The majority of homebuyers use the Internet to find their next home. Before buyers even get in the car most have already previewed the home online. And now, many homeowners are using the Web to decorate their homes too.

"We started with 15 artists and had the typical no-sales early days and now we're up to 1,100 artists and 11,000 pieces of art," says Peter Gregory president of Boundlessgallery.com.

The site is set up to allow visitors to explore and purchase different types of artwork such as paintings, photographs, pottery, wood, glass, metal, fiber, and jewelry. The company site was launched in late 2004; last year 1,400 pieces of artwork were sold.

Part of what is making the site successful is that buyers don't have to be concerned that the artwork they purchase will clash with their homes.

"Everything is guaranteed, "We have a very liberal return policy which is you can return any item within seven days for a full refund. So you can buy without risk," says Gregory.

Another benefit is the ability to see the artwork in your own home before you buy it. The site has an interactive feature which allows visitors to place artwork in rooms that are set up to resemble living areas. Gregory says you can also take a picture of your own room and the area that you want the artwork to go in and then upload the picture to his site. "If you take a picture of your living room wall and it's 15 feet, you can enter that it is 15 feet wide and then we will put any piece [of artwork] on our site into your room for you so that you can see what it will look like," explains Gregory.

The site also has sample pictures of people's living rooms to give visitors a generic idea of how the artwork would look in a house.

The easy-to-use site allows visitors to browse various categories by price, dominant color, style, dimensions and themes.

Gregory developed the site to help struggling artists connect with buyers world- wide. The company sells a lot of artwork to people on the coasts; yet many of the artists live in the Midwest. "It's kind of like outsourcing software to India. Here in the Midwest we have a lower cost of living and the art costs less, and so the Internet kind of provides you with a better cost performance model," he says.

"We really have a large number of really fine artists who are lesser known. So those artists demand lesser prices," Gregory says. Artwork pricing can be as low as $20 to multi-thousand dollars. "A majority of art is much less expensive than $1,000 but [artwork priced between] $250 to $1,000 sells very, very well," he says.

Gregory says that you also can find unique pieces of artwork online easier than if you went to a store art gallery. He says that's because there has to be more mass appeal for artwork to be held in a gallery due to space limitations, but online it's simple to have numerous styles, and you're likely going to get a price break.

"The cost-savings are pretty remarkable. It isn't unusual for a piece of art out of the [online] gallery to sell for a quarter of what it would sell for in a [store] gallery," he says.

Published: April 17, 2006

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Phoebe is a writer, speaker, and author. She is the Director of Business Development for Quality Service Certification and a trainer in customer service for the real estate industry. She is a Realtor with The Guiltinan Group, a division of Prudential California Realty. Her articles, feature stories, and columns appear in various publications including The Coast News, Del Mar Village Voice, and Rancho Santa Fe Review in San Diego. Phoebe worked for KGTV/10News in San Diego as a Newscaster, Reporter and Community Affairs Specialist for more than a decade. Phoebe's writing is also featured in Donald Trump's book: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received. She is the author of If the Trash Stinks, TAKE IT OUT!: 14 Worriless Principles for Your Success. Contact Phoebe at 858.259.3646 or . Visit PhoebeChongchua.com for more information.