Paint Inspiration for Living Room that You Can Try

Elevating your living room with a painting canvas that you created is something that can wow everyone: your family, guests, and friends once they see your painting. Designing the interiors of your home, particularly the living room, can be a little nerve-wracking. First, this is the main room of your home. Second, this is where most of the guests and visitors are welcomed for every gathering and party.

However, it is important to remember that you shouldn’t let the pressure wreck you. While you can hire designers to redesign your living room and artists for painting commissions, you don’t have to spend a lot if you want to elevate the look of your living room. Accordingly, there are plenty of easy paint inspirations for the living room that you can try. The best part is? It wouldn’t have to cost as much, it’s fun, and we have the best suggestions here in this article.

So, keep on reading if you want creative fuel to boost inspiration and motivation for you to start another art project.

A photo of a flat screen tv near a green leaved colored wall paper in a parlor setting

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Do you have your artwork displayed somewhere in your living room? If so, how does it feel to display something printed with your signature?

If not, can you imagine the boost of self-confidence and the sense of pride you can get to display your work of art with your signature?

Every adult and artist always ensures that the look of their home, especially their living rooms, reflects their personality and creativity. With such, many are pressured to decorate their interiors which can give a wow factor to everyone who sees it.

How difficult is it to paint something for your living room? Well, not so much! Because if you consider yourself creative enough, you know that you’ll be able to pull off these paint inspirations for the living room that you can try. So, without further ado, let's get started!

Modern and Contemporary Paint Inspiration for Living Room that You Can Try

    1.  Acrylic Pour Painting:

Abstract art, before it emerged and finally dominated the art world, was considered to be a fair niche genre in the art market back then. However, thanks to artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Wassily Kandinsky, abstract art is now the most sought-after art movement to this day. You will notice that most, if not all households, have at least one abstract art somewhere in their home. Moreover, different styles, techniques, and methods make it look as unique as possible. 

Recently, one of the most common abstract art techniques is acrylic pouring because of its uncomplicated, visually appealing, and satisfying method. Moreover, the best part about this type of art is that every artwork does not come out the same!

The only things you’ll need for this are a bunch of acrylic paint colors, a pouring medium, and a canvas. It is up to you whether you’d prefer an acrylic pouring painting set if you want a curated-color set pre-mixed with the pouring medium already. You can also put other elements such as resin, alcohol ink, glitters, pebbles, and many more! 

Abstract multi colored photo

    2.  Muted neutrals minimalist art:

Minimalism emerged during the post-world war II era which became one of the competing movements of abstract expressionism. Accordingly, this art genre doesn’t highlight contrasting mediums, textures, patterns, and other elements of art and principles of design. In short, its lack of dynamics gave its appeal due to the balance and “freshness” it provides. 

In this type of art, you let the limited number of mediums used in the canvas speak for itself. Moreover, limited elements are used (usually less than three elements) so that the viewer or audience can focus on the medium without the other distracting elements. 

One of the most common minimalist paintings that are displayed in most homes right now due to its versatility are muted neutrals minimalist artworks where neutral colors (white, beige, gray, etc.) are thickly applied in a canvas and scraped using a cake scraper or other materials to create a lined textured surface.

Greyish background painting

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    3.  Palette knife painting:

If you want to go ambitious with your artwork, then this is the best painting inspiration for living that you should follow. So if you're not into minimalism because you prefer dynamics, bold colors, and contrasts of different elements and design principles, working on a larger canvas and palette knife is a good project to start.

Most fans of Vincent van Gogh and other impasto-style painters often have something like this displayed in their living room. It’s bold, bright, striking, and visually appealing. You cannot go wrong with this type of art.

Accordingly, while you can use acrylic paint for this project, it may not give the volume and thickness that you’re looking for when you use oil paint. However, you may also not have the patience to work with oils due to their slow-drying properties. Not to worry, you can still add additives to your acrylic paint to give it richness and volume for texture.

For instance, you can purchase a modeling paste at your arts and crafts store which you can directly mix with your acrylics. On the other hand, if you’re sticking to a budget, you can use cornstarch (added directly or make a paste mixed with water). When adding cornstarch directly, however, be sure to mix it properly to avoid clumps forming in your acrylics.

Blue and brown woman artwork photo

    4.  Abstract mural painting:

For many artists, it’s either you go big or go home. With that, many artists don’t just paint on canvases for their living rooms, they even attempt to paint a wall of their living room to show their creativity, skill, craftsmanship, and artistry. While this may sound intimidating for beginners, it’s not as complicated as you think it is.

When doing this project, however, you need to ensure that you’ve primed the wall so that the paint layer will be as smooth as possible. Moreover, to make this project less complicated on your end, take note that you’ll need a little help from either people or digital apps to make sure that the creative process wouldn’t be so difficult for you. After all, the last thing you'll want to happen is abandon your project due to the frustrations and difficulties you experience.

There are plenty of mural painting guides that you can download on your phone or tablet for free to help you with outlining the design of your work. 

A mural painting on the wall of a room

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    5.  Line art:

If you want an art project that doesn’t require much energy and effort on your end but is still able to deliver a bold and striking message to your viewers or guests, then line art is perfect for you. This is by far the easiest paint inspiration for the living room that you can follow. The great thing about doing this art project is that it’s simple, affordable, and easy to do.

Moreover, nothing could ever go wrong with line artwork so it’s very much foolproof. Accordingly, you can use different mediums and colors for this art project. But remember to make the lines shine and take into consideration not to let the colors overpower the important element of all: lines, of course. Most importantly, you should remember that lines aren’t all about straight lines in three different forms: you can utilize different kinds of lines to highlight this element in your art project.

A cropped woman and abstract illustrations on floor

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Key Insights

We hope that you find this list of paint inspirations for the living room helpful. So, whether it’s for spring clean-up, general cleaning, or interior redesigning, these art projects will highlight your creativity and create a statement in your living room.

So, which among the choices in the list of paint inspiration for the living room will you try for your next art project? Let us know and don’t forget to share your experience with us so that other artists can get inspired and motivated to follow these as well. Happy painting!

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