The walls of your apartment surround you and keep in all your stuff.
They are also blank canvasses waiting to be adorned, personalized, and made fabulous.
Apartment living precludes putting holes in your walls, but there are so many other ways to transform your apartment’s walls.
While a few of these suggestions have also appeared in our previous blog[CM1] about apartment decorating, they are important enough to re-mention here and expand on.
Here are ten of the best wall ideas for your apartment to make it feel even more like you… like home.
1. Art and photographs
Art and photographs are naturals for decorating your walls, but you have to take care not to harm your walls in the process. Good thing that science has caught up with decorating! There are many name-brand and generic non-permanent, wall-safe hanging solutions available, from simple poster hanging tape to hooks that can support art up to 16 lbs. Try clustering inexpensive art prints in matching frames or black and white photos in colorful or ornate frames for a gallery wall. You can even create your own art (even if you’re not an artist – really, you’re allowed!) using low cost art materials found in ubiquitous craft stores or online. Whether it’s one piece or a collection, art will instantly add personality to your walls.
2. Temporary wallpaper & vinyl decals
Wallpaper is another way to add uniqueness, color, and texture to your walls. But it’s not the wallpaper of old—this wallpaper is removable. Like a giant sticker, temporary wallpaper goes on easy and comes off even easier, leaving no trace it was ever up. If you just want a little decor on your walls, there are many removable vinyl images you can find—of famous quotes, famous video game characters, famous views, and so much more. Peel-and-stick (and-remove) wall decor at its finest.
3. Mirrors
Mirrors add instant depth to a room, but they don’t have to be heavy affairs. A search at any “everything” store will find lightweight mirrors that can easily be hung the same non-harmful way as art and photographs. Checking thrift stores will often yield really fancy-looking mirrors that are actually in painted plastic frames (meaning they aren’t heavy and can easily hang via a removeable hook). Try hanging a group of mirrors of different sizes, or creating a pattern out of many small mirrors (this works best in mirrors without frames). To brighten your apartment, try hanging a mirror where it will reflect the light from a window or sliding glass door into the room.
4. Tapestries
Tapestries have adorned walls for generations. Once needed as a pretty form of insulation, they are now fully decorative pieces of textile art. They come in a variety of sizes, colors, patterns, and weights—meaning there’s a tapestry out there that will add more “you” to your space without needing industrial hardware to hang. Try layering tapestries to bring more dimension and depth to a smaller room.
5. Draperies
Changing up your drapes—your curtains—is one of the easiest ways to add a splash of pizzazz to your apartment. Changing the length of your curtains can also create a different feeling of space in the room, anywhere from taller to cozier. Curtains can also be added anywhere there are walls in close proximity with the use of tension rods, which can be a great way to divide a room (for example, to create a WFH space).
6. Maps
Some people like accent walls, but why stop there? Maps can create destination walls! Maps are not only colorful, but can also be full of memories. You can find scratch off maps that allow you to mark places that you’ve visited, or corkboard maps that come with push pins to mark off your trips. They are a great backdrop to ornament with details, photos, and mementos of places you’ve been. Or, they can be a platform on which to plan future memories and adventures.
7. Sticky notes
Sticky notes have one job: to stick without harming surfaces. So, use them to your advantage. They don’t have to just be for shopping lists, birthdays, or other messages you want to remember. They can also be arranged to make art, paper pixel by paper pixel. Doodle on them. Write poetry on them. Use them for a wall of ideas. The best thing about them is that they are completely portable, so your “art” can move all around your apartment walls—wherever you need a bright spot of inspiration or color.
8. Cork board or whiteboard (or chalkboard)
And while we’re on the subject of ideas, you could always hang or stick up a cork board or whiteboard (or chalkboard) to use as your idea or art factory. There are so many colors of markers for whiteboards and chalkboards you really can create actual works of art on them now—art that you can change in an instant! Or, just like our maps suggestion, use them as a base from which to build a collection of memories, photos, and mementos. Swap out inspirational sayings, seasonal holiday decoration, or any other bits of happiness your fancy desires. These are great for kids too (just remember to hang them at kid level for easy access), and you’ll be inspiring your little artist(s) to create masterpieces.
9. Color-change lighting
Okay, now we’re getting a little more high tech, but high tech doesn’t have to mean difficult. Accent lighting can be as simple as a smart, color-change bulb or as complex as bias lighting for your TV with color sync technology (that changes color and brightness based on what’s on your screen). No matter which type of lighting you use, being able to quickly change the color of your walls is a great way to make a space feel exciting, or intimate, or professional, or…well, you can create nearly any atmosphere with the right lighting.
10. Fake windows
Fake windows can add vistas to your apartment otherwise not possible: another country, another planet, another time. They can be as simple as adding dark tape to a photo (or photos) to simulate the window frame and grilles, or as complex as building a fake window complete with hidden lighting and speakers to simulate outdoor conditions. Regardless of the complexity, fake windows can be portals to your imagination and create something new for your wall space.
The walls of your apartment are all around you. They are functional, but they are also large blank canvases where you can add more personal touches to your Arcadia Run residence. When you feel like adding some style to your home, try some of our best wall ideas for apartments—and let your decorating inspiration flow!