why live with white?

 

So, you’ve just moved from the dorm to an apartment.  Perhaps you just graduated and got your own place or finally got rid of that annoying roommate.  The place looks bare, blah, depressing.  You dream of making it the perfect pad… a place where everyone wants to be, including you.  The problem, it's white...everywhere you look you see white walls and off-white carpet.  It's sterile, it's bright, it makes you want to scream.  It’ll take a bit of time and creativity, but you can get rid of the white or at least make it less noticeable without spending a ton of cash and without losing your security deposit.

Getting white off the walls:

·    Get some wood at a hardware store and some canvas.  Make a frame as large or small as you want…one cool effect is to make several different shapes in various sizes.  Once you have the shapes made, stretch the fabric over it and secure it with staples.  You can paint the canvas any color you want and hang it on the wall.

·    If you can find a great deal on cool fabric, get it.   You can do so much with fabric.  One really simple idea is to hang a curtain rod along a wall right up at the ceiling.  Make one really big curtain out of it.  If you don’t know how to sew, no big deal…curtains are a breeze…trust me if I can do it, you can.  Hang your new curtain on the curtain rod and you’ve got color.  Tip: king sized sheets work like none other and you can find them cheaper than fabric at discount stores…watch for clearance sales at places like K-Mart, TJMaxx, or Stein Mart.  Added bonus: fabric mutes noise, you can play the stereo a tad bit louder and the neighbor won’t freak.

·    Another idea for fabric that my swears by is to wallpaper with it.  Don’t use wallpaper paste, use liquid starch.  You can do one accent wall or perhaps under the bar by the kitchen.  It will last a while and when you are ready to move, just wash it all off with water.

 

Keep the white on the walls but draw your eyes away from it:

·    Instead of getting the color from the walls, pull it out with throw rugs.  An added bonus with the throw rugs:  when that freak that your friend brought over spills some red wine or flips over the pizza, it won’t stain the carpet and your security deposit made it through another night. 

·    If you have wood furniture, paint it.  You can always strip it and refinish it later.  That old chest that you’ve been lugging around for the past 3 years, it would probably look really cool a bright red or orange, but then again, I love orange.  Choose your color, grab a paint brush, and make a statement.

·    Do something cool to the windows.  Have you ever noticed that people forget to put curtains up in apartments…that just drives me nuts!!!  Again, curtains are a breeze to make, but you can buy all sorts of curtains already made.  Get some funky curtain rods & some bold curtains and you won’t be noticing the plain walls.   Raid your dad’s closet the next time you’re home for a couple cool ties and use them to tie the curtains back….so your dad has some really hideous taste, grab a couple old belts.  You can tie curtains back with anything, the only requirement is that it is long enough to go around the curtain.

·    Plants, plants and more plants.  The room may look plain sterile but plants add life.  Just be sure to water them or they’ll add a look of death to the place.  Plants can get expensive, but if you care for them you’ll have them a long time.  Tip:  by the ones on clearance that look about dead.  They’re usually fine they just won’t sell next to their happy looking friends.  With a bit of care and they’ll be fine…and maybe only cost you $1 instead of $7.  Added bonus: you can bring out color with funky pots and the plants will help clean the air.

Brooke Hunter the grrl behind grrl-e-grrl.com