How to Display Art On Any Smart TV

Have you ever wondered how to display art on your TV or make your TV look like art? If so, you are in the right spot! And guess what? You don't need an expensive Samsung Frame TV to make your TV look like art on a wall. All you need is a smart TV (which is pretty much all TVs these days). See that TV nestled in the gallery wall in our bedroom below? That's a very basic and inexpensive smart TV, but it looks beautiful, right?! Read on to learn exactly how I did it and how you can do it in your home!

If you have spent any time on social media in the past few years, you have probably noticed that a ton of people have TVs that display art on them in their homes. Tons of people have Samsung Frame TVs, which were designed for the specific purpose of looking like art hanging on a wall when you aren't actively watching TV. Frame TVs are very cool and we have one hanging above the fireplace in our family room. But in my opinion, they are too expensive to justify placing them in less visible rooms–you can read my full review of whether the Samsung Frame TV is worth it here.

If you don't want to spend a ton of money on a Frame TV, you can still display art on any smart TV! And you can even update the basic black plastic frame on your TV. I'll show you how to do both in this post. Consider it a very affordable alternative to a Frame TV! You might even consider it a Frame TV hack.

Why should you display art on your TV?

I think this project struck such a cord when I first shared it on Instagram because let's be frank… TVs are typically eyesores. And decorating around a TV can be tricky because they are big black boxes that don't blend into home decor. In fact, usually stand out and become an unintentional and unwanted focal point because they tend to be large and placed in a prominent viewing spot.

Displaying art on your TV when you aren't watching it is a fantastic way to make it a pretty focal point that works with the design of your room, instead of detracting from it. It's also fun to change the art you display depending on your mood or the season.

I completely transformed the very basic Fire TV in our bedroom for less than $15 in around 15 minutes. Just look at what a HUGE difference it made in our space!

You may notice that the plastic frame on our TV changed from gold to black–be sure to check out how I updated the basic plastic black frame on our TV to a gold beauty for about $5. It's a great extra step to take, especially if you want to have your TV blend into a gallery wall (you see my favorite gallery wall ideas and tips here).

How to Display Art on a Smart TV

The first step is finding digital art that will display properly on your smart TV. The good news is that it's EASY and inexpensive. You can buy pretty much anything you can imagine for between $2 and $6 per digital art piece. I've rounded-up some of my favorites (including many that we have used) for you at the bottom of this section.

Option 1: Use TV Art as a Screensaver

The steps you follow for displaying digital art on your TV will depend on what type of smart TV you have and the exact settings menus, etc. change regularly. If the exact directions below don't work for you, I hope they still give you enough of a framework to figure it out even if your menu options are slightly different.

2. Log in to Amazon Photos and upload the art piece or pieces you have chosen. I recommend putting them in a folder labeled “TV Art.”

3. Next, go into the settings on your FireTV. Click on “Display & Sounds” and then scroll down until you see “Screensaver.”

4. Then click on Screensaver and select “TV Art” (or whatever you named your folder).

4. Last, choose your display settings. I have mine set to come on after 5 minutes and I turned off the Smart Captions, Alexa hints and Date & Clock so that when the art is displayed there aren't any words or messages displayed over it.

3. Open “Photo View” and then sign in with your Google account.

4. Choose the album with the art piece or pieces you want to display.

5. Set “Photo View” as your Roku’s screen saver by clicking Click Settings > ScreenSaver > Change Screensaver > PhotoView option.

6. Finally, you will want to adjust the amount of time before the screensaver starts from Roku’s settings. To do that, click Settings > ScreenSaver > Change wait time.

5. Click Photos > iCloud.

6. Choose which album you’d like to use.

1. Make sure your smart TV is connected to the internet and that you have the free YouTube app installed. If it's not installed on your TV yet, you should be able to easily download it from your TV's app store.
2. Choose the art you want to display. Not only are there tons of free TV art options on YouTube (just search “tv art” in YouTube to find them), but many digital art sellers include a YouTube link that you can use to display your purchase via YouTube. This is something we have started offering on the new TV art designs we sell in Kaleidoscope Living shop!
3. Once you've chosen what you want to display, press play and voila! Your chosen digital art will be displayed in all its glory on your TV.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wondering how I approach transforming rooms and spaces in our home? Check out Designer in a Binder®.

And if you want exclusive content and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, be sure to subscribe before you head out!

Wondering how I approach transforming rooms and spaces in our home? Check out Designer in a Binder®.

And if you want exclusive content and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, be sure to subscribe before you head out!

Wondering how I approach transforming rooms and spaces in our home? Check out Designer in a Binder®.

And if you want exclusive content and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, be sure to subscribe before you head out!