DIY ideas for blank walls

Blank walls are always a challenge, unless you've got an interior designer, artist friends, or buckets of money. I've collected some wall art ideas here on Pinterest that require varying amounts of skill to execute. If you've got a wall that needs some help, maybe something will spark an idea. I won't blame you if you don't attempt the one that requires 350,000 Post-it notes.

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DIY postcard wall art

I made something new for the living room: a big collage of postcards mounted on foam board.

This boxed set of 100 vintage Penguin book cover postcards was on the clearance table at Anthropologie a couple weeks ago. I had to have it. I love books. I love the cover designs, and I love the color palette. They were too good not to display somehow. You can also get them here from Amazon.

I decided to lay out my favorites on the biggest piece of foamcore I could find at my local art store (30"x40" for $5). It seemed more interesting to give the collage a 3D look with postcards coming forward at different heights. So I cut some small pieces of foam board and stacked them to create "risers" for some of the cards. I used one, two, or three layers to vary the depth.

I stuck the foam pieces together and attached the postcards to the board with double-sided ATG tape I had on hand. It was better than wet glue which could warp the postcards.

I could have measured and cut the foam board to the precise size before sticking on the postcards, but I wanted to be certain of having a perfectly trimmed edge that was flush with the cards. So I opted to trim the board after seeing where the postcards ended up (keeping the 3D ones aligned was a bit tricky). Starting at the top left corner and working down, I stuck all the postcards onto the board except for the right-most column and the bottom row. Then I marked where the edges of the last cards would end up and cut off the excess board with an X-acto knife on a cutting mat. I aligned the last postcards with the edge and attached them.

To keep the large foam board from warping and to make a way to hang it on the wall, I hot-glued it to wooden stretcher bars. This frame had an old canvas stretched on it that I removed so I could reuse it. You could also buy wooden stretcher bars for a couple bucks each at an art store; they come in any length you could possibly want and have slotted corners for snapping them together (details here). The frame can be smaller than the foam board; mine happened to be the same height.

I added a sawtooth hanger to the top. One was enough because it's a pretty light-weight piece. You could also use picture wire or any hanging method you like.

I added self-adhesive felt pads to the four corners to protect the wall from scratches.

The book titles are very interesting. "An Intelligent Woman's Guide"? Is it different than the guide for men? Is there another guide for non-intelligent women?

Yes, there must be a pony! I haven't heard of this novel, but the title makes me happy. Oh, I just searched and here's where it comes from.

I hope visitors enjoy reading the book titles as much as I do. Soft Fruit Growing, Scootering, Explosives, and Aircraft Recognition all sound like very useful manuals and could make a person quite well-rounded.

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Download and print vintage camera posters

Catherine at Design Editor experimented with making oversized black-and-white prints for cheap. She photographed a couple of her vintage cameras, then made 24"x36" engineering prints of them for three bucks at Staples. The best part: you can download her camera images for free and get your own printed up. Cool DIY wall art for your home or office!

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Find your Stylescope home design personality

Need to kill some time? Take the HomeGoods Stylescope quiz. You'll get a diagnosis, some tips, and a photo you can download and use as your Facebook timeline cover.

I ended up Urban Funk. Because I have "undeniable funk and soul. She's at home in a place where industrial meets comfort, where over-the-top meets laid-back chill, and where retro art meets graphic simplicity. And she does all this in a way that feels totally effortless... How does Urban Funk entertain? Use slate tiles as charger plates."

What the heck is a charger plate? Kidding. I know what one is. I just don't know a single person who uses them. But all in all, I like this result.

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Make easy DIY wall art from folded paper

Hello, all! I'm back from my week off. It was a lovely break during which Alex and I did pretty much nothing except read mystery novels, eat delicious food, enjoy the outdoors, and wander around. (That was me with the mystery novels. Alex appeared to be reading books containing charts and graphs. To each his own.)

I folded some paper, too. For an easy wall art project, try folding squares of colored paper and arranging them in a grid. I used part of a pack of multi-colored origami paper for this, but you could use any colored papers that match your room or your shop. It's cheap, simple, and the 3D sculptural look is fun.

Find the center point on a square of paper by bending it in half and pressing a crease at the midpoint. (Don't make a sharp fold along the entire length.) Open the square, rotate 90 degrees, and repeat.

The center of the square is where the two creases meet.

Fold each corner of the square to the center point.

When you've got a collection of squares folded, arrange them on a piece of foam board or cardboard and secure them in rows with double-stick tape. Done!

I would love it if someone would cover an entire wall with white squares. The light and shadows would be beautiful. Though that wall would be easily smooshed when a person leaned against it, alas.

To make the paper ball in the photo, click here.

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Play with wallpaper in virtual rooms

This morning I stumbled upon BoråsTapeter, a Swedish wallpaper manufacturer. And then I wasted too much time playing with the site's wallpaper selector that lets you choose rooms and drag wallpaper onto the walls. Change the furniture, too! Try it out by going to BorasTapeter.se and clicking "Wallpaper Guide." Then throw some Hanna Werning on those walls. Or check out the same game at Eco, a sister company with a less floral, more graphic collection.

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Orange home

Orangify your home with these furnishings! Rug, dishes, sofa, bookcase, screen, chair, bins, pillow.

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DIY projects for the weekend

If you're itching to spruce things up a bit this weekend, take a look at these ideas for the home (via a Google image search.) That orange grid wall makes my heart beat faster.
Orange wall by Milo&Ben
Belted wall clock at Remodelista
Cardboard chandelier by Kayte Terry at the Etsy blog
Painted spoons from Little Bit Funky

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Make a solid-color origami heart garland

A variation of yesterday's striped paper garland—try solid-color hearts folded from origami paper. They even have a pocket in the back to run your string through, so no taping needed. Get the instructions here.

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Make a striped origami heart garland

These striped origami hearts are quick and easy to fold—you won't be tempted to say any bad words as you make them. (Unlike with this box or this cat.) Connect the hearts with twine to make a simple Valentine's Day decoration.

Get the folding instructions here; choose diagram or animation. I used 6" sheets from this awesome pack of 100 different colors of origami paper. Each square will yield two hearts that are about 3 1/2" wide. And a tip: use a little piece of double-stick tape to keep the fronts of the hearts from popping forward. They'll lie flatter this way.

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DIY polyhedra: trendy and cool

Geometric 3D solids are popping up around the internet lately. Adorn yourself, your home, or your party with gem pendants and paper polyhedra using these smart tutorials:
Geometric garland at Urban Outfitters
Platonic solids garland from Mini Eco
Glassine gem paper lanterns at Martha Stewart Weddings
DIY geometric necklace by Dismount Creative

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DIY Cathrineholm candleholders

You're probably familiar with Cathrineholm enamelware, a line of iconic kitchen products made by a Norwegian factory that closed in 1970. Vintage Cathrineholm pieces now cost an arm and a leg. But paper is cheap! Perhaps some DIY votive holders will suffice until we win the lottery?

First I wrapped a glass candleholder with a piece of tracing paper and secured it with tape. Anything white and translucent will do the job; try parchment paper, tissue paper, or vellum if you've got some.

Then I made a template, printed it onto colored computer paper, and cut out the designs with an X-acto knife. My votive holders are 2.5" tall and came in a box from Target several years ago. If you have holders of a similar size, feel free to download the PDF.

Or, if you have a Silhouette machine, you can download the .studio file and scale as needed. Warning: I haven't tested it! If you try to cut with it, let me know how it goes.

Or, if you hate computers, just sketch out the design by hand and wing it. It'll be super.

Layer the cut paper over the white paper and secure with more tape. Done.

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A chair, before and after

Say hello to my new chair. This guy has been sitting in the corner, all done except for those armrests, for several weeks. That's because someone got scissors-happy when cutting out the seat cushions and forgot to leave enough fabric for the arms. And someone's husband graciously stopped at IKEA last night and purchased the required quarter yard of SaraLisa. What a guy.

Above is the original chair I bought at Jubilee Furniture. I have a thing for chrome these days. Ooo, shiny! But sad fabric. This chair sort of reminds me of a walker, but I'm okay with that. When I'm 80, I'll have coordinating furniture.

This chair was way easier than the Steelcase business. Essentially two pillowcases for the seat and the back were stapled shut at the bottom.

I added more batting to plump it up a little and cover the disintegrating foam, then used the old covers as a template for cutting the new fabric. I sewed up the new pillowcases, stuffed the chair pieces into them, and stapled them shut again. Of course that covered up the old screw holes in the wood frame, so I had to poke all along the sides of the chair with a needle* to find them again. Then I cut little slits in the fabric with an Xacto knife and screwed the seat and back to the frame.

The arms were the easiest—I detached the old pieces, sprayed some adhesive* to the new fabric, and wrapped it around the old armrests. Snapped them back on, replaced the screws, and we're in business.

*I don't know anything about professional upholstery, so you should probably assume my methods are totally weird. But I like this chair.

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Cheap trash bag Halloween decorating

In a burst of festivity, I decided we should have some Halloween decorations in the house. Something 1) dramatic, 2) super cheap, and 3) didn't require me to go to the store. Behold: trash bag spiderwebs.

To make these, lay a trash bag out flat. Trim off the sides and bottom so you're left with two big rectangles of plastic. Cut each piece into an approximate square (eyeballing it is fine.)

Fold one of the squares in half diagonally to form a triangle. Fold that triangle in half two more times. This is slippery stuff, so use a few pieces of tape to fasten the layers together on the loose side. It will help hold the shape together when you're cutting. If any of your tape pieces end up on the web itself after you've cut it out, remove them before unfolding.

If winging it makes you nervous, use a black Sharpie to sketch some guides on the plastic: draw a "stem" from the folded point out to the end of your triangle. Then sketch some scallops that come off the stem. With a scissors, cut out the negative shapes and unfold your web. Tape several webs together and add extra strips of plastic to connect them if you like.

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DIY pendant light tutorials

I just bought a white, spherical Fillsta light from IKEA, but if I'd had tons of extra time on my hands, maybe I'd have attempted one of these! Here's a collection of round hanging beauties you can make yourself.

Links to the how-tos:
Faceted paper light from The 3 R's Blog
Wire orb by Orlando Soria
Paper cup light shade at Cut Out and Keep
Lace lamp from the Dos Family
Yarn pendant light at Made By Girl

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Make your own wall art

Folks planning to spruce up the house might enjoy these budget-friendly DIY wall art projects. Some cool ideas for sad and naked walls:
Woodgrain contact paper stripes from Maude at Apartment Therapy
Trendy pinwheel painting by Elise Blaha Cripe
A canvas full of words from Alisa Burke
Log wall display by Liv and Jeff McMillan at Curbly

As for me, I've got another chair makeover planned for the weekend. If it's a success, I'll show you next week. If it flops, just pretend I never mentioned it.

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How to make wall art from wood scraps

Janine at Salvage Love has posted a tutorial for the DIY wall art she made for her living room. She snatched up a pile of leftover wood scraps from her dad and transformed them into this! Learn how right here. You don't have to paint yours orange, but I highly recommend it.

(Photos by Claire Ferrante)

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How to "wallpaper" using fabric

I couldn't stand our boring white door anymore. Something had to be done. So over the weekend, we wallpapered it with a big, fun piece of fabric. I love it. And it's useful, too. There are four white doors in this corner of the apartment—bedroom, bathroom, coat closet, and outer door—and sometimes departing guests get confused about which one they came through. Now we'll just tell them to exit through the village.

This fabric is fairly thin cotton from IKEA. It's called Britten Hus and designed by someone named Emma Jones. No relation that I know of, but clearly someone I would like. She's also got this handwriting print which I adore. Someone should use it! Bed sheets would work really well for this project, too.

For this DIY fabric wallpaper project, you'll need water, cornstarch, a big brush (or a paint roller if you want to do a larger wall), scissors, and a craft knife if you have obstacles like we did.

First mix up your paste, since it will need time to cool. I made way too much, but better safe than sorry. I don't think I even used half of it, so you might want to cut this recipe down. I adjusted a bit to get a nice consistency that's thickened, but pourable. Like really thick gravy.

Boil 4 cups of water in a pot. Mix about 3/8 cup cornstarch with a little water in a small bowl until the powder is dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the water slowly while stirring. Boil until thickened and then let it cool.

In the meantime, measure the area you want to wallpaper and cut your fabric to size. I just made small cuts in the edge of my fabric and tore each side, since I knew it would make a straighter line than I could cut. I trusted that the design was printed to be aligned with the grain.

Brush the entire door with paste, then begin applying fabric from the top down, adjusting and smoothing as you go. The paste is very forgiving and will allow you to smooth out wrinkles or peel a section back off and reposition it. If you need more paste in dry spots, just brush more on. It doesn't change the color of the fabric when it's dry.


Use a scissors or Xacto knife to cut around any obstacles. We made a few quick slits where the lock and doorknob were, just to get the fabric fitted over them so we could continue smoothing out the rest of the door. Then we went back and trimmed carefully around the hardware with a knife. Apply more paste to stick down the raw edges.

Finally, we back went around the sides of the door and applied a little extra paste to smooth down any loose edges. The paste will keep the raw ends from fraying. If you like, you can brush another coat of paste over the entire door, decoupage style. Our fabric was stuck down well enough and I liked the soft fabric texture, so I opted not to. If you use thicker fabric, it might be a good idea to glue it down a little better with a top coat, though.

When you're tired of the fabric, just pull it off and your paint job is unharmed. You may need to use a damp sponge to wipe off any clear paste residue or thread stragglers. I'd also suggest machine washing brightly colored fabric first to make sure the dyes don't bleed when the fabric is moistened with paste—do a small test first.

Update: To show how the fabric peels off, I pasted another chunk onto my hallway wall, then pulled it off.

The fabric peeled off easily. In this case, the edge of the glued area showed slightly. After taking this photo, I went over it with a damp sponge to see if I could erase it, but that just made the faintly darker area larger. The slight discoloration is the result of getting the wall damp. The walls in my hallway have flat paint, which doesn't like wetness—it always shows every water drip and isn't very wipeable. I don't mind, since this part of the hallway is dim and it doesn't show. Or I can always wipe the whole wall with a moist sponge and it will all match!

If your wall or door has flat paint, you might want to cover the whole area with fabric so you don't see any discolored edges where the fabric starts and stops. If your paint is satin or semi-gloss, which withstands moisture much better, I don't think you'll see any lines at all. You can always test a small area first.

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