Time To Procrastinate And Decorate: DIY Crafts For Your Place

By Francine Fluetsch on May 14, 2014

This article is brought to you by CORT, a subsidiary of Berkshire-Hathaway and the world’s largest furniture rental and relocation services company. To learn more about how we can help college students like you, click here.

image via www.omghackers.com

The key to making yourself feel at home at college is to make the space your own. It will help the place be a more welcoming sight to come back to after a long day, and will make you feel less homesick since it resembles a home, not just a random space that you are occupying. Decorating is super fun, and with a bit of elbow grease, can be cheap too! You don’t have to compromise cuteness for a lower price. Here is a list of some fun DIY (do it yourself) decorating ideas to spruce up your room and make all your hallmates jealous. Don’t worry if you aren’t all that crafty!

DIY quote canvas:

image via http://www.ditando.com/2012/01/canvas-diy.html?m=1

Do you love inspiring quotes? Then this one is for you. This is an easy way to decorate your wall without spending a lot. All you need is a canvas, letter stickers, paint(s) and a paintbrush. You can pick the sizes, what you want it to say, the colors, everything to make it uniquely yours for a fraction of what it would cost to buy as a finished product.

The great part about this one is you can make multiple projects and hang them all over the room. Making things is much more satisfying than buying them, because every time you look at your project, you will have the awesome memory of making it and it is so much more special. People will think you are totally artsy, and you can smile and accept the praise. You can even make them for people as gifts! So what are you waiting for? Get a group of friends together and make some of these bad boys.

Here’s the link for a step-by-step guide.

Photos on wood:

image via Michelle Cangemi, WEDLOFT

Forget about boring old picture frames; here’s a way to display photos in your room on wood. Talk about vintage. You will need wood, gel medium, a paintbrush and a laser printer photo on regular computer paper. Click here for the step-by-step guide of how to do it.

This is a wonderful way for you to decorate your room in a unique and creative way, and have fun doing it. These can also make great gifts; you know how much grandparents love pictures.

DIY scrapbook paper designs:

image via http://lovepeacepionies.blogspot.com/2011/03/jeg-blir-alltid-inspirert.html

How cute is this? All you need is scrapbook paper, stencils and string. I love the elephants that they did. This would be such a cute wall decoration that would add a splash of color to the room and would hardly take any time at all.

Quote on fabric:

image via http://witandwhistle.com/2012/01/16/diy-stencil-pillow/

Instead of buying those expensive decorating pillows for your bed or couch, why not make your own? This is such a cute idea, and you could even make it correspond with the wall quote canvas mentioned up top. I am definitely going to try this one. You will need fabric you want to stencil, some chalkboard, a pencil, a letter stencil and a fabric marker. Check out the steps here!

Mirror out of plastic spoons:

image via http://www.pinterest.com/pin/277393658268833952/

This one looks a bit more on the tricky side, but I believe in you guys. This would be such a cute decoration idea with a splash of color, instead of a plain old mirror. There are not written instructions, but here are the steps in picture form. I love the blues that they chose.

Magazine wall art:

image via Sarah Guinon

Sarah Guinon, a first year linguistics student at UC Santa Cruz, said she “cut out the letters of [her] favorite words from a magazine for wall art” because “it adds some color and it’s personal.” This is a classic and a super simple way to decorate. I love how Guinon combined the words with photos–a very nice touch.

Name banner:

image via Sarah Guinon

One of Guinon’s friends “sewed different patterns into triangles to make a banner.” This looks simple enough and is great for inside or outside your dorm room. Guinon said you could also fashion this creation out of paper, so if you have some extra scrapbook paper from the ideas listed above, now you have something to do with it.

Newspaper and paint wall art: 

image via http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/2010/08/pretty-bird-wall-art.html

I absolutely love this idea. You will need two canvases, a permanent marker, birds to trace, scissors, paint, wallpaper or vintage pages to create a canvases background, and glue or mod podge. This idea is so simple and totally adorable. This would make a great gift as well. If you are the poetic type, it would be cool to have the background writing be some of your work! And you don’t have to use birds; you could mix it up and experiment with different silhouettes. Here’s how to do it.

These are only a few of the many, many ideas you could use to decorate your place without breaking the bank. Pinterest is your best friend if you want to check out some more cool things to make. If you make some, let us know how they turned out. Happy crafting!

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