You got a little taste of what our apartment in Oklahoma was like, and I can't stress this enough: it didn't have a whole lot to recommend itself, design-wise.
Or, as I (rather less cheerfully) more often put it, it was an ugly little apartment.
The walls were textured beige, the trim was fake-wood brown, and the floors were dirty-carpet gray. Basically, the overall impression was brown, brown, brown, with a side of dingy. It needed some help.
In decorating, I had two (related) requirements:
1. Since we needed to pack everything up into our car again when we left, anything I did had to be as close to disposable as possible.
2. Thusly, everything needed to be as close to free as possible.
In other words, I was going to be decorating with paper. And I ended up really enjoying the little projects I did, in part because I didn't have to worry about the things I normally would, like whether the decorations would get dusty (we weren't going to be there long enough for an objectionable amount of dust to accumulate), whether I would get bored of them (no time for that either, though it turns out I didn't even come close), or if they were too whimsical, silly, and/or lame (whimsical is a good antidote for brown and dingy, it turns out).
I decided to embrace the brown, and bought a roll of kraft paper at the grocery store. It turns out I love kraft paper, and try to use it for everything. The Lt. at one point suggested I write a book called “101 Uses for a Roll of Brown Paper.” I don't know about that, but here are three projects, at least.
I also found these adorable packs of goody bags on sale – maybe $1 for each pack, tops? – at Hobby Lobby right before Valentine's Day (you may recognize the red and white paper – I also used it on my Easter eggs. The Lt. cleverly packed up the extra bags when we were moving out, actually, so they may very well appear again yet!). I pulled them apart, and cut random-sized circles out of them and the kraft paper, and plopped them all into a bowl.
Then one night, as the Lt and I were watching a movie, I strung them onto sturdy thread using a big needle (and a thimble!). I put them on pretty much randomly, and when it seemed like I had a good, usable length of garland, I tied a knot, left enough thread to make a loop for hanging, and started a new one .
It turns out I'm really bad at judging garland lengths, because while I only intended to string them around the dining room, I actually ended up with enough to loop all around that room, drape over the kitchen sink…
…and above our bed as a sort of faux-headboard. It was great – the red added a nice brightness to the walls, and the circles were small enough that it just looked cheerful and not overly Valentine's-y.
I just put them up by draping them over little nails; I'd wrap the thread around the nail a few times to keep it from sliding around/falling off. We had a ceiling fan above our dining room table that we used quite often, and the garland would flap around, but it didn't come down!
Don't you love the textured beige walls? |
Since my patterned paper was one-sided, I found that stringing the thread in one side of the circle, through the middle, and out the other side worked best – when I only went in one side and out the other, the paper would pucker in the middle and spin around more. This way was sturdier.
My next project I got from this blog post. I pulled out my handy-dandy kraft paper again, made 1-inch-wide strips (I forget how long they were, but there's a link to a very clear video tutorial in the post I've linked to above), and wove them into these cute 3-dimensional stars. I experimented with a few different sizes, but this was the one that gave me the biggest star while still being pretty manageable in length.
I told you the carpet was gross – please don't judge me! |
Once I had eight, I glued them together into a wreath, and used a piece of ribbon (which my sister-in-law used to wrap my Christmas gift… thanks, Natasha!) to hang it over the unused phone jack in the dining room.
It's not super-exciting, but it was cute and fun to make. You could use different (and more exciting) paper, too – wrapping paper could be fun. I imagine there are other uses for the stars on their own, as well – they're certainly addictive to make! I just love paper crafts!
My last Oklahoma decorating project was inspired when the (ahem) lovely Monet poster hanging above the awkwardly-placed fireplace up and fell off the wall one night. That's right – we were watching a movie and it randomly just leapt off the wall. (You can see the space I'm talking like and the still-living poster in the picture at the top of the post) It might have had something to do with the fact that the frame was held together with packing tape! In any case, it was no more, and I needed something to fill that empty space.
I found these antique botanical prints of kitchen spices at Vintage Printable (which is a neat site with all sorts of public domain images, though it looks like they're in the middle of updating it, so at the moment I can't find the link to the actual images I used) and simply used Picasa to convert them into black and white, fix the contrast, and add a border to each one.
I had packed up some cheap little IKEA frames (I think they're 4/$1), thinking that it would be nice to be able to have some framed pictures and photos wherever we were. And of course one of the things IKEA prides itself on is its flat packing, so I figured it was pretty space-efficient! I printed out the illustrations onto my handy-dandy kraft paper, stuck them into the frames, and popped them up on the wall.
They weren't perfect, and I don't have a great picture of them (that wall was permanently back-lit, so I couldn't get a good shot of the overall effect), but they didn't look bad at all! The kraft paper was rather forgiving to any imperfections in the home-printing process, and it was definitely better than either the beat-up Monet or the blank wall! And the total cost of this cute series of twelve botanical prints was under $5, which is hard to beat.
I've come across a bunch of other sites that have free printable images, that are worth checking out if the idea of printing out your own artwork appeals to you (if your printer isn't up for the job you have in mind, you can also take them to a Kinko's or somesuch place and have them do it). I've found other uses for them as well, from gift tags to invitations… it's lots of fun! There are some neat vintage posters here, lots of whimsical pictures on this (French – navigation at the bottom) site, vintage images of all descriptions at the Graphics Fairy, more botanical illustrations (scroll down in the navigation menu at the upper-left until you see the Plates listed) from a 19th century German book, and more at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery. It's amazing what you find online… are there others I haven't heard of?
I learned that it pays to just go for it, and stick cute things up there. If they don't look good, no harm done – it's just paper, and is easily taken down again! But it probably WILL look good, and that makes for a happier home, temporary or not!
Leila says
Love!
So cute.
And so funny to see your paper crafts. Although you are grown up, married, and about to become a mom, all this paper crafting takes me back to when you were a little girl! I love it.
You really do love crafting with paper!
XOXO
Rachael says
Lovely! and so creative. I'm impressed. We aren't planning on moving anytime soon, but these are good ideas for when we do move…
Funny thing, it looks like we had the exact same fireplace in our little apartment in Los Angeles. Gas with the metal curtains… crazy.
Jamie says
Another great post! I think your paper ideas are fabulous. I am currently looking for ways to decorate the kids' bedroom and I think I can do a lot with your ideas. I don't like to put up too many heavy shelves or heavy picture frames in kids rooms because we live in California and I always worry about stuff flying off of walls in the event of an earthquake. So paper works! And is a really good space for whimsy.
Carrielou says
So fun! I love the brown paper stars!
Did you know that at many libraries, you can “check out” artwork? I live in a small city and ours allows you to check it out for a month at a time. All sorts of things, framed and ready to hang.
Rosie says
I have often heard this, but have never actually done it myself. It's a great idea, though, especially if you're not going to be staying for long!
Mary says
great ideas! Love the paper garland. so sweet and easy to make. have fun decorating your new place. hopefully the walls aren't as hideous as the one in OK. Yikes!
Robin says
Le Wow!
When I first saw the picture with the garland above your bed, I thought it was a string of fabric yo-yos that people use to make “yo-yo quilts”. Maybe you'll have to google it to see what I mean.
As someone who has lived in temporary housing: great job!
Anne says
wow, i am so impressed. i think i might have just curled up in a ball and felt drab for 6 months.
You're the best! (I almost typed beast. ;))
Jamie says
I am now the proud owner of four super-cool German stars. He he he! The blog linked to a great tutorial 🙂
natashamlawler says
Your paper star wreath is stunning!! I love the idea of making a couple of those for Christmas decorations. And your botanical prints are so pretty–incredible that you pulled that off for only $5! I can't wait to see what you do with your real home in San Diego.
margo says
I'm impressed that you cozied up your ugly space without making it look like a dorm room or a college apartment. Very clever. Thanks for all the links, too.
Suki says
I think Mom would be proud of me, because as soon as I saw the picture of the paper star wreath I thought, I could SPRAY PAINT that!!!
Nancy says
We use the Moriavian stars as Christmas ornaments, too — I have white ones with clear glitter sprayed on them. You can make larger ones (10″ across, etc.) and hang a variety of sizes from the ceiling in a corner . . . lovely!
Believe it or not, you will look back fondy at your first newlywed apartment, ugly carpet and all! We've been married 13 years as of yesterday, and have great fondness for our first little place.
Nancy
Laura Jeanne says
Thank you for thist post, Rosie. I need some ideas for jazzing up our house, which is a rental and which is so dreary and dingy looking. We don't have money to paint right now, but I think some paper garlands might help a lot. I could make Christmas-themed ones for the holidays out of some of the old Christmas cards I have lying around, too. 🙂
EiCerkllor says
Thanks Rosie. You are quite a busy gal! I am also making the stars for Christmas.
Lorraine says
Oh Rose! I love that there are vintage prints that you can print out yourself!!
Eileen says
your post is great and very funny. i am in that same sort of apartment but my walls are smooth. lol