Ten Unique Ways To Bring Your Walls Alive
Your new house or apartment has a large, plain, bare wall, but you cant paint it because the landlord wont give permission. Need ideas of what can you do to spruce it up? Heres a few tips to transform that blank behemoth into the focal point of the room.
1.) Framed posters or art prints - Youre a little too old for pin up posters, and buying "real" pieces of art just isnt in everyones budget. Most folks, though, can afford a framed art print or photo poster. Decide on a theme or a particular color scheme and go from there. Perhaps youd like a group of city scenes to bring some drama into your space. Or you could choose a set of smaller posters of masterpieces, maybe by Monet, Van Gogh, or Picasso. Have a long, narrow space between two windows or doors? Try a piece of Oriental artwork or a funky photo of the Eiffel Tower. Frames come in everything from very affordable, basic black plastic to quite expensive, fancy woods. You can even get hip, modern looking metal frames in bronze, gold and silver tones. There are posters and frames for every budget, decorating style and wall space.
2.) Photos -Hunt through your photo albums and sort through those boxes and boxes of family snaps to find a nice grouping. Choose family members, favorite vacation or holiday snaps, or whatever youve captured over the years. (If you dont have enough photos stored away, spend a week or two behind the camera taking some more.) You can have them enlarged or cropped, as the case may be, or do it yourself with photo editing software. Older, torn, faded or discolored photos can be restored. Make them different sizes, too, to create a more interesting look. Purchase similar styled frames for all of them, to give the collection a cohesive look.
3.) Fabric - Medieval ladies decorated the blank, cold stone walls of their castles and manor houses with elaborately embroidered tapestries. You can do the same with either purchased tapestries or simple printed fabrics. Hang large curtain rods from the ceiling, or simply stretch the fabric over wooden frames. If you arent sure youd like the entire wall covered, purchasing smaller pieces and framing them can add just a touch of warmth and spark to your cold castle.
4.) Wall stickers - Vinyl wall stickers are the latest thing in wall decor. There are many styles and selections to choose from. You can add an inspirational quote, a sassy saying, stylish artwork, or even an overall geometric design to your wall. For the man, there are large life-sized photos of sports figures and over-sized stickers of team logos. Wall stickers are another great option for those limited on choices by renters agreements, as they are easily removed, dont damage the wall in any way, and be taken with you when you move out.
5.) Bookshelves and shelving units - Hanging shelves is a great way to dress up a wall and add much needed storage space at the same time. Shelves arent just plain old, straight, wooden boards seated on brackets attached to the wall anymore, either. Floating boxes come in many shapes - rectangular, square and triangular - and sizes, from a few inches square to several feet. They can be arranged in many different ways, too. Keep in mind what youll be putting on the shelves and in the boxes, too. Books, of course, add a collage of colorful stripes, as their spines line up against the wall or back of the box. Other items, such as CDs, DVDs, candles, photo boxes, and art figures can all be stored and displayed, turning that big old nothing of a wall into something colorful and useful.
6.) Folding screens - So you cant paint and you dont want to hang fabric from the ceiling. Printed folding screens might just be the solution to brightening up that empty wall. If you cant find a pre-printed one, buy a plain one and decorate it, instead. The screen can be unfolded completely and set flat against the wall, or you can bring your creativity out into the room by leaving it partly folded. Screens can be a great way, too, to hide clutter or storage boxes.
7.) Nature - When you cant put color on the walls, you can bring it in with plants and flowers. Large containers can be set in front of the wall and filled with ornamental palms or blooming trees such as lemon and orange trees. Plant a trellis and you could have clematis, morning glories and other flowering vines climbing the wall. Set a garden trellis archway against the wall. Slide a comfy chair and floor lamp inside. Use natural or artificial vines to cover the archway to create a cozy, quiet spot for reading or relaxing. If your room doesnt have much natural sunlight, or you have less than a green thumb, lovely artificial greenery and blossoms are available.
8.) Create a window - Give your wall the illusion of a window by hanging up a mini-blind, keeping it lowered, and placing a simple curtain valance above it. Or, for a more dramatic effect, hang a fancy curtain rod at the top of the wall and purchase fabric or draperies to hang on it. You can swoop and swirl the fabric over the rod, or hang the draperies, as you would for a real window. Frame a cityscape or landscape poster or print in an old window frame for a more realistic look. An old window can be painted with special paints to create a faux stained glass effect. Your imagination is really the only limit when it comes to creating a window where none was before.
9.) Collections - Get that collection off the shelf and on the wall. Plates, bowls and baskets have long adorned the walls of farmhouses and peasant palaces. Put your music on the walls by hanging old, unplayable vinyl records or scratched, skipping CDs. Magazine covers can be framed, as can vintage newspapers and postcards. If the collection itself isnt something particularly eye catching, such as black vintage records, create an attractive geometric design on the wall. The idea is to use something that has visual appeal and is meaningful to you at the same time.
10.) Paint - Wait a minute! This is supposed to be an article for those who cant paint their walls! Yes, but you can paint a panel and hang it from the ceiling. Large artists canvases can provide you with a paint-able, landlord-friendly surface. You can dress up a boring bit of wall with splatters, circles, squares, stenciling or stripes. Try a trompe loie design, to give that flat wall a depth and design. Stencils can be used to create an overall pattern, a border, or even a mural-like design. Simple geometric shapes can be created with a ruler, string and some cardboard, and then traced around and filled in with the color of your choice. Stripes can be created using painters tape. Simply tape off the area you wish to paint and go for it. After you remove the tape, the area covered by the tape will be a different colored stripe, giving your wall some flare and contrast. Go as dramatic and daring or as plain and simple as you like.About The Author
Walls Need Love provides custom wall vinyl designs, lettering, and words for your walls. We create custom lettering, custom vinyl phrases, expressions stick to your walls and look hand painted. All vinyl wall art is guaranteed for life and guaranteed to remove clean. Visit online at http://www.wallsneedlove.com/ today.