Fill a Blank Wall on a Beer Budget

Have you ever stood in front of a blank wall in your home and broken into a cold sweat thinking about what it might cost to fill it?Perspire no more! Here are some ideas you can do yourself, on a pretty tight budget, to make your walls sing.

Look no further than the children in your family (immediate or extended) for a hot lead on personalized wall decor. If you have photos like these, consider having them blown up and made into canvas prints on a wrapped frame.

Honestly, if you find pictures of kids as cute as these, who cares if they’re actually family or not!


Adopt the same wrapped-canvas approach but use different sizes and different poses to achieve this great look. A sign adds a singularly personal touch, and making one can be a fun project.


Or simply gather your favorite photos; buy identical, inexpensive white frames at your local craft store or discount retailer; and mount your pictures with white mats (different image sizes are fine). Voilà! Now that empty wall croons.

If some of your photos are black and white and some are color, consider having the color ones converted. You can even do this yourself with a scanner and printer.


Random pieces of fabric are another budget-friendly way to decorate a wall. Affix your favorite remnant to a wooden stretcher, or cut your fabric into pieces and make a pair or a grouping of three …


Inhabit ‘Propeller’ Triptic Slat Set - $390 … creating a triptych like this one. Cool, isn’t it? Don’t think you have to limit yourself to a realistic pattern; an abstract fabric can be equally effective.


And then there are bird prints. Antique, new or pulled from the pages of a book (just imagine finding a volume full of Audubon illustrations in a thrift store) and framed in simple black, they are absolutely stunning. Using a sizzling green wall paint as the backdrop doesn’t hurt a bit, either.


Mincing Mockingbird 2012 Calendar by Mincing Mockingbird - $13.99 Calendars are one of my favorite sources for wall art. Birds, hats, Italian tourism posters, French advertising posters — all are available in totally adequate prints in calendars, screaming to be framed. Whimsical, sinister, serious … no matter your mood, there is a decorative calendar to match it.

This Mincing Mockingbird calendar is available for 2014 as well.


These leaves make an organic (not to mention clever) statement on the wall. This would be a particularly fun project to enjoy with your kids or grandkids or neighborhood children. Have your diminutive helpers collect the leaves, then press them between the pages of a nice, heavy book before mounting them on paper and hanging them on the wall.


Or hang them from clipboards.


While we’re on the subject of children, kids’ art is some of the most joyous, unconstrained, charming and heartwarming work on the planet. (And it’s really cheap!) It does not have to be framed; just hang it on the wall and enjoy. Your little ones will be absolutely delighted, and will probably deluge you with enough material to keep your walls ever changing and ever vital.


If a child can create these terrific works of abstract art, so can we! Buy a canvas as large as your wall will handle, get out your finger paints and let that creative child inside of you loose.

The thing about abstracts is that the more abstract they are, the better.


Authentic French advertising posters are practically guaranteed to break any but the flushest bank. Fortunately, many are readily available as reprints, at a fraction of the cost of the real thing. Few things match them for graphic impact and occasionally rowdy humor.


Given their color and personality, posters as a genre are splendid for walls. I particularly like finding ones that are specific to my region, like the chicken festival our neighboring city of Petaluma is renowned for. But really, any poster you love will do. There are even websites where you can create a custom poster.


Then there are maps, like this wall-size beauty. You could personalize it with decorative tags that let your kiddos know where they live, and where their extended family lives. Last time we were in Seattle, we showed our twin granddaughters a map indicating where our home in California was, and where their home in the Seattle area was. They were so delighted, they instantly wanted to nominate us for Grandparents of the Year.


Vintage windows are another winning way to fill a wall. You can hang them as is or use the individual panes as frames for art you have collected, such as greeting cards, family photos or calendar art.


Don’t limit yourself to “art.” Painting stripes on that empty wall can provide sensational impact and be a top-notch design element. Vertical stripes in bold colors like these are all that wall could ever need or want.

OK, now you can stop staring at that blank wall and turn in into the centerpiece of your home. Post your pics when you are done, so we can all enjoy.

More: How to Design a Family Photo Wall

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