By Jasmine Lamb
I don't think anyone wants to unnecessarily spend hundreds of
dollars trying to decorate their home. But with the struggling economy,
it's really hard to find things you can do with your home that you can
happily show off to friends and family. I have absolutely no disposable
income to spend on furniture and knickknacks, but I do
have an obsession with decorating. When you are dealing with walls,
which tie the entire room together and can sometimes be the hardest
things to decorate, here are some things you can do to easily cover
those walls on a minimal or non-existent budget.
Make Your Own Art- If you find that you draw and paint like a
toddler, as I do, there are still art projects you can do that you can be proud of. You can make collages of your family,
hot movie stars,
candy wrappers, or whatever you want. Collages are fun, easy, and you
can make them as big or small as you desire. You can also choose to add
texture to them by adding jewelry, pieces of cloth or lace, dried
flowers, etc.
Another great thing you can do by yourself is making stencils. You can find
either print or picture stencils on the Internet, just print them and cut with an exacto knife. You can fill these in with spray paint, crayons, colored pencils,
glitter glue, and basically any kind of paint. You can repeat the same
picture over and over again or just have it as the focal point. You can
use any surface you choose for both these projects, they don't have to
be hung up on the wall.
Consider shower curtains- Depending on where you buy them from you
can get great deals on some really nice printed cloth shower curtains.
These can be used either as they were intended or you can use them as window treatments. I have an odd shaped wall accompanied by a large, long window on one side of my bedroom. I got two Zebra print curtains, cut them into shape, and thumb tacked them to the wall to make textured wallpaper.
Corners- I find sometimes when I have hung a bunch of stuff on my
walls, that I am still disappointed with the outcome because of the
corners of the room. They either look bare, like I haven't tried to put
anything around them, or the things I have hung look terrible next to
them. In these situations I have found that it's actually pretty cool
to hang things cater-cornered against them, like mirrors and large
collages. This takes up the space and brings the room together. The
only downside is that if you do it too much it begins to feel like the
walls are closing in on you. Another good thing to do is hang things
like paper lanterns and plants from the ceiling to take up the corner space.
Go Girly- There are many websites with tutorials on how to make
jewelery organizers for your wall. Some are as cheap as putting bubble
wrap inside an old frame. Pick out some of your favorite jewelery and
use it to decorate with! You can also pick out some fun, funky, mod, or
antique purses you have laying around that are not being utilized at
the moment and hang them either all around the room or group them
together. Hang your gorgeous lace lingerie or beautiful dresses from
the walls. These take up a lot of room, add more personality, and you
get to admire all your beautiful belongings. You can also make shadow boxes and hang things like retro perfume bottles and interestingly packaged make-up.
Take Advantage Of Oddly Shaped Ceilings- The ceiling in my bedroom
is straight until it gets closer to the window before it angles
downward. For a long time it stayed bare until I got three posters of Sid and Nancy and realized I had no place to put them but on the ceiling. As many
times as I have rearranged my furniture and redecorated those posters
have never come down. You can either find posters for cheap online or
make your own artwork to fit on your odd ceiling. It's up to you!
Cheapo Art- The cheapest and most effective way to get art is to buy calendars. You can get everything from pin-up girls to old movie posters. Obviously, there are usually 12 pictures per calendar which can go a long way when you are decorating. Just simply rip out the pictures that you like and either frame them or just tack them in the wall. They are small enough for you to group them for a burst of color but big enough to be appreciated as a stand alone.
Using Sheets- Just like with the shower curtains. You can use
sheets as wallpaper. This is a great practice for people who rent
because when you move you can easily remove it and transport it to your
new house. Sheets are also good as accents for posters or art. If you
have a poster or piece that you want paid special attention to simply
cut the sheet to fit about 1-5 inches above the picture and tack it to
the wall. Hang the picture on top and it will stand out amongst all the
others. This also works if you have a picture you know you want in a
certain spot but it doesn't take up as much room as you would like. Be
sure that the sheet you pick is something that would be complimentary
to the picture and the room. Cleaning is simply wiping down with a lint roller.
A Few More Ideas- Cd case frames are a great way to add flair to small
pieces of wall. Just print or cut out pictures that you enjoy and fit
them into the front of the case. Break off the black or colored piece
where the CD would go and hang it.
Records are great for wall décor. If you have a lot that you no longer
listen to you can simply tack them on the wall or go to craft websites
like www.cutoutandkeep.net which shows you how to make letter holders out of records.
