Whenever we're looking for creative decorating ideas, we mine the Apartment Therapy house tour archives, where there's plenty of idiosyncratic, personal style to sift through. The way people treat their walls says a lot about them — especially if they're artistic types who like to deviate a little from the norm and dress things up with pattern, color, and texture.
- Ian and Stephanie's Charming Salvaged Style: They made the wallpaper from vintage editions of The Breeder’s Gazette.
- Alicia's Flea Market Faboosh: Alicia made the headboard from framed fabric that she hung on the wall.
- Amanda's Retrolicious Headquarters: Amanda revved up her already-lively orange walls with an Eames dot print.
- Jason's Beautiful Focus: The walls are painted in Benjamin Moore CC530 (Brandon Beige, matte) with 10-inch stripes coated in high-gloss urethane.
- Ellie's Handmade First Home: Ellie and her husband made the textured wall from old fence wood.
- Ellie's Handmade First Home: Horizontal stripes draw attention to the walls and away from the carpeted floors.
- Krista & Zak's Philadelphia Art Hotel: Warm checkered artwork (a simple DIY project) sets off the dark, glossy finish on the walls.
- Lanz, Michael and Brent's Evolving History House: The wall treatment comes from "years of removed paint and wall paper" that the roommates "decided to leave as it is with all of its weird and wonderful beauty."
- John and Jason's Hyper Saturated Home: Every inch of the space — including walls, ceilings, and floors — is covered in pattern, all offset by brightly painted trim.
- Luciano and Marzia's Labor of Love: This Italian home's walls were lovingly and meticulously restored to their stenciled, pre-war patterns.
Photos: Lilias Pettit-Scott (1), Alicia Peat (2), Kristen Lubbe (3, 7), Jason (4), Ellie Grover (5-6), Jess Watson (8), Jill Slater (9), Sarah Coffey (10)
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My dad wallpapered his wall with interesting news stories & ads when he was young. He somehow managed to do it seamlessly and none of them peeled (though they did yellow prettily). As a kid, I LOVED to hang out in his room and read the vintage stories and laugh at the old hair styles. I was so sad when my grandparents died and my parents didn't take over the house - I wanted that room.