Can an Art Consultant Choose the Right Painting Without Standing in the Room?
Last updated: 2 November 2026
In short: Yes, up to a point. An art consultancy can curate a room it never visits from design boards, a budget, renderings and floor plans, then narrow to the top two or three. What paper leaves out is light, surface and the pull of a single color, which is why a painter can add two finished options and pre-ship videos. A commission works best when the brief names the wall and leaves the outcome open.
How does an art consultancy curate for a room it never visits?
Courtney Bohman and Kim Glenn run Art Houzze, a Greenville, South Carolina art consultancy, and they described their method to Business of Home (Haley Chouinard, 11 September 2026). Bohman says the firm works from distance by design: "We can get enough information from the designers to curate for a space no matter where it is."
Glenn lists what arrives from the designers: "Their design boards, their budget, the architectural renderings, the floor plans." Bohman says the firm then narrows the field until "We filter that down to the top two or three." The designer reviews that short list so, in Glenn's words, they can "make sure this is what they're looking for."
It is a disciplined way to work. A room is described on paper, a field of art is reduced to three, and a person who knows the room decides.
What does a floor plan leave out?
A plan gives a wall its length and a ceiling its height. It cannot tell you how the afternoon crosses that wall, which color a client keeps reaching for, or whether the surface of a painting should be matte or lit from within. Those facts live in the room, and they decide whether a painting reads as part of the architecture or as a guest in it.
I ask about them first when a commission begins: the light as the afternoon turns, the color you return to, the room you walk into at the end of a long day. A tape measure answers one question, and a conversation answers the rest.
Who holds the veto in a commission?
Cass Almendral, writing in Social Life Magazine (7 September 2026, "When the Designer Writes the Brief, the Market Already Voted"), argues that many commissions are specification dressed as patronage. The test offered is whether the maker can refuse: "If the end is known, you are in craft." On the designer's side of the brief the column is exact: "Architecture is allowed to specify." The remedy is to name the wall rather than the outcome.
The column is an opinion piece by a magazine's business-development head, not an art-world authority, and I read it that way. One recommendation differs from my practice: the column advises against asking for three options. I paint two at the same time, so that the choice is between finished paintings, and each is made for the same wall. The point the column and I share is the one that matters, which is that a brief should leave the painting something to decide.
How can a choice made from a distance still be a confident one?
Three habits help. Ask for multiple videos of a finished painting in motion, since a surface that moves with the light tells you more than a still image. The studio sends several pre-ship videos of every finished work, inventory and commissions alike. Measure the wall and tape up paper at the size you imagine, then leave it for a few days. And when the first reveal arrives, use the revision rounds: a commission here includes two, and deposit to delivery runs about four weeks, depending on the studio schedule.
How do you begin?
Send the wall, the light and the colors you keep reaching for. Browse the available paintings if a finished piece might already answer the room, or begin a commission when it will not. Designers and consultants can start with the Trade Program, and the studio's story shows where the work comes from.
I have painted for over twenty years, and the rooms I remember best were described to me first and seen second.
Frequently asked questions
Can an art consultant choose art without visiting the room?
Yes. Art Houzze's Courtney Bohman says the firm can get enough information from designers to curate for a space no matter where it is, working from design boards, a budget, renderings and floor plans, then narrowing to the top two or three.
What does a floor plan not tell you about choosing art?
It does not show how light moves across the wall, which colors the client returns to, or how a painted surface behaves in motion. Videos and a conversation about the room fill that gap.
How does a commissioned painting work with an interior designer?
A commission begins with a conversation, a deposit secures the slot, and two options are painted at the same time. Two revision rounds follow, and deposit to delivery runs about four weeks, depending on the studio schedule.
Can you see a painting in motion before it ships?
Yes. The studio sends multiple pre-ship videos of every finished work, for ready-to-ship originals and commissions alike.