A fabulous piece of art can really have a transforming effect on a room, lifting what might have otherwise been a dull-looking space, or changing the atmosphere of a room altogether. It’s now easier and more affordable than ever to adorn your walls with beautiful art. One of our favourite online art stores is United Artworks. We recently sat down with Tony Romano, Director at United Artworks to get the inside scoop on the business and to find out his top tips for buying art for your home.

How do you develop your collections and decide what to include?

We are inspired by colour and movement essentially, with a clear focus towards interior design trends and understanding which interiors work best with our artworks. We are constantly on the look out for, and also approached by, emerging and established artists to partner with us and develop their ranges for United Artworks. So a major part of what we do is curating their best work to present to our customers.

What trends in colour or composition that you think will be popular in 2016? We have always had a penchant for abstract expressionism and perhaps it is what we do best and remains the core of our business. At present we are loving more restrained colour palettes and a minimalist approach. Our customers are currently drawn towards our watercolour abstract pieces in pastel tones. We think 2016 will continue with this trend and develop from the current concepts.

OK Tony, we need your three best tips for buying art for the home. Let’s go! 1. Start with a colour palette – look around at your existing décor and find one or two base colours to work with. From there, your chosen artwork should reflect the tones in the room to compliment and really finish the look and feel of that space. For example, pick up the tones in soft furnishings (like cushions and throws) and décor (such as vases and candles) and incorporate that same tone into the art.

2. Do your research to discover your style and taste – you want to choose art that reflects your personal taste and matches your personality and the personality of your home. If an artwork resonates with you, creates an emotional response and makes you think, speaks to you but you can’t articulate why – you’ve found it.

3. Once you have found your artwork, determine the size that best suits your room. Our free online preview service can help here. Simply use masking tape to measure out the size of the canvas and stick it onto your wall. Take a picture of your wall and let us know which artwork you want to preview in your room, and we send you back the photo with a mock up of the artwork on your wall!

What mistakes do people make when buying art, and how can they be avoided? The most important thing is to do your research and purchase a piece of art that really resonates with you. Not because it matches your décor, or your friends like it, or it’s on trend. An artwork is something you see every day and lives in your home! It’s a really personal purchase at the end of the day and you need to make sure you are committing to an artwork you really love. Another common mistake is choosing the wrong size artwork for your wall space – again we recommend marking out the dimensions on your wall and using our free preview service to really ‘get it right’.

Where are you artists based and how do you find them? Our artists are based both globally and locally. We come across many artists that contact us through our our website and find a lot of our collaborating artists through submissions. We’re finding more and more emerging and established talent through social media, particularly Instagram and Pinterest which are great platforms for discovering artists and artwork we’ve never seen before.

What can you tell me about the new Alisa and Lysandra (from The Block) collection? The inspiration behind the new summer art collection was really based on colour and the feeling and energy that certain colours can evoke. Alisa and Lysandra were drawn towards bright, summery art pieces in energetic, fun colours to really emphasis the different direction we have gone in compared to our first collection. We love how movement and texture can be created in art to elicit an emotional response.

What’s coming up later this year for United Artworks? We have a few exciting projects up our sleeve. The biggest project we’re working on currently is developing a brand new website and another business! It’s completely separate to our art business but is still interconnected through the interior design/decorating market and we’re really excited to be tackling a new product. More collaborations could be on the cards, as well as potential pop up store concepts and a foray into the wholesale market. We are always on the look out for new artistic talents with a view to expand our artistic collaborations to include new mediums such as photography and graphic design.

So there you have it lovelies. Some fantastic and simple tips to get you started on finding a piece of art that you love.

Walls looking bare and you’re still not sure what to do with them? Don’t fret We can work with you to find the perfect artwork for your home. Get in touch today and tell us how we can help.

Here are some of our faves from United Artworks. (Top to bottom: With Means, Tribal 1, Mellow, In Between Days)