You’ve photographed the property, written the listing, and set the price—yet it still doesn’t catch the eye. The guest scrolls on. Often, the reason is one easy-to-miss thing: empty, characterless walls that make the room look unfurnished in photos. A well-chosen poster is the cheapest way to make a rental stand out in search results, and this buying guide is all about how to choose the right one. Whether you rent out an apartment on Airbnb, a cabin for the summer, or a room now and then, the art on the walls matters more than you might think—both for the first impression in the photo gallery and for how welcome guests feel when they arrive.
Buying art for a property where other people will stay is a completely different task from decorating your own home. Here, you don’t choose according to your own taste, but according to what appeals to many people, withstands wear and tear, and looks good in photos. We’ll go through the decision-making framework, specific recommendations for designs, the most common mistakes, and practical details about formats and hanging.
The decision-making framework - who books, and what do they see first?
Before choosing a single design, it’s worth understanding what you’re really buying art for. A rental is sold through photos long before anyone steps inside. If a room doesn’t stop people scrolling through search results, it won’t get booked, and wall art is often what gives an otherwise neutral image a focal point. Data from the rental industry points clearly in the same direction: professionally styled listings earn between 20 and 40 percent more per night than unstaged ones, and properties whose first five photos include local, place-specific details get around 22 percent more clicks. Wall art is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to achieve exactly that.
Quick facts: From February 2025 to January 2026, there were around 6,150 active Airbnb listings in Stockholm, with an occupancy rate of about 64 percent. Professionally styled listings earn 20–40 percent more per night, and properties featuring local touches in their first five photos get roughly 22 percent more clicks.
From a budget perspective, the logic is simple: the art should enhance the experience without becoming an expense you’ll regret if a frame gets damaged during a move or cleaning. Posters in affordable formats, preferably with interchangeable designs, are therefore almost always a wiser choice for a rental than expensive original works. Think of the space as a whole, too—a property with thoughtfully chosen art in every room feels cared for, while a few pictures on otherwise bare walls often look more unfinished than no art at all.
It’s also worth considering the accommodation in a broader context. In 2025, 70.8 million guest nights were recorded in Sweden, and competition for every booking is fierce - in Stockholm alone, thousands of rentals compete for the same travelers. In such a crowded market, the details that set two otherwise similar properties apart are often what make the difference, and wall art is one of the cheapest details you can control. Think seasonally, too: a bright, airy design that works in summer listing photos can be swapped for something warmer and darker for winter, without changing the frame or hanging hardware. That flexibility is one of the biggest advantages of choosing posters over fixed, expensive decor.
Designs that appeal to many - and the local touch that sells
The golden rule for a rental is broad appeal. You don’t know who will book, so the design should feel welcoming to a wide range of guests without becoming bland. Three design families work particularly well. The first is nature scenes - forests, seas, and tranquil landscapes that few people object to and that also have a proven calming effect. Explore our selection of nature scenes for bedrooms and living rooms where guests can unwind.
The second family is location-specific designs, and this is where the biggest booking gains can be made. A poster that references the city, region, or landscape where the accommodation is located gives guests a sense of being in the right place - and that’s exactly the kind of local touch that boosts click-through rates in search results. A cityscape of Stockholm in a Stockholm apartment, or a coastal and archipelago scene in a cottage, does more for bookings than a generic design ever will. Browse our collection of posters of famous places to find the right city or destination.
"In a rental property, you don’t choose art based on your own taste, but on what makes a stranger feel at home in three seconds."
The third category is timeless black-and-white photographic art and calm graphic prints, which give the wall character without locking the accommodation into a particular style or colour scheme. Black and white also looks great in photos, since it retains its sharpness regardless of how the light falls in the room. Our selection of black-and-white posters and photographic art is designed specifically to offer this kind of understated, broad appeal. A good rule of thumb is to combine a calm foundation of nature or black-and-white art with a single place-specific piece that becomes a conversation starter.
A word about colour, since it affects booking photos more than anything else. Muted, nature-inspired colour palettes – sand, sage, grey-green, warm terracotta – photograph reliably and rarely clash with the existing decor. Loud, saturated artwork can look striking in a single photo, but risks making the room feel cluttered and putting some guests off. A safe strategy is to keep the walls in a calm, earthy palette and save the few bold colour accents for a carefully chosen spot, such as above the sofa. That way, the overall look is harmonious in photos while the room still feels lively. Remember that guests should be able to imagine themselves in the room – the less the artwork imposes a particular style, the more people will feel welcome.
What to avoid – and why
What you choose to leave out is just as important as what you choose. The first mistake is making the accommodation too personal. Family portraits, private quotes and artwork with a clear personal or political message can make guests feel distant, when they should feel at home rather than like visitors in someone else’s life. A rental works best as a warm but neutral setting that guests can make their own.
The second mistake is being cheap in the wrong places. A yellowed, warped print in a crooked frame signals carelessness and brings down the overall impression, even if the rest of the accommodation is lovely. It’s better to have fewer, carefully chosen and well-mounted prints than lots of cheap ones. The third mistake is choosing pieces that are too small. A small poster on its own on a large wall gets lost both in the room and in photos – the scale needs to suit the wall, otherwise the room looks emptier than if the wall had been left bare. If you’d like to explore that last point further, we have a full guide in our guide to choosing the right frame.
Tip: Sleep quality is the single most frequently mentioned factor in rental reviews. Make the bedroom art work with you, not against you—choose calm, dark, or muted pieces above the bed that invite rest, and save the boldest colors for the living room and hallway.
Size, frame, and hanging—the practical details
Once you’ve chosen the artwork, practical details determine how well it holds up over time. Start with the size. Above a bed or sofa, a larger landscape piece or a pair of coordinated posters works well, while a narrow wall or hallway is best suited to a portrait format. For a rental, standard sizes such as 50x70 and 30x40 centimeters are practical, since the artwork can easily be replaced in the same frames if something gets damaged or you want to freshen up the property for a new season.
Think about the room before choosing a frame and glazing. In damp rooms like bathrooms, and in cottages that are left unheated between guests, artwork is best protected by frames with acrylic glazing rather than real glass—it’s lighter, more durable, and won’t shatter in an accident. Lighting also deserves some thought, as it’s one of the most underrated ways to improve a rental: a poster with a little warm, focused light looks far better than the same artwork under flat ceiling light. For a cottage or property exposed to moisture and changing temperatures, we’ve gathered practical advice in our guide to posters for summer cottages.
Finally, hanging the art. In many rentals, especially rented or recently renovated properties, you’ll want to avoid unnecessary holes. It’s perfectly possible to hang art beautifully without drilling, using solutions that keep the wall intact and make it easy to change the artwork—we cover the whole process in our guide to hanging art without drilling. Thoughtful hanging also ensures the artwork is straight and evenly spaced, which is immediately noticeable in photos.
Frequently asked questions about posters for rentals and Airbnb
In summary, art for a rental is one of the most cost-effective investments you can make in a property: a handful of well-chosen posters elevates both the photo gallery and the guest experience, and quickly pays for itself through higher click-through rates and better reviews. Choose pieces with broad appeal, ground one motif in the location, stick to durable standard sizes, and hang them neatly. Remember that art works together with the rest of the room: clean lighting, straight hanging, and a few pieces with a clear purpose do more than a wall full of thoughtless pictures. Think of your listing photos as the benchmark - if a room doesn't make you want to stay there yourself, a bare or characterless wall is probably bringing down the impression. If you want to start building a property that stops the scroll, browse the full range in our botanical posters and the rest of our collections - ready to turn empty walls into bookings.