4 Free or Cheap Ways to Liven Up a Bare Wall

*** This post contains affiliate links.  If you click one and make a purchase, I may receive a commission, at no cost to you!***        While I was reviewing pictures from my updated House Tour, I realized that the most boring wall in my entire house is the wall above my desk.  My desk that I sit at for hours (does 2-3 hours qualify as hours?  I mean, I know, technically, it does, but I also don’t want to give the impression that I’m spending, like, 10 hours a day here.  Glad I got that off my chest) pouring my heart into this blog.  There was not a picture on the wall.  Nothing.  No color.  Even the wall color in this room is totally boring (it’s on the to do list.  Wait, no it isn’t, but it should be).  And if you’ve looked at the House Tour, you know that I am not a blah-wall kind of woman.  I wanted an update and I wanted it fast and cheap.  I am a woman on a budget, after all.  A really LOW budget.  So I needed some cheap ways to liven up a bare wall.  Luckily, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.  

4 Free or Cheap Ways to Liven Up a Bare Wall

Cheap Ways to Liven Up a Boring Wall

Shop Your House

Cheap Ways to Liven Up a Boring Wall

My first place to look for free stuff is my own house.  I always have a stash of stuff, like vases, picture frames or past DIY’s that never found a permanent home in a closet or cupboard.  I knew I wanted some type of wall storage for this desk area and I’ve been holding on to that rattan paper holder for ever.  Perfect spot to put all of my important papers in, right?  They are off the desk and in plain view, so I will hopefully not forget about them.

Make Something!

Cheap Ways to Liven Up a Boring Wall

Depending on what type of a craft hoarder you are, you may or may not already have all of the things you need to make some really pretty DIY art.  The three water colors below are on inexpensive small canvasses (12 of them for $11.96 from Amazon) I have a tutorial for those here.  The abstract floral art below is also a DIY on another inexpensive (2 for $9.98), slightly larger canvas and done with tissue paper and  hexagon shape cutter.  Tutorial is right here.  Pro tip, I’ve primed over old canvases with white primer and repainted or tissue papered over them as would be the case here.  (PS, the tissue paper and hexagon shape cutter are not what I would consider cheap, but I only used a small amount of the tissue paper and the hexagon cutter is something I will have forever in my craft stash and will use many times).

Thrift Store Shopping

Cheap Ways to Liven Up a Boring Wall

Thrift stores are the best for finding frames.  I found a bunch of these pretty gold frames for about $2 each at my local Savers.  I’m into this gold, thin frame look right now, but, if, or when, my tastes change, I won’t mind swapping out the inexpensive frame.

Free Printables!

Cheap Ways to Liven Up a Boring Wall

So what do you fill your cheap thrift store frame with?  Free printables, of course!  I love scouring my favorite blogs for printables.  Or, you can very easily make your own.  Pick your favorite quote and play around in Picmonkey.  I made the calendar you see there and you can access it here if you are in need of a cute and bright calendar.  The Choose Happy print is actually an Etsy find.  It still falls under cheap in my mind at $7.20, but you could DIY something similar, too!

Alright, no excuses, go liven up your boring walls!

 

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