Wall graphics have quickly become a favorite accent for nurseries and children's rooms. But what do you do when you are not only on a budget but also live in a rental apartment and cannot permanently affix anything to the walls? You get creative and find inspiration wherever you can. Like in a duvet cover, for instance.
Sarah is currently living in a rental apartment in East Asia but that didn't stop her from making her son's room special. After taking inspiration from a similar project she saw online and cooking up some cornstarch glue (from a recipe she found here), Sarah got down to business:
I picked up a kid's duvet (Barnslig Djur) at Ikea for around $20, put my scissors to work, and created this scene on the wall. We are living in Asia, and I hadn't found any fabric that worked well for a boys room. When I saw this, I thought that using the animals would be perfect, and you can't beat the price for how much fabric you get out of it. The tree, made from the duvet's backside, was a last-minute inspiration. I took a general concept and worked with what I had as I went along until I was happy with the final product. Everything was cut from the duvet fabric, except for the big green leaves, which I cut from scraps out of the remnant basket.Because I wanted the tree to work around the window and the crib, I pinned the entire piece of fabric up, sketched out the tree to fit the space, cut it and adhered it all in one fell swoop, taking out the pins from the wall as I went.
Now if I can just keep Jack from trying to peel them animals off the walls!
It looks great, Sarah! Brava!
(Image: Sarah H.)
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Great idea! If you aren't into the DIY though, there are plenty of removable decals available, on Etsy for example.
how hard is that to remove? and what do you do about the bugs wanting to eat the cornstarch?
That turned-out really nice.
Having just signed my lease for the next year, pleasepleaseplease read your lease before doing this. My lease prohibits the obvious painting and permanent alterations. It also prohibits temporarily affixing stickers, fabric, or contact paper to walls or other surfaces without prior approval. My property manager is pretty reasonable, and would probably be OK with something like this if I asked, but if I didn't ask I would run the risk of paying for clean up when I move out.
If my lease said no decals, I'd put them up anyway. I put them up in my last place and there's no possible way anyone could tell after I'd taken them down.
I like this idea because I don't have money for decals now, but I do have tons of scrap fabric and cornstarch.
Wonderful! I love decals, but the large ones, even on Etsy can be very pricey.
Sarah here... I didn't have any problems with residue, and removal was super-easy. In fact, most of the decals have come down now, as my 2 year old found them way too easy to pull off! My wallpaper has quite a bit of texture, however, so I think that made them a little more prone to pulling off with ease. But, the next time I put something up, I will design it so it is out of reach of little hands until they are older. It's too hard to explain that this wasn't an interactive exhibit! (anyone have ideas for interactive wall ideas??)
I also learned that you can easily re-stick them with another coat of the same cornstarch mixture (good if you need to reposition or repair).
Just make sure you get good quality ones so that there is no residue and removing them would be easy. I agree these are great!
and
if the walls are bumpy or not that clean it might not stick as well. but, that is no problems.
just wipe off the area so that it will stick better.
they remove really easily
if you don't have the time then removable ones are great too. but, if you have time, its a fun project to do with the kids.
DIY + removable
these are definitely great wall graphics for renters