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Nothing sets off home decor like original art. Visitors walk into your house and immediately notice original paintings, sculpture, glassware, collectibles... Conversation pieces abound. Decorating with original art may sound like an impossible dream for those on a tight budget, but it needn't be. Owning a great art collection is a possibility that can be achieved, and without a million-dollar budget or a host of interior-decorators on staff.

The second notion to throw out is the idea that the art in your home must live up to another person's standards of criticism. Remember, the purpose of having original art in your home is to show off your own personality and tastes.

The third tip is this: ignore media hype. The weird and bizarre always grabs the limelight. Standing the test of time is another story. When you buy a piece of art, ask yourself, "Is this art that I can live with?" If weird and bizarre is your ticket to excitement, then by all means, invite an installation artist into your household to spread goosefat into the corners while reciting abysmal, morbid poetry. For most of us, such "art" is considered extreme, to say the least.

That is not to say that you should cover your walls with pretty, sentimental cliches or sad-eyed clowns, either ~ unless this is really your special forte. Achieving an educated taste is a good thing. Over a lifetime, your tastes will change, along with your decor. The point is, buy what you like and weed out your regrets over time. If you truly wish to push the edge of the envelope, try hanging a huge, brilliantly colored, in-your-face painting. Protect your "investment" in your chosen artists by selling or giving cast-off works to another beginning collector rather than tossing them out with the trash. In this way, your collection and your confidence will begin to grow.

Starting an art collection on a budget means buying from local, unknown, or self-representing artists. Outsider, once known as folk art, is a current popular trend. The pricing of outsider art is often attractive, and famous outsiders such as the late Howard Finster, whose art prices sky-rocketed, have grabbed the public eye. Outsider art is not the only possible venue for starting your collection, though. Any regional art is a great way to go. Prices of unknown artists are much lower than those of famous, well-represented artists. Arts-and-craft fairs, small local and regional galleries, and on-line auctions and galleries are great places to start. Excellent pieces can be picked up, at prices ranging from the unheard of dime (on-line auctions) to a reasonable three or four hundred dollars (no more than that diamond bracelet you've been coveting). Another way to buy bargain artwork is to buy from young artists just starting out. Perhaps their technique or style is not yet perfected, but the work can really show the artist's personality.

Art collections are particularly suited to those who have eclectic tastes. Choose a wide range of art styles, if it suits your taste, and then tie them together with creative arrangement and framing.

Don't fear color! If you are not confident in sizing up color, then make up a small cheat sheet. For instance, pick up a color swatch that you like from a local paint store. Usually, color swatches are pre-matched by experts to show off a full line of decorator colors that complement each other. For example, earth tones would be one color scheme. Primaries and brights would be another. Pastels would be another color scheme. Choose works of art in which the dominant colors fit your color scheme. Any number of other colors can be seen in a work, but if your chosen colors are dominant, it will still work with your decor. If you love a particular watercolor, but it has only a hint of your color scheme, then perhaps you can mat it to emphasize one of its recessive colors. Framers are wonderful to work with you on color matching. You'll be surprised at the wide range of works that will fit the decor you have selected, as well as the budget.

Another inexpensive alternative to hiring a decorator is to watch cable-TV shows about collecting and decorating or read magazines. Many of them currently focus on retro styles, which are easy on the budget and well-suited to the eclectic soul. Write down ideas, or tear out sample pages of your favorite room makeovers. By the way, notice how one or two attractive art pieces make a knock-out display in those samples!

Don't assume that an expensive piece of artwork is necessarily "good", or a bargain piece is necessarily "bad" Reputation and local market value have more to do with art pricing than the quality of the work. Rural markets are a great place to shop for art. On-line galleries and self-representing artists are another great venue.

D.K. Pritchett occasionally offers paintings at auction. See Ebay: My World. I am currently offering a few small paintings and some miniatures. If you don't see the art in my current listings, keep an eye out, because I do have art auctions planned for December 2006. Thanks!