apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I live in a rental house with horrible "Martha Stewart tan"-painted-walls as it was horribly described to me right before moving in painted bedrooms that I am not allowed to paint over. So I've decided to get crafty and totally cover up the tan walls... i really want to cover them in fabric with the fabric starch idea as it will wash off but the amount of fabric I need could really add up. So I have taken to mounting my walls with other materials, but I am wondering if anyone has experience with white glue on walls? It is washable and theoretically should come right off with a warm wet towel.... but theory isn't always practice! Any thoughts? I really just don't want to have to resort to sanding it off and repainting in the end... or I would have done that in the first place!Thanks!

I haven't used white glue on walls myself, but based on how difficult it is to pick dried glue off of things like desks, and considering that walls are probably more porous, I wouldn't NOT try it unless you don't mind risking your security deposit. Depending on what you're mounting on the walls, rubber cement might be an option. Again, you might want to do a test area in an out of the way place first before you risk putting it all over your walls.

look into sheets for a cheap fabric option, or shower curtains. also, consider painting and then using a color chip to match and paint it back when you leave.

Anyone who has asked you not to paint their walls would probably consider glue all over those walls to be even more vandalistic -- I certainly would, because no, I don't imagine glue just magically washing off walls, and even if you could, it would be nightmare.

I'd probably try to just live with the beige, and just be happy it's not white. There are thousands of way to make that work.

However, if you really, truly can't bear the beige, you might consider getting some of those hooks that someone (3M?) makes that have a removable adhesive (which is actually VERY removable!), and attach them toward the top of the walls, and hang curtains off them. If you spray-painted the hooks first (and let them dry overnight), you wouldn't be stuck with them being white, and it would look like some kind of serious, substantial metallic piece of hardware, and it could be gorgeous.

Think about it.

Thanks Curtis! another thing i was thinking of was repositionable gluesticks.... but the thing is finding time to go buy them with working 12 hour days each and every day!

I'm having a client's apt. in the Village photographed on Tues. afternoon. Is anyone interested in helping me "dress" the place before the photographer shows up?

Last night I read "The Tao of Pooh" and found this quote by Lao-tse: "To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." That is how I feel about my apartment!