So, you're sick of hearing about the economy. Yeah, us too. Even though our financial outlook remains grim, on the home front all it takes is a little creativity to give your space a boom-worthy spruce up.
From pot holders to coffee filters, everyday objects can be used in uncommon ways to bring some personality to your walls. Some may consider it a matter of desperate times calling for desperate measures -- but we like to think of it as a really unique (and chic!) recycling program.
Save a landfill; reuse your Styrofoam. Tired of baking and looking for a new use for those bundt pans? Try this idea on for size. Photos: DIY Maven and Flickr, hownowdesign
Used (and cleaned) fruit and veggie trays can be repurposed into 3-D art. Use same-colored push pins to connect them to the wall in a modular display.
It's a piece of cake
Displays can be functional too -- if you're an avid baker, why not collect an assortment of pretty bundt pans and display them along your kitchen wall as this creative homeowner did?
Now you know what to do with all those gifts from Aunt Gertrude; and for a fresh and fun take on wall decor look up. Photos: Fine Little Day and DIY Ideas
So you love to crochet -- but what to do with that pile of potholders you've amassed? No, your friends don't want them. Instead show off your craftsmanship in a pretty display on your kitchen wall. When friends see your gallery of work, they'll be begging for some of their own.
Coming up rosettes
Get excited about your local home center again. Ordinary ceiling rosettes make a fresh, modern display when covered in colorful paint. Here, varied shapes and sizes are unified by shades of yellow.
Clear that collection of photos from your desk drawer and put them to good use. Tea for two-hundred? Not a problem with this cute display. Photos: Flickr, Citrushearts and Ffffound
We all have it: A pile of old photos gathering dust in a storage closet or spare drawer. In our digital age, scrapbooking seems almost retro, so what do you do with your favorite snapshots? A heart-shaped display of Polaroids is a simple way to show off the memories you love most.
Tea party
Head to any thrift shop and you'll likely encounter a selection of mismatched mugs and teacups. As individuals, they're adorable, but what are you supposed to do with a collection of random drinkware? Display the little beauties as the ceramic pieces of art that they are -- and have plenty of options when guests ask for a cup of coffee.
No need for that Costco-sized box of coffee filters? Here's an idea to put them to good use. And at right, this display idea gives "a place to throw your hat" a whole new meaning. Photos: The Haystack Needle and Apartment Therapy
Create an ethereal art display out of coffee filters. That's right -- those flimsy paper cups that pile up in landfills can be put to use as home decor. Simply tack them to the wall in a flowing pattern using pretty colored tacks; cut some to smaller size for variation.
Hang up your hat
Sometimes the best items to show off are hiding just out of sight. Ransack your closet -- or your dad's old hat collection -- and grab a similar-toned assortment of chapeaus to put on display. We especially love this ingenious idea applied for an entryway.
Want more creative wall ideas?
- Inspiration: Decorating with Plates on the Wall
- Sand on the Walls: The Prettiest Wallpaper Ever
- Wall Art Ideas to Make You Smile
Reader comments (Page 1 of 2)
A new use for Aunt Gertrude's pot holders? What's wrong with the old use - holding hot pot and pan handles with them? Geez, some folks will hang anything on a wall and think it's "art." They're trying to emulate Andy Warhol, totally forgetting that, as an artist, he was a big phoney.
ReplySorry but my estate is way too nice to hang junk on the walls.
My apollogies to Martha....Alfred-
I think I'd rather give the crayons and markers to my grandkids and just let them decorate the walls.
These are the ugliest ideas I've ever seen on AOL or anywhere else for that matter..ugh..Thanks but no thanks......
ReplyThese are the ugliest ideas I've ever seen on AOL or anywhere else for that matter..ugh..Thanks but no thanks......
you meant to type "I think these ideas are neat and would like to try them in MY home!" E-mail me at tsherid6@aol.com. you need to wash your clothes!
All i can say is...YOU'RE FIRED !...sheesh. Terrible ideas..
ReplyTack coffee filters to the wall? What are they thinking? Family will think you finally lost it...
ReplyThat is the most confusing suggestion I have ever read. Coffee filters, tacked to the wall.
None of these ideas are new-except the coffee filters-they were touted way back in the 70's and 80's for shabby chic decorating, home touch decorating, what have you. Nothing new here.
ReplyUsed styrofoam trays hung with "matching" push pins? How ridiculous!
ReplyI am so tired of decorators and designers telling us what is "in" now. All of these rooms are boring and have no personality. What's wrong with having a collection of things that really mean something to someone, instead of the latest accessories that will be sold at a garage sale next year?
s*it my estate dont have any walls lolto hang anything on lol just got a bridge over it lmaooo
I have collected vintage potholders for years now and I love them. I started to crochet my own also. I found a stack of patterns for potholders and aprons, etc. at a Salvation Army store about 30 years ago. I hang them across the top of my door curtain and window curtain in the kitchen. At garage sales, thrift shops, yard sales, etc. I first look for old pot holders. They are made of 100% cotton, you can boil them, or bleach them, etc. to sterilize them.
ReplyMy great grandmother made beautiful crochet pot holders. They served not only to be useful, but the creation provided entertainment while sitting on the porch with her family. I loved one that had intricate pansies. But don't boil them necessarily. I washed this one and ruined it.
Eeeewwwwww.
ReplyThis is great for some "creative" freshman in a college dorm, or some grad student holing up in a bedsit in NYC - but you all must be joking if you think REAL people of taste and discernment would for a MINUTE tack styrene containers and little coffee filter flowers all over their walls where others can actually SEE them. What a waste of space. Find something else to report on.
Ohhhh Noooooo...yuck! Bad ideas.
ReplyHang coffee mugs on the wall? Do you have any idea how heavy a wall full of coffee mugs is? Not to mention DUST COLLECTORS. My ex had a display of coffee mugs on top of his cabinets. A little strange, but okay, but when I went up there to give them a quick dusting, I found them to be gross, time waster and not good for his mother's COPD. I took them down immediately.
ReplyI'm all alone here, but I think the ideas are clever and attractive! Great for someone on a budget if they don't want to put up yet another poster, print, or those god-awful sears family portraits... Yes, you can collect and display whatever you want to, not go with the suggestions here, why so defensive? The problem is, you need a nice clean bare white area that needs perking up, and how many of us live with nice clean bare white living rooms?? My living room is definitely shabby, not so much chic, but the main theme is 'birds' and 'nature'. I have big weathered-brass wire birdcages (that can serve as plant holders) up on top of my entertainment center, with some gothic candlesticks in between. On some shelves, little decorated birdhouses that coordinate nicely. Framed photos of birds and squirrels that I took. I do have a nice big framed print of a tree as a focal point, and on the other wall a lovely framed print of blue jays on a fence - on either side framed antique prints of bird nests. ... But if I moved into a brand new empty white condo that needed decoration, the painted ceiling rosettes is a cool idea. ... My mother in law had dozens of antique kitchen gadgets, mostly wrought iron and wood, mounted on her kitchen wall in her old house - can openers, wisks, paper towel holders, even a few kerosene lamps, a rustic broom - looked adorable and cozy, like a farm house long ago. .. You people need to stop getting offended, this article is only meant to jump start your imaginations! Unless you're happy with a picture of purty flowers you bought at Walmart.
ReplyI'm a bit turned off by the idea of hanging used food containers (takeout, coffee, etc.) on the wall. No matter how well washed, I just don't care for the idea. But I love the Bundt pan display. As long as they are fixed securely enough to the wall, so that I could run one of those "magnetic" dusters over them with ease and no fuss, I'd enjoy having that colorful, silly display.
ReplyAnd I can also see the pot holders and the hats, as long as they were things I already owned.
What I can't get my mind around is buying multiple items specifically to hang. If I had a collection of hats, then I could hang them as suggested. But buying or obtaining hats JUST to display together--no.
Fun article. Thank you.
I LIKED THE IDEA OF THE BUNT CAKE PANS. HOWEVER BUNT PANS ARE EXPENSIVE--WHO WOULD HAVE SO MANY. I HAVE ONE NICE BUNT PAN???
ANNIE
F U G L Y
ReplyCeiling rosettes are cute - the others - not so much.
Reply