(ARA) - Coming up with gift ideas for kids is easy. They’re always appreciative of toys;but what do you get for your parents" anniversary, birthday, or just to let them know you appreciate them?

David and Charlotte Penn of Crystal, Minn., think they’ve come up with a great gift for Charlotte’s dad. They found an old photograph of the farm Kurt Ross grew up on in Bellingham, Minn., near the South Dakota border, and plan to have it made into a mural. “Charlotte’s parents are in the process of redecorating their basement right now and we know just where it can go,” says Penn. The print, which will be 8 feet tall and 10 feet wide, will hang on the wall along the steps leading downstairs.

Murals used to only appear in public places or business offices; but now that the cost of making them is coming down, they are becoming more prevalent in home decorating. “We recently acquired some new technology that allows us to turn negatives, slides or prints into wall sized images in a very cost effective manner. We can produce murals as small as 4 x 6 feet or as big as a building. Whatever the customer wants, we can make happen,” says Todd Imholte, president of Murals My Way, a new subsidiary of Environmental Graphics in Minnesota.

When the Penns first decided to buy a mural as a gift, they weren’t planning to have a custom one made. “As I was browsing the images on the company’s Web site, I came across one that looked just like my father-in-law’s place. We decided it would be worth it to pay a little more to get something custom made,” says Penn. Custom murals cost about $9 per square foot, so the Penns will pay about $700 for their 8 foot by 10 foot mural.

“If you want to save a little money, you can choose an image from our photo library,” says Imholte. The company has more than a thousand licensed images from world-renowned artists and photographers. They are made-to-order and printed on high-quality wallpaper stock. If you choose an image from the photo gallery, it’ll cost you about $8 per square foot to have made.

There are also 25 different images available in pre-printed murals measuring 13 by 8 feet that sell for less than $150. Paste and instructions are included with each mural.

Depending on your comfort level with hanging wallpaper, you can either choose to hang your mural yourself or hire a professional. A list of members from the National Guild of Professional Paperhangers can be found at www.muralsmyway or by calling (888) 295-9764.

Courtesy of ARA Content