When you want to be a little more sure of how the artwork will fit into the space, doing a mockup is an inexpensive and easy way to gain a greater peace of mind. It can be something cheap and cheerful that’s just enough or it can be more fully realized. Here are 2 examples that were done to address specific questions.

Mockup 1

Question: Will the table fit in the dining room?

For this one, I knew it would be easy to scale and arrange in PowerPoint or an equivalent software drawing or presentation package. With all the relevant dimensions in-hand, I made scaled shapes as stand-ins for each item. As I added shapes, I discovered questions about the space itself. Does the 14′ x 16′ dining room dimension include the stairway or not? And about the adjoining spaces. Will the 36″ walkway be through the entire ground floor or just in this space?

Mockup 2

Question: Will that mural feel overwhelming in the master bedroom?

For this one I used Photoshop. I started with a photo of the master bedroom wall where the mural is planned to go. Then I found a photo of the intended mural on-line, added that to the Photoshop file and scaled it to the room. Then I found a straight on view of a random white bed, added that, scaled it and removed the background. Lastly, I removed what remained of the painter’s ladder on the floor. While the image isn’t magazine ready, it gives a quick idea of how the image will read in the space. And that’s enough.