Decorating the walls of your home can be a pretty pricey endeavor, especially when your only option seems to be buying expensive art and wall sculptures, but never fear DIY is here again to save the day!
By choosing the DIY route you open yourself up to using a multitude of different materials and application styles to suit any budget. The cathartic process of making something with your own two hands is even more satisfying when you are rewarded with a personalized, one of a kind piece to adorn your walls with.
30 DIY Wall Decor Ideas To Get Your Creative Juices Flowing
Upcycling is an eco friendly form of DIY where you use what materials you have already at your disposal and breathe new life into them to create something beautiful and environmentally conscious. This can be anything from paper to scrap wood to wine bottles; anything that could potentially get thrown away and end up wasting away in a landfill. These seemingly useless materials can be used to flex your creative muscles to find a way to create something seemingly out of nothing.
So if your interior décor is in need of a boost challenge yourself to a new project and get inspired by these:
1. 3D Wall Panels
Most of the time a feature wall is created by painting it a signature colour to contrast with the rest of the room. This novel three dimensional wall panel concept however, flips that on its head. Adding texture and visual interest in the form of wall panels creates the feature rather than just colour. This bubbled surface as an example may require a more specialized skill but that doesn’t stop you from taking inspiration and making something that is personalized and fits your skill set. You can use different materials depending on your skills and budget to construct wall panels that are just as fun and playful while being unique to you.
2. Patterns Over The Bed
These intricate set of six squares add a layer of texture to create a feature above the bed. The patterns and bright green at their centres echo the patterns and colours already present and therefore enhance the room’s overall décor. This look can be achieved by using decals or light sculpted elements for a more dimensional appearance. Lightweight materials like felt or foam can be sculpted and painted to elements that are easy to apply and won’t injure you if they come unstuck while you’re lying in bed.
3. Art Deco Mirror
This striking example is the perfect inspiration for turning a basic mirror into a piece of art deco art. A small round mirror can be bought cheaply from a craft or home store to act as your base, then its time to get crafty! You can attach all manner of objects around its circumference to achieve the style you want out of the cheapest materials. This particular design can be mimicked using craft shop supplies like this dowel sticks and miniature mirrors that can be painted and attached as irregular intervals to create this striking sun beam design. This homemade piece of art deco art is a simple DIY that becomes focus of any room.
4. A Hanging Bicycle
Simply hanging an unexpected item from the wall is a quirky statement that doesn’t require much creative skill. Hanging an entire bicycle from your wall may be a more expensive option but there are ways to make this more affordable by upcycling a bicycle you no longer used or picking one from a thrift store or garage sale. Bicycles aren’t the lightest so be sure to check that your wall can withstand its weight before you start. If your wall is up to the challenge make sure that it is securely fastened to it so it doesn’t suddenly drop onto your head while you watch TV. This type of DIY wall decor is a striking way to incorporate your hobbies in your interior design.
5. Woodblock Patchwork Square
A checkerboard of wooden blocks is a great DIY to use any wood off cuts that you may have left over from renovations or other personal projects. The squares are cut to the same dimensions for uniformity while different stains or the natural colour of the wood itself is used to achieve the mosaic-like effect. This is easy to construct using wood glue to glue the blocks together into a square and nailing a hanging mechanism to the back for easy mounting. The result is a rustic, one of a kind art piece that adds texture to this plain white wall.
6. Gallery Walls
While gallery walls can be expensive they can be tweaked to suit your budget. This floor to ceiling collage can be made up of prints you already have, family photos or even frames postcards or other keepsakes. You can change up the traditional look of a gallery wall by hanging empty frames in amongst the pictures. These frames can be painted to achieve the exact colours you want and even hung within one another for something a little more left of centre.
7. Fun, Colourful Vases With Flowers
A collection of eclectic vases of various shapes and sizes make an eye-catching decorative conglomeration against a plain wall. Plain vases can be painted to achieve this cohesive element that runs through the variety of shapes on display. Alternatively you can collect vases and other receptacles from junk stores and thrift shops that have totally different design for a similar but slightly more vintage feel. The same flower being used throughout brings all the disparate designs together simply and effectively.
8. Hanging Wine Bottles
Wine bottles are a great item to upcycle if you’re a wine drinker since you’ll have them at your disposal anyway. To even further reduce your household waste the wooden planks that create the structure behind the bottles can be constructed out of scrap timber or even driftwood. The combination of rough wood, dark inverted wine bottles and brushed metal rings to create a look that is rich in colour and texture. This DIY design allows you to put your passion right there on your walls.
9. Dramatic Painted Mural
If you have artistic skill your whole wall can become your canvas! Painting your own mural gives you the freedom to choose composition and colours that suit your vision and interior design the best regardless of which room you choose to take on. Murals allow you to create something that really speaks for you and your taste while showcasing your artistic skills.
10. Bringing Nature Inside
A living wall is a striking way to bring nature into your home especially if you don’t have your own garden. Real plants are an option for a true living wall but require a more load bearing wall due to the weight of the plants and soil. These also require a lot more effort to construct and maintain which could leave you with a lounge full of dead plants. Fake greenery, however, can be bought cheaply from craft store and are a lightweight and simpler alternative that is really easy to construct. This lush faux greenery requires very little upkeep and zero watering while providing the same effect.
11. Shiny Modern Wall Sculpture
This modern living and dining area is great place to experiment with really simple DIY wall decor. These amorphous shapes bring in a shiny chrome texture into a very matte environment; this technique can be used to bring any form of texture or colour into a room depending on what you choose to hang. These individual forms can be mounted in whatever configuration you like and their colour and finish can be considered along with the wall colour. This style is modern and interesting without feeling like the space has been cluttered with unnecessary fripperies.
12. Popsicle Stick Honeycomb Pattern
Ah, the humble popsicle stick craft. These little wooden sticks have been used by children the world over for fun crafts, however, you don’t have to be a child to be able to use these in your DIYs. These can be bought cheaply from a craft store and used to to map out this distinctive honeycomb shape with great ease and even greater. The tricoloured palette of pink, yellow and coral have been used at random to paint various hexagons while leaving some strategically blank which enhances this design even further.
13. Minimal Line Art
Simple wire shapes are cute way to create a graphic design without cluttering your minimalistic style. Wire of different thicknesses and colour can be bought at any hardware stores and bent into whichever shape you please. These are very lightweight and easy to install and add an element of fun, proving that minimalism doesn’t have to be boring.
14. Colourful Wall Tapestry
A classic from a bygone era, the woven wall tapestry has stood the test of time as they are a simple way to bring colour and texture into a space. If you have the skills you can sew or crochet a tapestry such as this yourself but, if not, this is another chance you have to upcycle a unused rug, graphic scarves or colourful sarongs to bring new life into the object and the room itself.
15. Floating Musical Instrument Shelves
These novelty floating shelves are a great way to give your old drum set a new lease on life. The vintage style drums fit in cohesively with this very eclectic colourful interior while providing space to display small knickknacks. The drums are simple to mount and puts your love of music on full display.
16. Rustic Feathered Wall Hanging
This wood and feathered wall hanging shows how you can DIY using a combination of found and bought objects. The feathers of different colours and shapes can be foraged for, as can the main branch and smaller trimmed branches. These natural elements are used alongside wooden beads and hung with string that can be bought from a craft store. Each string of objects is different to one another and hung at different heights for visual effect. This gives your house a rustic feel and provides you with a fun project.
17. Adorning A Mantelpiece
Like our third example this decorative mirror is a DIY focal point above this mantelpiece. This particular mirror has been decorated like a flower whose petals can be cut and sculpted out of any material you have at home already or can buy cheaply depending on what finish you wish to achieve. This DIY is light and easy to install while creating great visual impact.
18. Paper Floral Wall Hanging
This charming spray of flowers is, in fact, a carefully crafted paper sculpture. The limited colour palette of white against hues of pink is both beautiful and visually interesting and has clearly taken inspiration from blooms such as the living plants underneath it in hue and shape. These flowers can be easily constructed from only construction paper and glue, that’s all you need! Changing up the types of flowers as well as the sizes and colours make the sculpture dynamic and pack a punch with very little budget.
19. Hand Painted Shower Stall
A shower stall may be an unusual place to consider diy wall decor but you don’t have to feel confined to your average white bathroom stall. This distinct colour and pattern can be DIYed using paint and a stencil to create this bright distinctive bathroom décor. Stencils can be hand cut or bought at a craft store as can the paint. The paint you use needs to be water resistant and sealed to prevent it from chipping or running off the walls when the water is turned on.
20. 3D Paper Pyramid Sculpture
Another example of beautiful paper sculptures are these pyramids arranged in an uneven configuration and simply adhered to the wall. Paper pyramids are simple to construct (instructions can be found online) simply using colourful paper. The colours are variations on the same hue from dusty blue and teal to almost white which is cohesive with the existing design features. This is a simple way to add colour in to a plain white wall as well as being a fun weekend activity.
21. Multi Coloured Shuttered Feature Wall
This is DIY turns the idea of a feature wall on its head. Shutters are a rustic, old school window decoration that can be found in many junk shops. This feature wall has utilized shutters of many dimensions painted in a variety of complimentary colours and collaged them upright or on their side to cover the whole wall. These wooden structures are relatively light and easy to mount and make use of repurposed materials.
22. Prints And Floating Shelves
Scandinavian interiors are generally very clean and with carefully chosen pieces of furniture and décor. You can achieve this look on your walls by hanging prints or family pictures erratically clustered together in thin white frames. The floating shelves that are a staple in this form of design can be installed yourself at home with some hardware store supplies. The shelf decoration can then be carefully chosen to pick up on colours already present in the room in classic Scandinavian style.
23. Serpentine Bookshelves
This is a DIY which requires a bit more time and skill, but it is doable. This thin sheet metal is bendable but also strong enough to be load bearing. The material’s flexibility means that it can be bent into whatever shape you like and fixed in place as a one of a kind piece. A quirky element that has been added here are some almost invisible shelves places at the apex of a curve to make it look like the books are about to fall off the edge.
24. Crockery Wall Patterns
This symmetrical design against its bright green backdrop is an update on the novelty plates hanging from your grandmother’s wall. By hanging the ceramic plates in a symmetrical arrangement and alternating the patterned and plain plates you can create a piece of graphic 3D art. You can buy hooks especially made for this purpose at craft or home stores while the plates themselves can be bought cheaply from thrift stores. This will also add an extra element of visual interest as the plates won’t all match.
25. Vinyl Stickers
Vinyl stickers can be bought online in various sizes and designs to suit any room. The stickers are easy to apply yourself and adhere to paint, tile and wallpaper so you can use them just about anywhere for quirky personalized design like the bird perched on the plug socket above.
26. Naturally Graphic Wood Cuts
In a circular version of example 5 these rectangular artworks are made up of upcycled timber cut into rounds to expose their signature rings. Circles of various sizes have been collaged together and fixed with wood glue to fill up the spaces and come together as one panel. Setting the wooden rings in strict rectangles contrast the uneven natural material in a very aesthetically pleasing way. The different shades of each circle creates a kaleidoscope of wooden polka dots, perfect for this rustic home.
27. Hanging Flower Vases
In a similar technique to the wine bottles of example 8 an series of upcycled wooden planks with a metal fastening holds up multi colored flower vases. The vases can be upcycled or colored bottles you collect which can match or be a hodge podge of different styles and shapes for. The look of these will also be ever changing depending on what flowers are in it.
28. Make Your Own Artwork
As with the mural in example 9, if you have some artistic skill you can save money and paint your own abstract art. This not only acts as a fun activity and a way to express yourself but it gives you the chance to create a custom piece that goes with a particular room and its colour scheme. In this case the grey from the walls, yellow from the chairs and white from the floorboards have all been included in this abstract painting.
29. A Literal Family Tree
This fun tree wall decal has been cleverly combined with family pictures in matching frames; which appear to hang on it like family fruits. This creates an amusing literal family tree to decorate your lounge that is totally DIYed. This is a one of a kind piece of décor that shows everyone that enters your home that family is the most important thing in your life.
30. The Writing’s On The Wall
Think you hand is steady enough for this one? This novel feature wall is the simplest DIY so far since it can be executed with a pencil, paint and some time. The script can be stenciled out in pencil and painted over in house paint. This creates a beautifully uneven texture made of a swooping script. This diy wall decor is the most personal since its created using your very own handwriting.
Conclusion
After looking through all these beautifully creative ideas you can see that DIY is the ideal choice for making a piece of home décor that is personalized to you and the style of your home. These projects can range from simple paint to fashioning hanging pieces out of found objects and a little imagination.
Materials can be sourced from items you may already have lying around, bought in craft stores or by hunting out cheaply priced gems in thrift stores. Giving these unwanted objects a new lease on life helps the environment while enriching your life with a fun activity that provides you with a tangible piece of art that you can use for years to come. So why not give DIY a try?