Wall Art Windows

Curtains are one of the things which make or break a home’s ‘look’ as they can draw all of the other decorating elements together, and they are often also a great way to show your home’s personality and style too. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to go for a traditional curtain style or set up, in fact you don’t even need a curtain rail here.

Pictured is a unique ‘curtain’ set us which is cheap and easy to make happen in your home. It is as choosing vintage fabrics and finding vintage posters to stretch over canvas frames. Make sure that each design or poster you choose relates in some colourful, textured or patterned way back to the rest of your home’s decor and you’re set.

Choose canvases of different sizes and shapes, mixing squares with rectangles and layering tall canvases behind short ones. This is the perfect way to create an ever changing wall art display, and an affordable and fast way to update a rental property.

Vintage Style Files

Whoever said filing was boring had no imagination because with some simple fabric coverings, you can turn your filing system into a piece of stylish vintage wall art. Even using pretty gift wrapping paper you can make a stunning vintage style display out of your receipts and reconciliations.

Many people have a home office, even if you don’t run a home based business, there is still all of the household paperwork to organise. As a result the kitchen table can just as often be a work space as a meal space so if you also keep your files close at hand here, make sure they match your decor. Plain white document boxes and file folders can easily be covered with a vintage fabric like the one pictured but spraying the surface with an adhesive and carefully smoothing out any bubbles. For an extra touch of personality and style add a ribbon in a matching vintage style or color to keep everything together.

Therefore, why not inject some dip dyeing into your home decor to bring a vintage touch, but in a fresh modern way? Dip dyeing is as simple as choosing a color you want to add and finding something neutral – generally white home wares are best – to apply it to.

For example, you can make up a dye solution and literally dip fabrics into them, half, or three quarters of the way in to create a soft colored effect. This could be applied to cushion covers or even your sheets to customise your bedroom in a unique vintage style.

First choose an item you want to give a vintage style to, you can even choose more than one item if you like – your bed sheets and a doily for your bedside table will make a perfect vintage style statement; now choose a dye color.

Top loading machines work best for this dyeing method when dyeing large items as you ensure an even coverage, but front loaders work perfectly for smaller items. Then wash your items on a warm wash cycle, filling your machine to about half its capacity. When the load is done, take it out and restart your machine to the longest hot wash cycle it has, with the water level covering your items; now add the dye according to the instructions.

Let the machine agitate for about a minute before adding the items to be dyed, and – making sure your items ‘wash’ for at least half an hour – let the cycle run through, wash the items again with washing powder this time, and on a normal hot cycle, and then line dry your new vintage style fabrics ready to display.

Modern Paisley Decorating Tips

Paisley is something which a lot of young women probably remember from their childhood, and as well as leaving frilly socks and hair scrunchies in the past, so too may you wonder at the idea of reintroducing paisley into your own (adult) home.

However, rather than adding whole quilt covers, sheet sets, dresses, cushions and throw rugs in a mottled flower print, take your cue for decorating in modern paisley from the image above. One single paisley pattern has been chosen for the entire room and used sparingly as a bed head, meaning it is not centre stage in the room, nor used in an overwhelming amount.

The purple colors have then been picked from the print in two main shades, the rich burgundy used in solid blocks of color in the throw cushions and bedspread, and the lilac color, used in the other bedding and a geometric wallpaper pattern. This creates a subtle, stylish and feminine room which any sophisticated young woman would be proud to declare she decorated.

Of course, when decorating and updating the look of your home you are always going to be interested in the tips which can save you money and here’s one – don’t be afraid to paper yourself. That is, DIY wallpapering doesn’t have to be difficult if you know a few basics and one of those is choosing the right wallpaper from the beginning.

This also helps you cut down on your choices too, as DIY wallpapering will get the best effect if you choose a plain vinyl paper which will be more forgiving than a complex patterned one. While you should choose the best paper you can afford as it will be the best quality and the easiest to work with, you will need to buy more than you think you need to match up around windows and make up for any mishaps.

Then make sure you have all the right tools for the job like starting with a good quality sealer, having a sharp knife on hand for around power points, a smooth, pre-mixed adhesive, and a steamroller to finish off and hide visible joins.

Vintage 4 Kidz

You may hesitate in adding vintage posters to your child’s room, as in this image, as you don’t want to force your style onto your children – you want them to find their own. Well they will find their own style in the end and until then you can provide them with a stylish but comfortable space they are proud to call their own.

Vintage wall art for  child’s room can be an easy and inexpensive way to decorate, especially in the case of this poster which is able to take your child from toddler to teen and beyond if they choose, and is a simple wall hanging without a frame or glass and very cheap to bring into your home.

A simple vintage poster for a child’s room is also something their style can grow around as it is particularly neutral and as your child develops their own likes and dislikes, their own sense of style will shine through and they can decide whether to keep their vintage poster on display, or roll it away for another day.

That is why metal wall art is the perfect solution for outdoor areas to bring style and most importantly decor to the exterior walls of your home too. Metal wall art gives your exterior walls an instant update and while you liked the colour of the render when you bought the home, or you chose the particular bricks because you liked the pattern, your exterior walls are easily highlighted when you hang metal wall art.

You can choose metal wall art for your outdoor areas in a modern or traditional style, in a function clock or a decorative design, but the best part is that the beauty of your home underneath can shine right through.

Traditional Art Modern Home

You may not think that traditional rugs have much place in your new or modern style of home, however a scattering of their recognisable color, pattern and texture can really bring a plain floor to life. We all know the type of traditional rugs in question, in this image however, they are not used as a runner along original floorboards in a 19th century home, nor are they laid in your grandmother’s sitting room in front of the fire.

In this home traditional rugs have been used to create a unique floor art display on previously plain and typically modern carpet. The rugs scattered seemingly randomly around this large lounge room don’t match in size, or pattern only in their traditional style. Nor do they obviously belong in the muted and modern lounge room, with a feature aqua blue fire place.

However, their random placement gives an otherwise large and rather formal lounge room movement and personality, inviting you in to take a closer look and see where this floor art can guide you.

Matchy Matchy Home Decorating

Patterns and colors are well and truly back on the decorating scene after being relegated to the ‘sin bin’ while the minimalist style reigned supreme. However, introducing pattern and color can also be a daunting task because there are now so many different color and design elements to coordinate in your home.

However, rather than risking a pattern and color clash in your home’s style, or ending up with just one color or pattern throughout your home in a terribly boring ‘matchy-matchy’ style here are some quick tips and some visual inspiration.

This image shows an explosion of different colors and patterns in just one lounge room area – but it works. Instead of matching the colors from the rug directly to those of the couch cushions, the cushions are several shades brighter, but in the same colors and a similar stripy pattern is thrown in too. The stripy wall paper matches the rug and matches the couch, but not directly, achieving a matched and colourful space, but not an overpowering one.