No paint? No problem

Feb. 17, 2008

There are several reasons why you might not be able to - or want to - paint the walls in your new house or apartment. If it’s a place you own, you might already like the existing color, but want to add a little pizzazz; or, if it’s an older home, you might not want to go through the hassle of sealing and priming the perhaps fragile or flaky wall surface.
More likely, you’re renting - and (you already know the bummer regarding this situation) many landlords (okay, most landlords) won’t let you paint at all, meaning you can’t make any permanent (read: paint, in landlord-speak) changes to your walls. This, of course, can leave you doomed to reside amidst Boring Beige or Washed-Out White for the duration of your lease, however short it may be. But never fear, wannabe home decorator - there are great ways to make your walls look great without even getting near a paintbrush - or wallpaper paste, for that matter.

STRIPE IT
There are several different versions of this idea floating around, but perhaps the least messy involves something called Permacel Paper Tape, which you can usually find (or order) at an art supply store or through a film production website. You’ll need several rolls of the tape, which comes in a variety of colors and lengths, based on the wall space you’re trying to cover. You’ll also need to decide whether you want to place your stripes horizontally or vertically; and, either way, you’ll need a chalk line or laser level to make sure you keep those lines straight. There’s nothing particularly complicated here; you just start placing the stripes, by eye (and with the help of your level, of course) where you’d like them to go, alternating colors if you’d like, until the space is filled. Trim both edges (at the ceiling and baseboard) with a razor or knife, and your new wall is complete. And when it’s time to move, no problem - just peel the tape off; in most cases, it won’t even leave any residue.

GET WORDY
Vinyl words from places like Quote the Walls (www.quotethewalls.com) can put your words or the words of a favorite author, musician, comedian, famous person, or friend right in your living room or kitchen (or wherever you’d like) Made of semi-permanent vinyl material, the letters and words can be positioned and spaced however you’d like, and are easy to apply and, of course, removable later.
You can either choose from pre-prepared quotes or phrases (“Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much”), your own words, perhaps identifying parts of your house (“William’s Study: Do Not Disturb”), or even a quote from a favorite film or band (“Our House: In the Middle of Our Street”) There’s quite a large selection of ready-made quotes on Quote the Walls’ website that start around $20; custom words/quotes are a little more, but you’ll have something on your walls completely unique to your house.

HANG IT
You might not be allowed or able to paint, but chances are you can at least sneak a few nail holes into the wall (spackle or, remarkably, white toothpaste are great for putting things to rights later), so hanging things - especially large, wall-covering things - is a great option. Places like Inhabit (www.inhabitliving.com) offer pre-printed “Stretched Wall Art” - essentially canvas that is printed with patterns and natural elements (bark, woodgrain, etc.) and stretched over a frame; you can buy just one, or buy enough to cover an entire wall space. You can also make your own fabric covered panels easily by making a square or rectangular frame from lightweight wood, and using a staple gun to affix the fabric of your choice; you can just pick fabric that you already like for your walls, or choose something more plain and paint a design yourself (before you hang it, so as not to risk getting paint on the walls).
Rugs - preferably ones with a detailed pattern of some sort - can be used as wall hangings, too, but these are a little heavier; make sure you locate the studs in your walls before hanging, and think about applying a hanging strip piece of wood to the hanging edge of the rug to give it more strength.
Styrofoam or thin plywood panels are yet another thing you might want to try - if you get these big enough, you don’t even have to hang them. You can glue-gun fabric onto them if you’d like, stick wallpaper to them, or paint them however you choose - then just lean them against your walls. Simple and attractive.

THINK BLIK
What is Blik, you ask? Found at www.blik.com, they’re probably one of the hippest and most interesting ways to decorate your wall without paint. They call them “wall graphics for the commitment-phobic,” and while they are a little pricey, the effect is worth it. Blik designs have a wide range, from simple dots you can place however you like to flowers, faux-wrought iron patterns, bamboo, robots, 8-bit videogame characters, goldfish, and a whole lot more. And they’re easy to remove when it’s moving time (although they’re not reusable). Blik has recently added the Re-Stik line, too, and these are reusable, whether you’re moving or not; you can shift your design around as often as you’d like, just for the fun of it.
While Blik is really the leader in this category, there are other places specializing in non-adhesive wall graphics as well - try dVider (http://store.dvider.com/stickers.html), which has their own line of removable vinyl stickers too; especially cool are their pattern and “Max” designs. Scribble on Walls (www.scribbleonwalls.com) has everything from geometric designs to Tahitian fish, cells, and graffiti “tags.” Ferm Living is another great one, with more large-scale options (and we mean large!), from world maps to a silhouetted shelf of knickknacks to an entire ceiling-high telephone pole; and Wallies (www.wallies.com) has a more traditional selection of designs, from seashells and palm trees to sunflowers.

LIGHT IT
You can use lighting to further enhance the above wall decorations, or even just use lighting by itself to give your walls color and depth. One cool idea is to place several small can lights or miniature spotlights along a wall (if the housing of the lights is attractive enough) or behind a couch, adding colored bulbs and pointing the lights up to wash color upwards along the wall. If you’re allowed to put nails into the wall, you can buy those same stretched canvas panels we discussed earlier, and tape a string of regular white or colored lights to the back before hanging, so that you’re essentially hanging a square of colored light. Again, it’s easy to do, but makes a very cool effect in your place.
Of course, you can always just take a risk and paint your walls anyway, making sure you paint them back to their original color when you move out - but that’s not much of a challenge, now, is it?