by Furnishly | Feb 25, 2023 | Design Inspiration, Style
Deciding how to decorate your desk is tricky. One way to spruce it up is by adding family photos that telegraph happy memories. These images can help you get through a busy day at work. If your desk is near a window, place a few standing frames on the windowsill. This will clear up surface space. You can also hang a few favorite photos above your desk or install floating shelves for more display space. A bedroom dresser can be another great place to set out a few of your prized snaps, as seen in this Queens apartment. Don’t be afraid to place a few smaller shots in front of larger ones; layering will add dimension, character, and variety.
by Furnishly | Jan 23, 2023 | Design Inspiration, DIY, Style
Clothes and fabric — much like trinkets from travels, pieces of furniture, and cards from birthdays past — can hold a ton of sentimental value. Whether it be a T-shirt from a favorite concert, a scrap of sample fabric from a project long-since completed, or an article of clothing from a loved one, people cling to certain pieces much longer than others. But what do you do when that item no longer fits? Sure, you could tuck it in the back of a drawer or store it high up in the closet. What if I told you there’s a clever, rental-friendly DIY project you can use if for instead, though? That’s right. Two words: fabric wallpaper.
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“I love using vintage fabric as wallpaper,” says Gretchen Raguse of her Portland, Oregon home, which features this crafty hack in more than one spot. Where’d she get her inspiration? None other than Apartment Therapy! “I came across this idea on Apartment Therapy a few years ago and knew I needed to try it out in my own space,” says Raguse. “I started with an accent wall in my kitchen, meant to visually divide the area for my office. Repurposing a dress my mom made in the ’70s, I cut and pasted the fabric together to form a repeating pattern.”
Raguse only had enough material to cover a small section of wall, so she added trim and beadboard to round out the wall, which created the pretty patterned panel you see above. “Fabric as wallpaper quickly became an obsession of mine and made its way through my apartment,” she adds. “After the accent wall, I added it to my hallway ceiling and bedroom (as shown below). Even my friend’s place got a fabric makeover!”
If you’re ready to try this idea out yourself, I’d recommend checking out this in-depth tutorial, but here’s the gist: You start by positioning your chosen fabric on a freshly-cleaned wall with tape, lining up any edges. Lift up the fabric and roll a nice layer of liquid starch onto the wall, then smooth the fabric out onto the wall, removing any bubbles or wrinkles as you go. Next, add another thick layer of liquid starch on top of the fabric, ensuring it’s totally saturated through to the wall. Finally, cut the excess fabric off with a utility knife. When you’re ready for a change, the fabric will come right off with a soapy sponge bath. Genius, no?
by Furnishly | Jun 2, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Style
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Who doesn’t wish that their home had a bit more architectural charm — particularly Parisian-looking character? Just me? I think not! Whenever I browse apartments to rent online, I always linger over spaces that feature ornate moldings and thoughtful plaster detailing. These spaces always strike me as so put together, sophisticated, and romantic. Really, what more could you want in a home?
So if you’re like me and dream of spending your days in a chic-looking flat in a charming European city, then I have good news for you. With a quick online order and a little creativity, you can bring the quintessential French look stateside. That’s right: These ornate wall panels from Ballard Designs are all you need to add a little oomph to bland walls.
At 48 inches tall, these light blue urethane panels feature raised scroll and scalloped details and are sizable enough to make a major impact in your living room, bedroom, hallway, or all of the above. They come ready to hang — either vertically or horizontally — with D-rings attached to their backs and couldn’t be simpler to install. I like idea of hanging one on either side of a sofa, as shown above. You could do the same on either side of a mirror or window, too. They’re a great gallery wall alternative if you, say, want something a little more visually subdued but still want to fill up blank wall space.
If you like scrolling on Instagram, Pinterest, or TikTok, maybe you’ve noticed that picture frame style molding has been a popular project lately. Typically, that involves nailing multiple pieces of trim or molding to the wall (unless you’re lucky enough to have it original to your space like Richal Flores, whose Brooklyn apartment is featured at the top of this post), which is not always the most renter-friendly solution. That’s where I see these kinds of wall panels offering a more suitable solution for instant charm, since they only require a few holes to hang (and patch) when you move out.
While these Ballard panels are absolutely beautiful, they don’t come cheap. So I like that you only really need one or two to revamp your space. That being said, I think you could DIY something like this fairly easily, minus the ornate scroll design part. I’m envisioning two homasote boards with molding (picture frame or otherwise) tacked on and then painted to match your walls or in a contrast color. You could pick any neutral, from crisp white to matte black.
Whether you choose to purchase readymade wall panels or want to create your own, I think the best part is that, unlike other additions of architectural charm, this piece can follow you from place to place — or move from room to room. That alone may make it worth the investment for you. These Ballard panels are the first I’ve really seen of their kind, but I think we’re going to start seeing more rental-friendly, DIY-friendly solutions for adding moldings and other features to our spaces.
by Furnishly | Apr 26, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Uncategorized
Are you looking for the perfect wall decor to fill in that nagging blank space where nothing else seems to fit? Or are you starting fresh with a new decorative theme, and need a place to begin? Let this post inspire you. We’ve collected smart and stylish living room wall decorations from across the web – from budget friendly selections to highly collectible accents from renowned designers. Whether your style leans glamorous, rustic, industrial, or natural, there’s something here for every decor style. Let your living room walls come to life as a canvas for your one-of-a-kind decorative style.
by Furnishly | Nov 3, 2021 | Design Inspiration, DIY, Style
It’s no secret that many designers, bloggers, and Instagrammers love a good geometric pattern: Many swoon over black-and-white checkered floor tiles and are all about a painted mural or a removable wallpaper featuring just about any graphic motif. Why stop there, though? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get a bit edgier and take the shape trend — be it triangles, circles, or half arches — to the next level with some dimension. If you’re looking to majorly transform average walls or plain window frames, wooden geometric cutouts will be a major trend in 2022.
Artist, blogger, and Small/Cool 2021 designer Liz Kamarul has incorporated wooden shapes into a few of her amazing home projects, and she’s one of the first people I’ve seen do this kind of thing. Above, you can see how she turned one of her living room walls into a 3D work of art using triangles cut out of plywood, which she spray painted black and attached to her already black wall using a nail gun (you could also probably use liquid nails if that’s preferred). The result is a dynamic, tone-on-tone look.
Kamarul opted to cover only part of the wall with the plywood triangles, fitting them together like puzzle pieces on the left-hand side of the space and then splaying them wider towards the right side of the wall to create an asymmetrical sculptural effect. (The reasoning behind this? As Kamarul explains in her blog post detailing the project, her dog ran through the living room as she was laying out her triangle cutouts; she ended up actually liking the pattern that came about and decided to just go with it!). Traditionalists may want to cover an entire wall in a uniform pattern, but if you’re willing to embrace a more eclectic look in your space, why not make like Kamarul and cover only part of an area?
Kamarul has gotten creative with wood scraps more than once in recent years. She also added a checkerboard pattern to a little nook in her bathroom using a nail gun and scrap wood squares (this time unfinished versus painted wood). Again, the end result adds a ton of texture and visual interest to the small space, and I love how she finished this half-wall project off with a handy matching shelf, which she decked out with art and objects. Color lovers could, of course, paint their wood scraps (those who really want to go wild with color could choose to feature four or five different hues), but the natural wood tone Kamarul’s bathroom pairs well with her somewhat busy patterned wallpaper print.
Finally, in her living room, Kamarul had fun with more triangles. This time around, she coated the triangles in white to match the room’s wall color and then created a border around her window with them, pointed side out. The result here? An unexpected but super-fun way to make undressed windows feel a little funkier.
Leave it to a superstar blogger to beat me to riffing on this type of geometric wall treatment; in her dining room, Brittany Jepsen of The House That Lars Built used squares and circles to create a playful pattern on her faux wainscoting, which she then painted a calming blue to match the room’s trim work elsewhere. Paired with floral wallpaper, the shapes look even more whimsical.
So what do you think? Are 3D geometric wooden shapes a trend you’d incorporate in your home? For those with little ones, shapes would make a fantastic addition to a playroom or nursery, but I also like the idea of using them to jazz up a utilitarian space, such as a mudroom or home office. Talk about a chic Zoom background!
