I always seem to struggle with decorating large areas, such as the space above our bed. For some reason, my brain cannot ever seem to come up with a "vision" and when it does, it is either way too expensive or difficult to attempt at the moment. When faced with this challenge after our latest move, I decided to let the space remain empty until I came up with the perfect idea. Well that lasted about a week before I hung an ugly tolerable print that came in a really pretty frame from Homegoods (aka: Heaven on Earth). When I purchased this gem, I had every intention of replacing the image with something closer to my taste...but life happened and a year (and two moves) later, there it hangs same as the day I bought it, just in a new location. Oh well. Someday, right?
Well a month later, I haven't come up with that "aha!" idea, but once we got some paint on the wall, I remembered a little project I did to fill up yet another large space in our old apartment.
I called these "Traveling Decor" because these babies have truly been all over the place in the last year! They've gone from my living room in PA, to my sister's apartment at State College, back into my living room in NJ and finally in the overwhelmingly-large-space-that-I-don't-know-what-to-do-with above our bed. At first I hung them as squares, until my creative sister discovered that hanging them on their side (as diamonds) creates an entirely new neat-o look! She's such a smarty-pants!
Wanna try to make some? They are SO easy and can be customize to fit any room in your home!
What you need: (makes 6 pieces)
2 - 12 x 36 inch pieces of styrofoam ( I got mine at A.C. Moore)
1 - spool of 1.5 inch satin ribbon
6 - sheets of scrapbook paper
6 - sawtooth picture hangers
12 - small nails
a knife
straight pins with a small head, not the pretty plastic ones with lots of colors.
Now remember, this is my first tutorial. Be kind. I did this project a long time ago, but happened to have some of the pieces left over to use as a guide. So without taking anything apart, here's the general idea. You'll follow, promise.
First, carefully cut your large styrofoam rectangle into three equal pieces, making three, 12x12 squares.
Like so..and repeat with the second rectangle.
Wrap the edge in ribbon, using the straight pins to hold it in place. About 6-7 pins on each side should work. Don't forget to fold your corners before your pin it all down.
Once that is done, and you have gone through more straight pins than you thought you owned, measure to the middle of the square and add your sawtooth hanger. The little nails are not the greatest with the styrofoam, so I used straight pins to hold it on around the edges. Don't worry about being neat here, no one will see the back!
Ok, now you can add your paper! Make sure that the pattern is right-side-up based on the sawtooth hanger...otherwise you'll have to un-pin it which is a super pain! (Personal experience? naaaahh) The beauty of this project is that the styrofoam rectangle turns into the 12x12 squares...exactly the size of a piece of scrapbook paper! How awesome is that?? Couldn't be easier!
And now for the fun part! What kind of design will you make? On the first wall, we did a 4 x 2 all square pattern. My sister, KHo, used a combination of squares and diamonds. For our new bedroom addition, SP and I went with all diamonds, and I just love it! (They are a girl's best friend, no?)
The funny thing about this pattern is that it was completely unintentional. We attempted what ended up looking like an "M" on the wall (without the bottom two), tried a few other options, and discovered this. I am really happy with it. I wish the lighting in the pictures was better so you could see the real colors, but my flash is broken. Sad face.
Since these are so light, you will have no problem hanging these with a small nail or even a pushpin! (Hey, use what's at hand!)
Done! Now step back and enjoy your work!
Love this project, too! What a clever way to add some style and color to a room. I wonder if a sheet of thick foam insulation from the building supply would be a good investment....it comes in HUGE sheets and would yield a beaucoup bunch of chunky squares. And maybe shapes, like letters? I want to try this in shades of teal and brown for my bedroom.
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