Raise your hand if you hate wallpapering. There are thousands, maybe millions, of homeowners just like you. Wallpapering is one of the worst parts about owning a home… so let’s see if there might be a better alternative.
Did you know you could change the whole style of a room without even doing anything to the walls? It’s true. When you first move into a property, that property owner will have painted the walls in neutral colors if they wanted to sell faster. Otherwise, if those walls are all bold, bright colors, you may have to start with a tin of white paint. However you do it, don’t wallpaper, just start from a blank canvas. Get the decorators in if you can’t face it yourself.
Portable Décor is the Key to Change
Once you have that blank canvas to start with – preferably in white – you are ready to start changing that décor without using any wallpaper. How? By relying on key feature furniture, artwork, and pieces, instead. Portable décor is all the rage among renters and among those with traditionally wealthy homes. The idea is that you purchase high quality items such as a favorite art piece, an antique or a pretty lamp.
The 8 Key Decorating Tips to Elevate Home Design Without Wallpaper
Without further ado, here are the 8 tips that will help your home stand out.
1. Key Color Placement – Cushions and Curtains
Replacement couch cushions could be the difference between the same old-same old and bringing a whole new feel to your living room. If you stick with that neutral or white base, refresh your cushion covers, and match those to the curtains or window dressings. You should have an instantly stylish look with the minimum of effort.
2. Pick a Pattern
Another idea is to pick a pattern on those cushion covers and match it to the curtains or carpet. Be careful with patterns, stick to one with a base color which matches your neutral walls. Although universal trends for patterns suggest that you stick to one at a time, the trends in interior design last year have gone haywire when compared to the norm. Why? Now we mix all sorts of patterns up together and call it boho chic. Even hippies know not to mix floral prints with tribal designs, though. So, before you pattern, learn the rules.
3. Featured Artwork
Undoubtedly the best way to create a bold statement with any room is by choosing the correct artwork for the space. Whether decorating your condo in Florida or creating more space in a tiny home, choosing a favorite painting or sculpture and hanging it in an optimal position will give guests something to talk about as soon as they enter the room. If you have one bold artwork or print on your feature wall, all you need is to pick out one or two colors from the room to match to it and you will have an instant makeover.
4. Masking Tape Your Walls
Another way to decorate without wallpaper comes from a TikTok viral video from 2022. In this video, students placed multiple lines of masking tape on their wall in a haphazard way. Once taped up, they painted each individual section in a choice of three matching colors. This might not be portable décor, but it is a quick, reasonably simple way to get in on that geometric pattern trend without forking our for a decorator or hanging wallpaper. If you get the whole family involved, it turns into a fun afternoon instead of a chore.
5. Use Your Photos
Another great way to decorate your home with portable décor is to have a look at your photo album. Print out your favorite family photos and insert them into a standard wooden or neutral colored frame. Black and white pictures are particularly classic. Hang them where you need them and then take them down when it is time to move on.
6. The Tapestry
Tapestries never truly went out of fashion. Hang your wallpapering instead of wallpapering. Choose sunsets, or mountain tops, or even family photo imagery, and have a local firm develop it onto fabric on your behalf.
7 . Feature Furniture
If you have a plain white living room and you add a deep brown leather sofa, you instantly upgrade that room. Not a leather fan? Choose a striking purple fabric or an opulent, sumptuous one. Again, you can take these with you when you move, particularly sideboards and heavy wooden items.
8. The Decal
Decals are amazing. You simply press the transfer onto the wall, wood, tile, or wherever you need it, and then remove the backing paper. Moving home? Unpeel and go. It’s just as simple as that.
And Finally…
Never decorate if you are infirm or injured. Painter and decorators do a marvelous job for affordable prices. Consider this option before you fall off a ladder and hurt yourself.
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