Learn how to make your home's interior look as good
as the ones you see on the home-decorating shows--without a budget
running into thousands of dollars--using art prints.

With
the new craze for interior decorating inspired by "home makeover"
television programs, more and more people are tempted to hire a
professional decorator, even if they can't afford one.

Simplicity: the Art of Home Decorating

If you're thinking about breaking the bank for the sake of a beautiful room,
think again. You don't have to spend as much as an oil tycoon to have a
home every bit as beautiful. Here's why:

A pair of human eyes can only take in so much, no matter how much is put
before them.

The secret is not to aim for beauty that comes from opulence, but for a
simple beauty. And simple beauty is usually less expensive.

The best way to go for simple beauty in interior design is to make the focus
of a room a single well-chosenArt P decorative element.

Art Prints: Simple Home Décor Focus

But what single beautiful element could you actually afford?

Unless
you happen to get really, really lucky at a crafts fair or estate sale,
there's only one sure way to buy high taste on a low budget. Not
original paintings or expensive wallpaper. Just a well-chosen
print of a painting or photograph that reflects your style and taste
and matches your room.

Surprised at such a simple
answer to the decorating conundrum? Perhaps, like most people,
you do not understand what art prints really are.

What Art Prints Are Not

Art prints are not posters.

Posters are made using paper stock similar to what magazines use. Art
prints are made using special heavier print stock especially for prints.

Posters often play rather
loose with the original image, cropping it, resizing it, adding text,
or even changing shading. Prints will typically come much closer
to the original, and will rarely crop the original image or alter its
appearance significantly.

Posters are
vastly less durable than art prints. You can expect a high-quality
print to last decades without showing signs of age.

Art prints are not reproductions (though they are close).

Reproductions
of a work of art, usually a painting, involve using exactly or nearly
exactly the same brush strokes and materials, which is why they are so
expensive. Prints, meanwhile, reproduce the look of the artwork
without reproducing every detail of it. For instance, even though
many prints of paintings use textured surfaces or even artificial brush
strokes, the exact brush strokes of the original are not copied.

Reproductions
also have to be conserved as carefully as original paintings in most
cases, or they will fade. High-quality prints are given
protection against fading, either in the form of a coating to the
surface, or a Plexiglas case.

Reproductions,
being paintings, are not very durable, and must be treated with special
care. Prints, though not indestructible, are more likely to
survive accidents. Some prints can even be washed with glass cleaner.

Of
course, no art print will be a good anchor for a room's décor if it's
not well chosen. Unfortunately, many people either don't have any
particular tastes when it comes to art or décor, or else do not trust
their own taste. Luckily, the internet puts the accumulated
knowledge of thousands of decorators, artists, and art experts at your
disposal. Thanks to the internet, your home can look as good as
the ones on TV.

About the author: Joel Walsh has written a buying guide for art prints at: abstract paintings : http://www.a1-paintings.com