How To Style Metal Wall Decor Around The House

If you’re looking for wall art for your home but want something modern, stylish and sophisticated, metal wall decor is for you!

Metal wall art has been around for centuries, but it’s only recently that it has been making a statement all around the world. These sleek prints are more than just a passing trend. In fact, metal wall decor now makes up almost a third of all prints sold around the world! Metal wall art is on the rise due to its many benefits and they are an easy way of elevating the sophistication level of any space.

Outdoor metal wall art is also trending. Its sleek aluminium finish won’t rust or fade, even when exposed to the elements. This makes it perfect for a courtyard or alfresco areas where canvas prints can’t withstand the weather.

But what are the advantages of metal wall decor versus other materials, and how can you style this unique wall art so that it complements your existing décor?

How metal wall decor is created

Metal wall decor doesn’t have a shiny “metallic” look, just a subtle sheen. Rather, it begins with a white-based background. This is the perfect base to add the rich colours of your photos, or an art print of your choosing.

Our metal wall art is made from a cool, classy brushed aluminium. The great news is that you can turn any image into a metal print. Your image is fused onto the aluminium surface, creating striking, vibrant metal prints from your photos with a high-shine, glossy-look finish.

Advantages of metal wall art

Many people love metal wall art due to its surprising vibrancy, clarity and strong colour. But that’s not all. Metal wall art is also:

• Durable and waterproof; metal prints can withstand the elements, in particular, rain (or any spillages on the walls!). All you need to do to clean your prints is to wipe with a wet cloth or any ammonia-free cleaner. This means metal prints are perfect if you have small children, pets, or other messy adults!
• Fade-resistant; metal wall art will last decades without fading, even if it’s outside or in sunlight
• High-quality finish; the finish of your metal print will be crisp and brilliant with strong detail and an almost magical luminescence. Due to the high gloss finish of aluminium, metal prints from photos are almost dripping with saturation
• Scratch-resistant surface. This will make your life worry-free if you’re relocating, or if your metal wall decor is placed in a corridor or a common area where it could be dropped or brushed up against
• Lightweight; despite being metal, aluminium prints are surprisingly lightweight, meaning they’re easy to carry, or move from room to room if you’re redecorating. However, care still needs to be taken not to bend the metal print when moving
• Versatile; metal prints look great styled in a contemporary setting but work in pretty much any environment in the home or office. Due to their durable nature, they can be easily transferred to any room; be it bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, or outside, and still look fantastic

Which images work best on metal?

So, how can you get the best metal prints? The best kind of photos to print on aluminium are vibrant, sharp, brightly coloured images.

Black and white images work well on aluminium, because the images are sharp and the contrast is deep. Anything with rich colours like landscapes of sunsets and mountains, seascapes, forests and beaches all look stunning when creating metal prints from photos.

Photographs of nature take on a luminescent, hyper-real look which works fantastically well with metal prints.

That said, metal prints from photos of architecture and cityscapes also look great; essentially any image in which you want to showcase all the fine detail of the original image looks good as a metal wall print.

Softer, more subtle images will still work but may work better on canvas as opposed to metal wall art. That said; there is no right or wrong and both metal and canvas look equally good in different environments.

Where to hang metal prints

Metal prints have a sleek, contemporary look and are already quite vibrant so, although you do want them to be visible, they don’t need to be in direct sunlight. An area that has some light is ideal, as any colours in your metal wall art will shine with the light reflecting from it. Because they are often just as impactful as canvas prints, if not more so, you want to hang them in a place where they will stand out.

Metal wall art doesn’t need a frame; metal prints from Canvas Factory are frameless and can be hung as soon as you receive them.

Unlike frames with a glass covering, there will be no reflection from sunlight and the art is less intrusive. Our prints sit flatter to the wall, making them perfect for hallways or narrow spaces where a thick frame might get in the way.

Also, due to their durable nature, metal wall art can be hung outside; they look great in courtyard areas or on blank walls.

Unlike canvas prints, metal prints can also be hung in the bathroom or kitchen. These are areas where steam might normally affect other materials. If you get any water or steam on your metal prints, you can easily wipe it off.

Metal wall art even works well when you have a smaller, stand out piece, like this print of a horse in the image below. The vibrant colour and sharpness work well against the blank grey wall.

Metal wall art can look great in any setting but is most impactful when styled with clean, smooth surfaces like polished wood or minimal furnishings.

How to style metal prints

Metal prints have a sleek, contemporary look. They can instantly make any room look sleek and sophisticated.

A large single piece of metal wall art can add instant elegance to any home and can leave a grand impression. Adding a split image metal prints can extend and amplify the effect of a single image. This creates a curated gallery-style look in your home, perfect for a feature wall, entranceway or large corridor space. This is perfect for stunning landscapes or large-scale photographs. They are also ideal for high-resolution images that are already quite sharp or detailed.

Or, you might want to create a wall display of metal prints. Wall displays are the perfect way of showing off multiple photos from a series. That series might be your wedding, family photographs or a series of photos from your travels over the years. Either way, wall displays look fantastic and are a great way of turning your memories into beautiful pieces of art. This is typically called a “gallery wall”.

This kind of collection can be styled in a typical shape, like a square or rectangle, or a non-typical shape, like a cluster of artworks. Clustered pieces hung together need to be carefully considered. Try using a large hero piece, or two larger pieces in the centre, and build your gallery wall outwards. Spread smaller pieces upward, down and outwards, with smaller pieces around the larger ones.

Tying it all together

To ensure your metal wall art doesn’t look random and haphazard, trying using common themes, colours or shapes to tie it all together. If you’re doing a black and white theme, use all black and white images in one room, such as the bedroom.

Or, make sure the style of the artwork matches the room. For instance, in a more modern room, you might want to mix your street photography images with abstract black and white artworks. Whereas in a cottage-style or classic room, you could hand metal prints from your landscape photos.

There’s nothing worse than a crooked picture. An odd-shaped wall arrangement can be distracting, taking away from other elements in your home. To get the best possible look, lay your whole arrangement out on the floor. This will help you avoid adding multiple hooks in your wall!

Better yet, get art paper, cut out the shapes of your artworks in the correct sizes they will be, and stick them to your wall so you can see what the arrangement will look like before you hang, or even before you buy. After all, your prints are going to be on your walls for a while so you want to get this right!

Try not to use wall art that is too large in a small space, or too small in a larger space. Metal wall art hanging above your couch should be two thirds the size of your couch. Hang smaller pieces in the lost spaces between windows and doors.

Want to try sophisticated, brilliant metal wall decor from photos in your home? The options are limitless. Create your own here, or browse our extensive range of over 20 million images and create metal wall art to captivate friends, family, and guests by clicking here.