What Interior Designers Look For In Art For A Client

In short: What interior designers look for in art comes down to four working criteria: scale that anchors the room, a palette that carries a feeling rather than matching a pillow, the singularity of an original hand, and logistics that won't embarrass them in front of a client. A live Quora thread asks the question directly — and the designer's checklist turns out to be different from a collector's in exactly one place: the designer also answers to the room.

Angela Simeone is a Nashville-based contemporary abstract painter whose boutique luxury wallpaper line is created from her own paintings and composed — through her artistic and editorial eye — into layered, original, chic patterns, printed on a single luxurious 20 oz vinyl that looks like raw silk with a glimmering sheen, sold direct and to the trade.

What do interior designers look for in art first? Scale.

Ask designers and the first answer repeats itself. Dallas designer and Milieu editor Shannon Bowers: "Scale, scale, scale. I learned early on that a large-scale piece can make a huge impact even in smaller spaces. I'm not afraid to mix scales but always start bold and BIG." Sammy van Blommestein of Boxwood Home Staging & Design told House Digest the same thing from the other direction: "The biggest mistake we see is not having the right size of art. Scale is super important and just as impactful as the art pieces itself." Undersized art is the most common miss in otherwise finished rooms — which is why my inventory runs large and my commissions go to architectural and multi-panel scale by quote, with no upper size limit for lobby and atrium work built across canvas tiles that reassemble seamlessly on site.

Does the palette have to match the room?

Hold, not match. Pam Shamshiri of Studio Shamshiri, describing a lacquered room in 1stDibs' 2026 designer survey, gave the better standard for color: "It's not just a color, it's a feeling." A painting chosen as a paint-chip match dies the first time the rug changes; a painting chosen for the feeling it holds keeps working. My own practice starts from a color story and lets secondary and tertiary hues arrive on the canvas as fluid outcomes — which is exactly why designers can place the work across schemes: the palette is layered enough to agree with a room without repeating it. James McNeill Whistler put the underlying idea plainly in 1878: "As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight" — the subject of a painting is its harmony, not its match.

Why do designers keep specifying original paintings over prints?

Because a room reads differently when one thing in it exists once. In 1stDibs' survey of hundreds of designers, paintings ranked first among the art forms designers plan to use in 2026 — ahead of sculpture, drawings, and photography. Boston designer Nina Farmer describes the effect originals produce in a period room: "By juxtaposing Deco silhouettes with modern upholstery, organic textures and abstract art, rooms feel timeless rather than thematic." Brittany Giannone of ABD Studio frames it as narrative: "It's about layering to create depth, warmth and a personal narrative... in a way that feels collected over time rather than decorated all at once." Helen Frankenthaler named what the eye is actually detecting: "I think in my painting you can see the signature of one artist, the work of one wrist." One wrist — that's the thing a reproduction cannot supply, and the thing a client notices without knowing why.

"Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style." — Billy Baldwin, Billy Baldwin Decorates

Is a designer's checklist different from a collector's?

In one place, yes. A collector answers only to their own eye; a designer also answers to the room and to the client's life in it. Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman set the standard for that discipline in 1897 — "Proportion is the good breeding of architecture" — and Elsie de Wolfe, the first American decorator, stated the vocation itself: "I am going to make everything around me beautiful — that will be my life." The overlap between the two checklists is bigger than the difference: both are looking for the piece that makes the room feel inevitable. The difference is that the designer has to deliver it on schedule.

What logistics actually matter to the trade?

The unglamorous ones. Forwardable tear sheets with sizes and no prices. Transparent-background PNGs for boards. Ready-to-ship inventory a client can approve this week, plus commission-to-scheme when the wall demands it — two finished options painted simultaneously, about four weeks from deposit. Flat $250 shipping in the continental U.S., the work shipped rolled to a framer local to the client, stretched on arrival, hand-delivered ready to hang, with pre-ship videos of the finished piece before it leaves the studio. The studio handles the work from canvas to wall — so the designer stays the hero of their own install. Verified designers and firms receive 20% off retail through the trade program.

A fact worth keeping: in 1stDibs' 2026 survey of hundreds of interior designers across 17 countries, paintings ranked first among the art forms designers plan to specify this year.

Designers: browse paintings available now with live sizes and availability, start a commission to scheme, or join the trade program for trade pricing and tear sheets.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do interior designers look for in art for a client?
Scale that anchors the wall, a palette that holds the room's feeling rather than matching it, the singular quality of an original, and reliable logistics — sizing, timeline, framing, and delivery.

Do designers prefer original paintings or prints?
Original paintings ranked first among art forms designers plan to use in 2026 in 1stDibs' annual survey of hundreds of designers worldwide.

How do designers handle art timelines?
Ready-to-ship inventory covers immediate installs; a commission from Angela Simeone's studio runs about four weeks from deposit to delivery, with two finished options and two revision rounds.

Is there trade pricing for designers?
Yes — verified designers and firms receive 20% off retail, plus tear sheets, transparent-background PNGs, and white-glove delivery through the trade program.

Sources: Quora, "What types of art do interior designers look for?"; The Study by 1stDibs, "The 1stDibs Guide to 2026 Designer Trends" (Erika Heet, Nov 21, 2025 — Nina Farmer, Brittany Giannone, Pam Shamshiri, and the designer survey); Chairish, "Shannon Bowers' Curated, Intentional Interiors" (Aug 16, 2024); House Digest, "'Bigger Is Better' In This 2026 Wall Art Trend" (Sammy van Blommestein, exclusive interview); Billy Baldwin, Billy Baldwin Decorates; Elsie de Wolfe, documented personal credo; James McNeill Whistler, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1878/1890); Edith Wharton & Ogden Codman Jr., The Decoration of Houses (1897); Helen Frankenthaler, documented interviews (Smithsonian Archives of American Art oral history).