Home decor art trends worth putting on the wall

Welcome to my blog, I am a professional cartoonist, illustrator, artist and writer. My site here is intended to promote a range of works that I think will look good on the wall. Included on my site is not just my own work, but some works by other artists whose work I love and hope to bring to a wider audience. I hope you enjoy your tour of my site and welcome any feedback. Prints are fulfilled by The Print Space for prints on paper, they are one of the UK's premier fine art print companies, and there is also the option of buying some images printed onto canvas, these are fulfilled by Printumo. All prints are available worldwide. Home decor art trends are useful to follow, but only when they lead you towards pictures you will still want to live with after the fashionable colour of the moment has moved on.

There is a difference between filling a blank bit of wall and choosing an image that gives a room some character. The best rooms are not necessarily planned within an inch of their lives. They often contain a few things that are slightly unexpected: a drawing with a rough edge, a rural view that reminds you of somewhere real, or a photograph of an overlooked bit of street architecture. Those are the pictures that keep rewarding a second glance.

Home decor art trends with some staying power

The current move towards more personal interiors is good news for art. People are less interested in generic slogans and anonymous prints designed to match a cushion, and more interested in images with a point of view. A picture does not have to be difficult or expensive to have presence. It does need to feel as though somebody noticed something worth noticing.

That might be the soft geometry of a Gloucestershire field, the shadow along a battered workshop door, or the particular arrangement of lettering on an old sign. These subjects bring texture and history into a room without making it feel like a themed space. They work especially well against plain walls, natural timber, painted cupboards and the quieter sort of interior where one strong image can do its job properly.

Trend-led buying is not always a bad thing. It can help you see fresh combinations of colour and materials. The problem comes when the picture has no life beyond the trend. A good print should suit your room, certainly, but it should also have enough visual interest to outlast the room being rearranged.

The beauty of the useful and weathered

Old industrial buildings, sheds, corrugated iron and industrial metalwork have an artistic quality that is easy to miss when you are rushing past them. They carry accidental compositions everywhere: faded paint, a run of rivets, patches of rust, hand-painted notices and layers of repair. Nothing has been added for effect, which is often why the effect is so good.

I have always had a penchant for these buildings. Much of the subject matter begins with a photograph, taken when the weather allows, then becomes a painting when the weather turns less inviting. There is something satisfying about taking a scruffy, hardworking structure and giving it the attention normally reserved for a grand view. A shed can be as good a subject as a church if the shapes, marks and light are right.

The River Severn and its surrounding sites offer plenty of this sort of material. It is a landscape with working edges: old yards, riverside structures, changing skies and buildings that appear to have settled into the ground over decades. The Gloucestershire countryside is an equally strong influence, not because it is picture-postcard perfect, but because it has atmosphere. Fields, lanes, hedges and farm buildings have their own quiet drama.

For a home, these images can bring a useful balance. They are grounded and recognisable, but they are not overly polite. In a clean, contemporary room, an industrial image can stop everything feeling too showroom-like. In an older house, it can sit comfortably with existing texture and character.

Charcoal brings a welcome roughness

New charcoal drawing images have recently been added, and they offer a different kind of presence. Charcoal is direct. It can be soft and atmospheric one moment, then dark, blunt and structural the next. You can see the energy of the hand in it, which makes it particularly good for subjects with weight, weather and texture.

A charcoal drawing is not always the obvious choice for someone looking at wall art, but it can be one of the most useful. Black, grey and warm paper tones sit happily with almost any colour scheme. More importantly, they leave room for the viewer. They do not explain every detail, and that little bit of mystery makes them easy to keep looking at.

Large signs and the visual noise of Los Angeles

At the other end of the scale are the large advertising signs found around Los Angeles. These are not subtle objects, nor should they be. Their scale, typography and sun-bleached colour make them small pieces of theatre attached to buildings. They tell you something about a place before you know anything about its people.

The Los Angeles sign photographs are available as photographic images and as canvas prints. Paper prints tend to suit a framed, more precise look, where the details of lettering and surface are part of the pleasure. Canvas can give a larger sign image a bolder, more physical feel, particularly over a sofa, desk or dining table. Neither is automatically better. It depends on the wall, the size of the image and whether you want the piece to sit quietly in a room or take charge of it.

Urban signs are a useful answer for people who want colour and graphic impact without buying something that feels decorative for its own sake. They have real-world oddness built in. A cracked letter, an unlikely colour pairing or a half-obscured slogan can be more memorable than a perfectly designed poster.

Choose art by the feeling it creates

There are a few practical considerations when choosing a print, but taste should lead. Think about the view you will have of it most often. A small image can work well near a chair or beside a bookcase, where it rewards closer looking. A bigger piece needs space around it and a sensible viewing distance. It does not need to match every item in the room, but it should have enough contrast to avoid disappearing into the wall.

Colour is worth considering, although it is often overthought. A restrained black and white drawing can calm a busy room. A Los Angeles sign can add a welcome flash of colour to a neutral one. Rural scenes can connect a modern interior to the outside world, while lino-cut-like marks and strong illustration can introduce rhythm where a room feels a little too orderly.

New photographs are also part of the growing selection, alongside new exciting works by Steve Parker. Bringing in work by artists whose images I genuinely admire keeps the collection from becoming a catalogue of one visual voice. It gives visitors more ways to find a picture that feels right for their own wall, whether they are drawn to landscape, graphic line, street detail or a bit of visual mischief.

None of these works are limited editions. That is deliberate. Good art should be available to people who simply want to put something worthwhile on their wall, rather than feel they need to understand the art market first. The focus is on the image, the quality of the print and the pleasure of living with it.

A home is rarely finished, and that is part of its charm. Leave room for the picture that catches you slightly off guard. It may be an old shed, a charcoal sky, a Gloucestershire lane or a huge American sign, but if it keeps looking good on the wall, it has earned its place.