MAKE SPACE with Cara Newhart // home design & diy · Cara Newhart

Collecting and Displaying Art in Your Home with Bridget Mallon

·45 min·4 clips

Cara Newhart welcomes Bridget Mallon to discuss concrete strategies for collecting and displaying art in your home.

This episode of MAKE SPACE focuses on practical strategies for collecting and displaying art in a home. Host Cara Newhart, a designer featured in House Beautiful and Apartment Therapy, interviews Bridget Mallon, the editorial director of My Domain. Bridget's role involves daily analysis of home design and conversations with professional designers. The conversation begins with Bridget explaining her background in design writing and her current editorial work. She emphasizes that art should be personally meaningful rather than merely matching a room's color scheme. Bridget advises starting an art collection by identifying personal tastes through saved images or museum visits. She suggests affordable sources like Etsy, Minted, and local art fairs, and mentions the option of framing high-quality art prints. The discussion covers practical display techniques, including the use of picture ledges for flexible arrangements. A key insight is that art does not need to be expensive or created by famous artists to be valuable in a home. Bridget argues against the common hesitation of buying art for a specific blank wall, advocating instead for buying pieces you love first. She notes that people often overthink art placement, when simply hanging a piece at eye level is usually sufficient. An interesting moment is her suggestion to display children's artwork or personal travel photos as legitimate parts of a collection. Bridget shares that she personally enjoys mixing vintage finds with contemporary pieces in her own home. The tone is conversational, educational, and encouraging, with both hosts sharing from professional and personal experience. Listeners seeking actionable, non-intimidating advice on incorporating art into their decor will find this episode highly valuable. Those looking for deep art historical analysis or high-end investment strategies might find the content too basic.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from MAKE SPACE with Cara Newhart // home design & diy