First, I just wanted to say thank you for everyone who offered opinions on where I should concentrate my ‘efforts’ (or wallet, more appropriately) when it came to my living room.  Your comments and opinions were pretty varied which just goes to show there’s never any hard and fast rules and certainly no ‘right way’ to decorate a room!  It was great reading everyone’s ideas!

A couple of you did suggest in terms of the artwork to just grab a canvas and go to town instead of considering pricier options. 

I used to paint quite a lot when I was in High School (so many many moons ago) and always quite enjoyed it but the problem is not in the process, the problem is in my own attitude.  I am so incredibly hyper-critical of my own work that it just never seems good enough.* Alas, I have attempted to ignore the voice in me that says I’m rubbish and have pressed on, the results of which I’ll be sharing with you soon.

*In fact, it’s one of the reasons I won’t attempt to create a headboard myself for the bedroom – because I know that no matter how ‘perfectly’ it is crafted, it will always and forever look like a DIY job to me and I will pick apart every single little flaw until I end up hating it.  True story.

For all intents and purposes and ignoring my own attempts at this for now, let’s look at some of the images I have been inspired by.

Now I have said for a very very long time that every room needs a little bit of black and white to bring it up a notch.

Now, there are soooo many elements that I adore in this room (the coffee table, the gorgeous huge gold mirror, the leopard print stool, those black velvet tufted chairs) but it’s really the artwork that MAKES it, don’t you think?

I especially love the juxtaposition of the very modern painting with classically elegant antiques.  Is it that it adds that bit of ‘tension’ that I read from interior designers that every room needs a little of?

And I love that the styles in the images I collected are all really different but each one of them carries a large black and white abstract painting and in each instance, it just kinda works. 

Want to see more?  Oh ok then.

I’ve shown you this one before but I thought I’d throw it in again as I love it.

Now I think all the red is a bit over-powering in this next room in my opinion but there’s no doubt that the abstract painting really just is the show-stopper here.

It most certainly steals the show in this very white room with warm, textural accents too.  See how versatile this style is?  Is it any wonder I love it?  What about you? 

So now that you’ve seen the inspiration, I’ll soon be sharing the results of it, namely my own attempt at some modern abstract black and white art.   Gulp!  Stay tuned…