glass so they are not dangerous should they fall near a busy toddler etc. The bug print echoes my entomology natural history theme downstairs and I liked it so much that I bought two and have one on wooden hangers in the living room (below). I like an eclectic look to a gallery wall and as with much of my design choices, I’m less drawn to matched cohesive looks than ones that jar, I think interconnecting spaces like hallways allow for a little fun, so if you want to make an impact I think it does well to follow your instinct and not get too bogged down on themes.
.
Image: Design Soda
.
As there was an offer on at the time, I came in under my very reasonable budget. I spent £66 on all of the prints you can see above (some of which were large) and £31 on Desenio frames for them plus £63 indulgence on two architect designed Moebe frames that I’ve had my eyes on for a while. I was really impressed with the quality of the prints when they arrived, I’ll be honest, when some cost as little as £2.29 I did not necessarily expect it to be of the same quality as other prints I’ve bought, but they are genuinely great quality and it made me wonder how they do it for the cost!
.
Image: Design Soda
.
This moon print (above) is just lovely, so simple but also a bit of a show-stopper, it’s just perfect above one of vintage the bookcases in our study. The map of London (below) has also found a new permanent home in the study working perfectly by my study desk which is very masculine and channels a modernist vibe. This print in its Moebe frame strikes just the right note of masculine style and my husband loves it so double win.
.
Image: Design Soda
.
We are all about finding style that’s accessible in the Design Soda house and Desenio are firm favourites around here. This Scandinavian company is a great place to pick up prints with really great style on a budget. And if you like what you see, for the next two days I have an exclusive 25% off code for you, just enter (all lowercase) designsoda25 at checkout to receive the discount. What would you choose? Let me know in the comments below.
This post is a collaboration with Desenio, as always, opinions are my own (honest) thoughts and I only work with brands that I find interesting and think that you will too.
