An empty wall space can be intimidating to decorate. While blank walls can be make a major impression because minimalism is on-trend, filling up bare surfaces with art, photographs or even patterned wallpaper can add personality to any room and allow you to convey your own aesthetic.
Don’t wait for an all-important wow piece to keep your walls bedecked—for example, a painting you’ve been eying or your own series of black-and-white photographs. DIY or do-it-yourself projects are great solutions, providing anyone easy, quick ways to inject individuality into your home.
1. Corkboard collage
Framed or unframed corkboards provide you with a clean slate for art you can work and rework as many times as you want. Readily available in a multitude of sizes at any bookstore, corkboards are perfect canvases for packrats who love racking up ephemera and for crafters who love to experiment with different styles and color palettes. You can hang them in your office, over your bedroom side table or beside your refrigerator.
· Pin grosgrain ribbons vertically across your corkboard to allow you to slip in tickets, photos and other memorabilia, without needing any pushpins to hold them up.
· Turn your corkboard into a three-dimensional scrapbook or mood board by tacking everything from magazine pages that inspire you to maps and bookmarks.
2. Blackboard scribbles
Whether you decide to hang a store-bought blackboard on your wall or paint the entire surface completely in blackboard paint, a writeable surface provides a fun way for you to add color to any room.
· Use blackboard paint for your wall behind your bed and draw a headboard instead of buying an actual piece of furniture. Dust-free chalk is a must for interior spaces to keep surfaces clean and to keep you protected as well.
· Adding a blackboard surface in the kitchen allows you to consistently update your grocery list and keep tabs on everyone’s schedules at home.
Thinkstock Photo3. Framed paper
Wrapping paper is one of the best, most inexpensive ways to add pattern and color to your walls. Find a design you love and have the wrapper framed in contrasting or matching frames. Prop it up against the wall on a low ledge, shelf or floor; or hang it up to fill an empty space as an alternative to a print or a poster.
· When shopping for wrapping paper, bring a cardboard or plastic tube—transporting large sheets of paper can be tricky and can leave you with unwanted creases and tape marks.
· Think out of the box as far as colors or patterns are concerned. Working with hues and shades you wouldn’t normally buy might open you to more decorating ideas. And in case the pattern turns out something you can’t live with, you can chuck your wrapping paper at a minimal cost, or use them to line little-used drawers.
Have more cleaning questions for the author? Email her at chinggaylabrador@yahoo.com
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Chinggay Labrador is a freelance writer and stylist, contributing articles on beauty, lifestyle and design to local magazines. Her background in architecture has her profiling trends and homes throughout the region. A travel junkie who likes to frequent Japan and Korea, Chinggay is the former editor-in-chief of Sparkling, a quarterly K-Pop publication and is also the author of Popped and Popped, Too, books based on the fun, frivolity and friendship centered on Korean Pop music.
