Ten Colorful Ways to Decorate Your Home without Paint

Decorating Style | How to Decorate Without Painting

If you have ever lived in an apartment, dorm room or other space where painting the walls was strictly a no-no, you understand how hard it can be to come up with creative ways to inject warmth and personality into the room. Decorating without paint can be a challenge. Plain white or basic beige walls feel cold and sterile, and not particularly inviting. You want your home to reflect your personality and plain vanilla just isn’t your style. Don’t let the no-paint rule leave your home colorless. Here’s ten great ways to add color, charm and your own decorating style to your home without painting the walls and breaking the rules.

Removable Wall Graphics

These are fantastic! Your imagination

is about the only limitation you’ll bump into when you create your personalized decorating style with removable wall graphics. They’re easy to apply and easy to remove. No matter what you’re taste or style, you’ll find wall graphics that seemed custom made for you. In fact, you can have them custom made, if you like, and create your own design featuring family members or other treasures. Make an entire wall appear intricately painted, create the look of a hand painted mural or just send a message to your guests. Something else awesome about these graphics is that you can use them other places besides walls. Spruce up the kitchen cabinets or make a coordinating lampshade simply by adding removable wall graphics. Whether your taste runs to country, contemporary, classic or Zen, you’ll find the perfect way to enhance your style. Use graphics to accent architectural features or they are super for kids’ rooms. They’re even available as blackboards.

Removable Wall Hooks

Renters and others who can’t paint need to become well acquainted with removable wall hooks. They go on easy and come off without leaving a mark. Use them to hang mirrors and pictures or in the bedroom or bath to hold robes and towels. Use more than one hook for heavier items. These are great for any home. You don’t make any holes to patch and they do not damage the walls. Find removable wall hooks at most home or hardware stores.

Add Vibrant Colors

If you are stuck with white walls, use it to your advantage. Make white a part of your color scheme and use strong, vibrant colors to contrast with it. Black, white and red makes a sharp contemporary statement or use gingham blue and yellow for a country theme. Or how about bright neons or exotic tropicals? Use slipcovers and throw pillows, curtains and accessories to bring in lots of your favorite shades.

Add Wall Art

Use art to express yourself. Framed prints and paintings always add a finished look to any room. The art you love and display expresses volumes about your personality. Don’t be afraid to add some large pieces of wall art on big, blank walls. If you feel creative, you can even make your own. You can find lots of budget friendly ways to hang up some style.

Floating Wall Shelves

Use floating wall shelves or bookcases to add vertical appeal to your walls. Not only do floating shelves add visual interest, they also provide extra storage space, which is always at a premium. You can use floating wall shelves for books, of course, but they’re also a great place to keep your colorful glassware or favorite candlesticks.

Bring Nature Inside

If you can’t bring color in with paint, do it the natural way. Houseplants are a great way to add color to a room and living greenery helps to remove toxins from the air. Fresh flowers always add a festive touch to a room, too. Of course, plants do require some care, so if you don’t have a green thumb, you may want to substituted dried or silk faux foliage.

Add Flair with Folding Screens

Folding screens are another item that can serve double duty. They bring visual interest to the room, but can also camouflage items you’d rather not have on public display. Most of us think of an Asian design when we imaging a folding screen and there are many beautiful Oriental screens available, but they are certainly not limited to that style. There are screens offered today that will enhance any décor.

Paper Your Walls with Fabric

This extremely versatile project will allow you to customize your room perfectly. It may sound difficult at first, but in reality, it is fairly simple. There’s no sewing involved! You can find the how-to directions at http://www.rentaldecorating.com/quick_fix_fabric_on_walls.htm. Imagine walking through a giant fabric store where you can choose any print you like. That’s how many options you have to choose from with this project. It is best not to select fabrics that are extra heavy or especially slippery, though. Other than that, pick any fabric that pleases you. Make sure to pick up enough for coordinating accessories as well. If you have even the most basic sewing skills, you can whip up throw pillows, simple curtains or other charming trimmings.

Show off your Collections

If you have a collection of colorful plates or favorite family photographs, don’t tuck them away, hang them on your wall. Baskets are lightweight, come in a variety of colors and textures and are great places to stash things. Why not hang your favorites up? Hang unique items like an assortment of vintage hats or handbags to give your guests something interesting to look at. It’s a guaranteed conversation starter.

Lighting Style

Lighting plays a major part in setting the mood in a room. Try putting colored bulbs in track lighting or art lights and shine them directly on the wall. They’ll add a gentle glow of color. And don’t forget, you can add new globes to old lighting fixtures to give them a spark of personality. Just be sure to save the old globes so you can replace them when you move.