Artistic Answers For Your Biggest Design Dilemmas.

Many consumers are in the process of buying a new home or remodeling and redecorating their existing home. Much time is spent choosing new flooring, window treatments and furniture. After these essentials are completed, carefully chosen artwork can add the finishing touches to your home and can also solve a variety of decorating difficulties. With every space comes a special set of design challenges as some rooms feel small and cramped, while others seem large and uninviting. To correct this you will want to choose artwork that will complement your décor and bring out the true beauty of your most important investment; by using framed paintings or prints, you can add balance to any problematic room.

You may also want to consider using a professional art consultant when looking for just the right artwork as with today's technology, a good art consultant can save you time and money by offering a broad selection of both art and custom framing options. Many art consultants have databases that contain tens of thousands of works of art that can be queried by size, color, style, price and many other parameters. Armed with a laptop and this software, art consultants such as Sara Beth Wiley with Dallas based Quality Art House can, in the comfort of your home, help you find and frame just the right piece of art for your dream home. Wiley poses the question "Why spend countless hours driving all over town searching for the right work of art? Today, over a cup of coffee, in the comfort of my clients home, we can view 175,000 works of art on my laptop." Powerful idea indeed.

Here are five helpful tips to consider when selecting artwork for your home.

Scaling Down A Large Room
Vaulted ceilings and large open rooms are highly coveted features when buying a new home. However, deciding what to do with these areas can be quite a challenge. If you find yourself surrounded by an endless tundra of white walls, try hanging a series of paintings or art reproductions together. Clustering several works together will fill the most amount of space and create visual interest in the room. Think of the arrangement as one big picture!

Add Height To A Room
If you have a room with a low ceiling, try hanging a piece of art with strong vertical lines. This will add visual height to the space by drawing the eye upward. Look for pieces featuring trees, buildings, columns and stairways.

Broaden A Narrow Room
Adding a gorgeous, custom framed mirror is a great way to make a narrow room feel more open and spacious. A large-scale mirror can dramatically enlarge a room, making it appear nearly double in size. A smaller mirror positioned opposite a window will help bring the outdoors inside and give the illusion of a second window. Wherever you decide to hang the mirror, it is important that it reflect something pleasing to the eye.

Open Up A Windowless Room
A room without a window or light source can make a space feel much smaller than it actually is. Fortunately, there are many types of artwork that can create a visual escape from such confining areas. Bring a breath of fresh air into a room by adding a picture of a window, doorway or walkway that leads to a beautiful landscape. Brighten up a space with panoramic motifs featuring mountain ranges, open fields or sunny skies.

Expand A Small Room
A common design worry is how to open up a small space. You can't always knock down walls, but you can create the illusion of space by using a few designer secrets. One way to expand a small room is to hang a large landscape with a faraway horizon. This will draw the eye into the picture providing a sense of depth, while creating a visual effect that paint alone cannot accomplish.

The right artwork can dramatically change the way a home or room looks and feels and can accomplish on most budgets. Visit Wiley's art collection on the web at www.QualityArtHouse.com

Tags: countless hours, cup of coffee, true beauty, existing home, buying a new home, finishing touches, color style, vaulted ceilings, good art, white walls