DIY wallpapering can be a difficult task. Plush wallpaper can be prohibitively expensive for those of us on budget, and therefore you may need to find some alternative materials. Sheets of everyday material that may even look slightly cheap can look fantastic once they have been put up on a wall and given a nice smooth finish. There are plenty of options – anything that is paper based and not thin or thick in the extreme can be used.
You can use standard wallpaper paste to attach pretty much anything you like to your walls. Just make sure to protect your handiwork once it has been attached with a coat of varnish. Some great ideas for custom wallpapering small rooms (especially children’s) are below:
Maps / Charts – Consider using the charts or maps that come bundled with newspapers or nature publications. Children will love it, and they might even learn some things along the way when their walls are abound with information.
Magazine Photographs – National Geographic is a great example to use here, or choose from any fashion publications if that is what interests you. These high end images will look great on your wall, and attaching them as wallpaper gives them a much more polished feel, as opposed to pinning them up with blu-tac or pins.
Posters – These can be posters from a wide range of sources. You might have kept the poster advertising a Dali exhibition you visited a few years ago, some plays you saw, classic movies you loved, or even posters of some bands. Avoid framing these, as this will spoil their original appeal. Giving them a smooth finish as wallpaper will look amazing, and really allow you to highlight and appreciate all of these advertisements from your past which have special meaning to you.
There are even a number of websites out there which allow you to turn your favourite photographs into massive wallpaper. The options are endless – it’s time to get creative!