Living in a White Box: White Wall Syndrome
Painting the walls is one of the best ways to add color to a room, but if you can’t that doesn’t mean your space has to suffer. My favorite alternative to painting walls is attaching large pieces of fabric to them.
You can accomplish this by hanging a large quilt or tapestry on the wall, like in this room.
You can also mount fabric to foamboard to create tiles and add your own pattern with paint, like I did a few years back.
Or you can repurpose fabric as wallpaper. Stephanie from Cre8tive Designs has a great tutorial on her blog for adding fabric to the walls with cornstarch. This printed fabric does so much for her room!
Another option is creating a large bulletin board with fabric and foamboard, like Leslie from House on the Way did for her craft room. This is such a lovely method for adding color, texture, and pattern to a wall!
Emily from Designing the Nest shows how she jazzed up her bedroom by hanging panels of framed wallpaper. It’s a super easy project and a great way to cover a large area.
Do you love the chalkboard wall trend? Check out this temporary chalkboard wall makeover tutorial from Shelley from Crazy Wonderful. This would be perfect for a child’s bedroom.
Another DIY option for adding color and pattern to your wall is to paint a large piece of wood. I created this Mondrian-inspired wall art on a large piece of plywood underlayment.
Removable wallpaper and wall decals are also a great option for rented homes.
Courtney from It’s Pretty & Cheap made over her apartment wall with a chevron pattern using… electrical tape! I love how bold this is!
A room divider is a practical yet decorative way to incorporate blocks of color in a room. You can find out how to create this divider at Parents Magazine.
Lindsay from Dormify recounts how her dormmate made a punchy border for their space with paint chips. I love paint chip projects!
Here’s an even larger scale paint chip wall featured on Design*Sponge.
What are your favorite ways to counter White Wall Syndrome? Have you tried any of these examples in your homes?
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I love these ideas for adding a little colour. Our bathroom is just a white box so we have lime green towels and accessories. Iikea do a lovely bright crocodile shaped mat to go in the bath, to stop you slipping, which hangs on the wall when not in use like art for the bathroom wall. (Although I may be the only one in the house that loves the crocodile, I thought it was fun!)
Thank you! Very cool that you can use your bath mat as decor too. Saves money and is practical. Thanks for sharing and commenting!
You have inspired me to try and stick some fabric on my walls – I’m in need for a colour change to get the creativity going – this could be it!
Glad I could help. Good luck with your project! Thanks for stopping over to comment!
Thank you Angela for sharing my tutorial on using fabric and starch on a wall. It REALLY is an affordable way to spruce up your white walls, AND you can reuse the fabric for another project after you take it off your walls. It holds up beautifully til the day you decide to take it down, and then it just peels off like butter with no damage to your walls. It’s an amazing trick to use, and affordable. {the removable wallpaper can get expensive for a large wall, this is a great alternative} I’ll never use wallpaper again now that I have used this method. Thanks again! Stephanie
Sweet! That’s great to know! I’ve wanted to try it myself but am a bit scared. Thanks again for sharing and for stopping by to comment!
Ah, yes the white box! I’ve lived in 3 apartments so far and I’ve seen my fair share of white walls. Except now, in our current place, they pre-paint the walls beige. Which I totally thought was a plus when we moved in. At least it’s not white, right? WRONG! I’m now in a beige box, wishing for white. You win, universe! 😀
This is a really great collection of ideas to spice up the boring! Thanks for sharing!
LOL, I am with you, sister! My new home is the same—cream colored walls and I’ve also found myself wanting the bright, sharp white walls I’m so accustomed to! Thanks for stopping by to comment!
I love fabric but have never used it on the walls! Now I want to 😉 Love those foam boards w/ fabric…thanks so much for inspiring us a Twirl & Take a Bow! ox
Thanks! I appreciate your stopping by to comment!
I love that you’re doing a series for people in rental spaces. These are great ideas! Thank you so much for sharing this with my Frugal Crafty Home readers!
Thanks! I appreciate your stopping over to comment!
Thank you so much for including my DIY wallpaper in your post! Loving all of these great ideas 🙂
Thanks! I appreciate your taking the time to head over and leave a comment!
these are great ideas! I actually like clean white walls, but I do like to hang things one them. We did rent for 5 years and were fortunate enough to have a landlord that let us paint! Thanks for sharing at Create Link Inspire!
Thank you! I’ve actually come to appreciate white walls… they certainly have their place in decor. Thanks for commenting and for hosting your party!
For the past 10 years I’ve had colored walls and now I’ve decided to return to white. lol Funny how your taste changes.
Lol, that is funny! I do have an appreciation for white walls, but just love color too much. Thanks for sharing and commenting!
Thanks so much for featuring my vintage wallpaper panels! I wrote up a little post mentioning your mention and how I used the liquid starch/fabric idea for the set of a short film!
Oops…here’s the link to my newest post mentioning DIY Homegirl: http://designingthenest.blogspot.com/2014/01/diy-homegirl-and-liquid-starch-walls.html
Love your blog!
Thanks again for sharing your awesome creativity!
I am definitely interested in trying the temporary wallpaper to accent a wall in my living room area. Being in an apartment and renting, I’m very limited to what I can do with on the walls. My question is, does the removal of the temporary wallpaper truly not effect the walls behind it? What’s your experience with it and where would you recommend going to get it?
By the way, I’d love for you to stop by my blog and check it out and if you like please follow…
http://inspirationhappens.wordpress.com
-Revamp any room! How To Paint Furniture –
Warm Regards,
Tanya