apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

What's your budget?

Get some ikea fabric and put moulding around it.

You could do a wall decal like the ones from Blik or stencil a block of a favorite pattern onto your wall... there are even some places that sell wallpaper in sticker form, that can be stuck up and peeled back down without damaging the paint. Or you could find an assortment of objects and hang them in an arrangement on your wall (a la the Gallery Wall... which can be done well if it is done right; I'm personally too scared to try it).

Fabric is probably the easiest way to fill up a wall.

Get some blank canvases and paint something abstract if you're feeling frisky.

Rasterize a photo you like and hang either as is or in separate frames from IKEA.

Paint something. A stripe, the whole wall, a portion of it.

Mount a tapestry.

You can staple gun the fabric on regular canvas stretchers and it's even cheaper, like these from Dick Blick.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/best-medium-duty-stretcher-bars/

I'd use a graphic fabric in your colors, like Amy Butler Belle Chrysanthemum, or Ikea Fredrika.

Wallpaper that wall - and frame some B&W photographic prints from your vacations and hang them on that wall.

I like the above suggestions...
Another would be to maybe paint the wall a bold accent color or a fabulous mettalic silver and arrange inexpensive black and white framed prints or record album frames with favorite albums in them. You could also paint the wall behind the shelves a color to make the objects pop. Then, do curtain panels from ikea on the window (floor to ceiling) to soften it up.

May I ask where the couch is from?

going with the fabric idea - you could also hang some from a dowel suspended from the ceiling (or higher up the wall) with invisible wire.

You could do fabric stretched in some sort of 3D sail type pattern hung from grommets.

And, are those skateboad wheels holding up the glass on the coffee table? I love it!

I would put the rug under the front legs of the couch though...

Kiljoywashere and I are on the same page: I found a rug on urbanoutfitters sale page that is 5x7 and under $20, and it matches your furniture! You could hang it vertically or horizontally above your couch. The site also has some wall decals on sale (only 6, so get 2 sets). Both of those options would be great, especially if you can paint that wall as an accent wall. If you can't paint in the apt., they'd still look cool.

I agree about a rug, or fabric. Or get a bunch of maps of places you have been or places you want to go and hang them on the wall. If you are an AAA member, you can get them for free from AAA. Or use one of the online programs that let you blow a photo up into a bunch of 8.5x11 pieces of paper.

The Sunday flea market at 77th & Columbus has a vendor that sells giant canvas prints. Not sure how pricey they are, but might be worth checking out...

you could frame some graphic sheets of wrapping paper- you can get flat sheets for under $4.

broadway paper has some cool ones, they aren't all girly if you want something more masculine they have some cool map gift wraps too. and paper studio has some cool map and anatomical gift wrap along with other prints

http://shop.broadwaypaper.com/browse.cfm/2,95.html

http://www.paperstudio.com/catalog2.php?category=Decorative%20Wrapping%20Paper

Hi. This is my apartment. Thank you for all of these great suggestions!

Those are skateboard wheels under the glass of the coffee table (the top rotates on top of them). The couch is from Jensen-Lewis.

We have some really huge walls in our place and we have hung RUGS on them. I don't know what your budget is, but rugs can be found inexpensively at IKEA, ethnic markets, etc. We also have a funky "bed covering" that was a Kurdish dowry item that we picked up in Turkey for $100.

The other plus with rugs & other heavy textiles is that they are good for sound absorption/acoustics.

I would encourage you to get some rich colors to makethis an inviting corner to curl up & read. Also get a floor lamp or even two...

I had a similar issue. I bought a canvas for $20.00 at Pearl Paints and had some old paint from a college art class. Took my brush and slapped it around (no offense to abstract artists of course- I love Jackson Pollack). Now it looks like an abstract painting. I see a distinct picture of a gold fish, while my mother sees a rooster. We hung it over my sofa this afternoon. Very cool. Good luck to you.

Buy a series of inexpensive photographs or art on etsy.com and frame them as a group using inexpensive frames from Aaron Brothers, TJ Maxx, or an art store.

Also, check out

http://www.md-canvas.com

They have large (5 ft X 3.5 ft) decorative pieces at very affordable prices.

I got a piece of Marimekko fabric and stretched it on canvas stretcher bars and it cost just over $100. Fun and easy, and about 4'x5' - worked well!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20599992@N00/2644420673/in/set-72157605388946789/

If you do the map idea, which I think is great, you could experiment with aging them by soaking them in coffee, or by using a glaze.

I would get the biggest blank canvas I could find and get creative. You can do something very abstract, which is fairly easy, even if you are not particularly artistic. If you don't like it, you can always paint over it and start over.

If you can't find a canvas big enough, or if they are too expensive, you can make your own with 1x2's, canvas, small nails, and a staple gun. White latex paint can be substituted for gesso, as it is similar in formulation. You can use brushes from Home Depot, and if you don't want to put money into tubes of paint, HD will also have small cans of paint in deep and/or bright colors that will work just fine. Also check their mis-mixed paint shelf for nice colors. If you want a glossy or matte finish on the finished piece, spray it with Krylon or something similar. As you can see, I am not a purist when it comes to paintings. You can make art out of pretty much anything. It's probably not going in the Getty, and you don't need to use archival materials.

I agree about fabric. You can also get big, roll-down school maps on eBay for around $50. They're called Denoyer maps.

Another idea is nautical charts, which are HUGE and (in my opinion) fun to look at. They're $20 and up.

sypage:

One of the best and most inspired suggestions I've heard on this site in a while.

Art truly is the best solution in most cases.

How about pinstripe-style lines painted on the wall above the couch, as continuations of the shelves to the right? Then a few pieces of smaller artworks/photographs, lined up with these pinstripes, would make a minimal display that still feels large enough for the space.

I would also add some pattern to your space by hanging a window dressing on that bare window to the left!

Stencil it. There are some fabulous large scale designs available by mail order and some are made from components based on both natural and geometric shapes so that you can tailor the finished design to fit your space.

Rather than using one giant piece of art, I'd arrange a mix of big and small pieces, fitted together to make a neat rectangular array. It's a very cheap solution--everyone has a few things lying around that are already framed, and you can fill in the holes with found art, like framed wrapping paper or book illustrations or fun bad paintings found on the sidewalk. Thrift-store finds, too.

If you are allowed to paint, you could make several color blocks with painters tape and latex paint -- just tape off maybe three big rectangles with some white space between them, and fill in with one color of paint or each one different, or whatever. Just the color blocks might be enough decoration, but if not, you could center a smaller piece of art in each block, and the background color would give them extra dimension. ("oops" paint from the hardware store might be the cheapest way to do this, if you are lucky in the colors available.)

Or find something big like an Indian or Indonesian block printed bedspread (sometimes under $20) and hang it like a tapestry or on stretchers like a canvas.

I'm going out on a limb and suggesting an interesting tree branch wired diagonally over the couch. The more contorted the branch, the better. Juxtaposed with the mod style of furniture, it adds a warm, natural element.

Paint wide horizontal stripes.

Paint the wall a nice green with matte finish paint (a color like your rug is nice).
Then Paint very wide horizontal stripes in a semi gloss finish in the same color.

I second the map idea. I love love love big huge vintage maps and they're fairly cheap.

On a side note - is that the new Jens Risom chair from DWR or a vintage one?

You could always do a grouping of mirrors and the free postcards you can pick up all across the city. There are some that are really interesting to look at and it would give life to the wall. If not, check out BLIK for their wall decals. They have some that are scenes. Or you can purchase a large, blank canvas and use the BLIK decals as parts of the art piece. Very cost effective.

Ikea has those large paintings or photographs on canvas that you bring all rolled up and you build up the frame from precut wood included. A friend of mine has a nice world map from them, it's about 6' by 9', looks awesome!

Hi there
If you are feeling crafty, a postit note installation would be is cheap and can be removed if you are renting.
If you search google images you will see some great examples.
I'm an artist, so I would try something more adventurous like a series of miniature sketches in white on postage tags (they are those brown tags with a punched hole and string) pinned to the wall 100 tags wide by 60 tall.
You could even start with just a few sketches and mostly blanks and invite friends to complete a sketch when they visit. Using a single color pen like white or silver would tie together diverse styles. If you drawings aren't your thing, try sketching letters instead.
When hanging it would be key to use a level to get straight and a ruler for alignment to ensure you get modern art not post office chic. :.)
Cheaper still is to collect paint sample cards and hang in a grid pattern - you can attach these direct to the wall using a spray adhesive from any art store - at around 11 dollars that would be your only cost.
On a large scale wall cheap materials can look great as you have the space to use them in volume.

Dewi,
How did your eggplant wall come out?