Art in a Second Home That Sits Empty Half the Year

So many people here have two homes. Scottsdale or Paradise Valley for the winter, somewhere cooler for the summer, or the reverse with a place up in Sedona or Prescott.

Nobody ever tells you what that does to the art on the walls, so let me, because it is the one situation where a little planning goes a very long way.

An empty house is not a neutral house

When you are living in a home, the air conditioning runs, doors open and close, and the interior stays in a fairly narrow band without anyone thinking about it. Paintings like that band a great deal.

When you leave for four months and turn the thermostat up to save on cooling, the house starts doing something different. It heats through the afternoon, cools overnight, and swings much further each day than it ever did while you were in it.

That daily movement is harder on a canvas than a steady warm room would be. Steady is what a painting wants, far more than cool.

What I would actually set it to

Somewhere in the low eighties is a reasonable compromise for a Valley home standing empty in summer. It is not so cold that you are cooling an empty house for no reason, and it is steady enough that nothing inside is riding a big swing every day.

If you have a smart thermostat, set it to hold a temperature rather than following a schedule. A schedule creates exactly the cycling you are trying to avoid.

Before you close the house up

Close the window coverings on every wall that holds art, and on any wall that gets afternoon sun even if nothing is hanging there. Four months of unattended daylight is a great deal of exposure, and this is the single easiest thing on the list.

Walk the house once with fresh eyes and move anything sitting where the sun will reach it while you are gone. The light in August is not the light in March, and a wall that is shaded when you leave in April may not be shaded in July.

If a piece is on an exterior wall that bakes, take twenty minutes and move it to an interior wall for the season. It is not permanent, and it removes the whole worry.

When you come back

Open the house and let it come back to temperature before you start moving things around. Then walk the walls in daylight and actually look at each piece.

You are looking for a canvas that has gone slack, any lifting or flaking at the edges, and any change in how the surface catches light. Catching something in its first year is a small repair. Catching it in its fifth is a much larger one.

And I will say this again because it is the most common mistake. If a canvas looks a little loose, do not tighten it yourself. Ask first.

A thought about what goes in a second home

Pieces built with a heavier, more sculptural surface tend to be more forgiving in a house that swings, and they are also simply lovely in a home meant for rest. The Companion Works pieces live well in exactly that kind of space.

If you are furnishing a second home now and want to think it through properly, that is a good conversation to have before anything is bought.

Warmly,

Dani