Decorate Those Blank Walls With These Cost Effective Wall Decor Tips

The walls of a new home or apartment can often have two effects on people: a mild fretting, as you wonder what on earth you are going to do with so much empty, white space or excitement as you start mentally hanging and arranging your paintings and photographs. If you are one of those who are excited by the empty wall, I congratulate you. For you are the type of person who will have all their eclectic photos and art hung within a week of moving in and will have a sitting room that could envy something from the latest home décor catalog. For the rest of you, who are like me, fret no more. A white wall is no thing to fear, but is instead, like an empty canvas, the perfect place to add color and self-expression as you settle into your new home.

For we who are less inspired, but make up for it in effort, the best thing to do is settle in arrange the furniture and then see how much wall space is available and what the predominate colors will be in the house/room. The next best thing to do is visit your local art museum, check out art books from the library (rather an archaic task, but still very useful), or search online for photos or paintings that speak to you. During this search you will have to decide what kind of mood you want to set in your home/room because there is a plethora of art to choose from that expresses every mood and emotion.

Sadness, surprise, joy, beauty, landscapes or crowded streets, colorful and light or dark and sinister, all these things and more can be discovered among the paintings of artists long dead. If you are drawn to images that invoke curiosity and startle the mind then you may find your ideal wall décor among surrealist artists such as Salvador Dali. His dreamy and sometimes disturbing pictures will no doubt add flair to a room and serve as a conversation starter. While he does use a whole range of colors in his paintings, you may find that the tones are more subtle and do not always pop out of the frame. Although some of the colors may be muted, there is no want of detail. So, if you choose to decorate your white walls with Dali, you can be assured of always having a painting that is striking, unique and thought provoking.

If startling images are not your cup of tea, and you prefer more soothing, gentle, images, then impressionist art would find a welcomed space on your wall. Impressionist artist such as Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and Edgar Degas often created images that depicted the everyday beauties in their world. They captured countless scenes of water lilies, demur women, farm landscapes, star-filled skies and ballet dancers. Hung on your walls, these paintings can transport you to another time and place, providing you with a much needed escape after a stressful day. Like some of the Dali paintings, the impressionist art is not always filled with eye-popping color. But, the colors are generally more varied and vibrant, especially in the landscape images.

No mater what kind of art you choose to decorate your home with, the primary challenge will be the cost. Although you will likely be buying reprints, the cost of a nicely framed piece of art will not be cheap. For this problem, I suggest calendars. Yes, calendars. There are hundreds of different artists whose work can be found within the pages of a calendar. This two-fold method will not only provide you with a beautiful way of keeping track of time, but will also provide you with 12-13 images at a bare minimum cost. Although this kind of think requires you to cut the images to size and frame them yourselves, framing calendar art work provides a reasonable alternative to purchasing expensive reprints. If you are not completely satisfied with having several images all around the same size, trying buying a larger reprint done by your favorite artist and then cluster smaller images around the larger painting.

Having the perfect home décor is completely relative, because what is perfect in your eyes may be dull in the eyes of your neighbor. You may like the stunning images of Dali while your friend prefers the waterscapes of Monet. The most important thing about wall art is that you feel at home when you walk into your house or apartment and gaze upon your walls, seeing the art of your choice. Wall décor is not meant to impress other or make them feel at ease, it is meant to make you happy and content.