I have two suggestions for you: First, drape the walls in fabric. Go to a white sale, find some curtains you like and then hang them on curtain rods that you've attached to the ceiling or to the wall close to the ceiling. You can take the curtains with you when you move on. Just make sure it's okay with your landlord to put holes in the wall or ceilingA second suggestion is to make a screen by attaching a pair of old doors with hinges. You'll need two or three hinge. Screen doors work great for this -- and they're not very expensive. You can find them at home-improvement stores. Or if you don't even want to see a peek of that wall, use solid doors. You can dress them up with wallpaper strips or upholster them by stapling batting and fabric on the doors
Q: I recently moved into an older home with a pink bathtub and tiles. How can I update this color to make it fit with the rest of the house?
A: Homes built in the mid-1900s often have tile and fixtures in the bathrooms and kitchens that don't match today's color schemes. Some homeowners love those "old" colors -- they call it retro. But others can't wait for the day that they can afford to rip them out and start over. If you're trying to make the best of a bad situation, here's what I suggest: Just go with it. Try to find a theme and a color scheme that you like that incorporates the pink color. You could try a shell / beach theme with pinks, blues, whites, beiges and aquas. Use those colors in wallpaper, shower curtains, etc.
Q: My lease does not allow me to paint the walls of my apartment. But I'm really tired of the cream walls. Do you have an idea to add color?
A: Here's an idea: Put fabric on the walls using liquid starch.
- First wash the walls with mild detergent and rinse well.
- Cut fabric the height of the wall with a few extra inches at either end for trimming.
- Use a sponge roller to put the starch on the wall then lay the fabric over it.
- Use a large sponge to apply the starch to the surface and smooth the fabric at the same time.
- Continue with each panel until the room is covered; match pattern if necessary.
- Wait for it to dry before trimming.
Lighter-weight fabrics will work best for this, and you can remove it when you move by dampening the fabric and the washing the starch off the walls with mild soap.
Often your lease will forbid you from decorating your apartment the way you really want to. Here are some ways to circumvent that problem:
- Tall, leafy houseplants (even silk plants) fill space and add an airy feeling to the room.
- To add some drama, especially at night, put an up light on the floor beneath an accent plant. Uplights are just about $10, and they'll cast intriguing shadows on the ceiling and walls.
- Hang a dhurrie rug on the wall. Dhurries are made of natural fibers and are often fringed. Also, they are inexpensive and can be hung on the wall with hook-and-loop tape that won't mar the walls.
- Another idea to help you hang stuff on the walls is a type of putty that you activate that doesn't damage walls.
