DIY $2 Wallpaper...Say What?!? Recycled Hall Part 1

Click here to see an updated tutorial!

Hey there, friends! I hope you are having a superb day! I am in the process of re-doing our upstairs hall now. Apparently, I have a major crush on small spaces. I enjoy them because you can really let your imagination go wild in smaller areas. Our upstairs hall needed some desperate TLC and we didn't want to spend much money at all. After we painted the hall a nice warm grey (aka greige), I decided the walls needed a little extra pizzazz. I love wallpaper, but wanted to challenge myself to find a wall treatment using things we already had. We only had to purchase a few items to be able to give our "found" pieces a face-lift. It's so fun to shop around your home or garage, look at your junk with new eyes and breathe fresh life into them. It's a great money saver, as well, folks! When I go "shopping" in my home, I look at my unused items long and hard, walk away and come back and look again. I do this about two or three times until I come up with how I want to re-purpose them.

I stumbled across a vintage Shakespeare book that I got at a thrift shop for $2. I checked to make sure it wasn't valuable and decided a wall covered in pages from this was exactly what I wanted. It's not a new idea, but it's definitely one I love. It's cheap, easy and will cause very little damage to the actual wall.

Using old book pages for wallpaper is a perfect solution for a wall treatment in a rental home or any home, for that matter. I used some double-sided tape and started taping away, then discovered liquid cornstarch as a non damaging paste and did that instead The more you overlap the pages, the better it looks. They don't have to look perfect, remember torn edges add charm.

Take a break and...

  The great part about this project is, the sides don't come up if you used double sided tape or liquid cornstarch and you can always replace a sheet if one gets ruined. If you are in a rental and it's time to move, touch up the few places where the paper may take paint off. Most of this wall treatment is paper taped to paper, so it shouldn't be more damage than a few nails in the wall would have added. You could Mod Podge your papered wall if you wanted a more permanent, lacquered treatment.

What other "found" objects could you use to cover your walls? Record sleeves? Pictures? Pallet wood? Old letters or post cards? Thumb tacks (project coming soon)? We completed our little wall and are now off to complete our next batch of fun projects!

Speaking of cool wall treatments, check out my friend Genevieve's wall! She was going for a grown-up, shabby chic, glam, Alice in Wonderland look! I just love it!

I have such beautiful and talented friends! Great job Gen!

Below is another wall treatment I did using gems and pearls from the local craft store (when I was living in the States, that is)!

Over the next few posts, I will be showing you step by step how I created my recycled hall and it will end with the reveal!

Stay tuned for a tutorial on painting a custom rug!

Click here to see the final reveal!

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