I don’t feel envy often but there is one thing that makes me envious to the point of giving me heartburn. It’s wall decorations. Sometimes, you walk into an apartment, and the walls are so beautifully decorated with original framed posters, quilts, and what not.
I’ve moved so many times that, of course, the number of things I own had to be reduced to the bare minimum. Besides, I come from a culture where the art of decorating walls did not exist. Our walls were papered, and then nobody was allowed tot ouch them, lean against them, or breath on them. So now I sit here, surrounded by mostly bare white walls, feeling vastly inferior to all those people who have mastered the art of wall decoration.
So I decided to ask my readers for advice. What do you have on your walls? Any suggestions are welcome, except photos of relatives. I don’t think I can deal with having relatives stare at me as I try to live my life. If people want to leave links to things they bought for their walls or always wanted to buy, that will be highly appreciated, too. If you have links to photos you posted of your own walls anywhere, feel free to leave them as well.
Thank you!
Clarissa's Blog 
I’ve got a poster above my desk, a couple calendars, and lots of wall stickers. There’s a cork bar a ways up the wall, and there I pin programs of shows I’ve gone to and select newspaper articles. In the common area, there’s a Disney canvas print, two posters, and a painting my sister gave me.
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Paintings, African masks, a Kwakiutl flat carving, a Balinese puppet, mirrors in interesting frames, a rack of interesting belts, bags, and hats, interesting weavings from various indigenous markets, and I want more.
My parents are mid century modern minimalists and have one painting per wall and then a lot of interesting little sculptures on mantelpieces and things. That creates dust and I want surfaces free for things I’m working on. I believe in putting lots on the walls and in theory I’d also suspend art objects from the ceiling.
In the office I’m even odder, I’ve got on the wall some beautiful shoes I once bought but that turned out never to fit right.
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Shoes! What a brilliant suggestion! Dare I go this far?
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Well to start with, can you paint? That will help a ton, especially if you find the shade that really makes the room sing. I have on my walls a shelf with the handful of thingamabobs that have become special to me over the years (such as angel ornaments from my best friend, a little painting by my grandma, a carved wooden bird from northern Norway…all the sentimental things I can’t throw out but don’t really have room for). I keep them there in one tiny little spot so they don’t get out of control. I love how none of them match each other, it’s very eclectic. I’ve also framed a picture I took from an airplane of clouds flitting over the ocean, which is an unusual but beautiful and meaningful decoration.
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Yes, eclectic is what I want!
I can’t paint the walls because this is a rented house and the rental company is very much against anything like that.
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I suppose that means you also can’t use nails in the walls? Sticky tack can be used to put up just about anything.
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No, the nails are fine.
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To save money, Jaime and I buy art from artists we love off web sites like DeviantArt, Etsy, and Society6, which are considerably cheaper than art from an art gallery, but more unique than the garden variety Van Gogh and Hokusai posters most people our age have (not that I don’t love both artists
Another cheap trick for decoration is to buy calendars from previous years, and cut them up, frame them in cheap frames from Pier 1/Sears/The Bay which we decorate with spray paint and hot glue, and then coat them with a spray which gives them a lovely protection and finish. Sometimes we’ll create shadow boxes too, and put photographs (usually also from DA/Etsy) in them. We also are saving our pennies for hanging plants and Moroccan lanterns which can be hung from the ceiling.
I’ll post pictures on my blog as soon as we’ve finished moving in to our new place and have everything up.
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How about things related to your field? Paintings from/of your favorite Latin American countries, posters of authors, framed bookcovers, etc. A framed copy of the first thing you ever published (or your favorite thing you ever published)–either the journal itself or the acceptance letter? Maybe university memorabilia?
My walls are decorated with things that have personal significance to me. I have a lot of my Grandpa’s paintings, an artsy framed music collage thing that my sister made for me as a gift, some framed sheet music I got as a gift from an old teacher, a framed Carnegie Hall poster from when I sang in a national children’s choir there 100 years ago (ok maybe more like 15 years ago), comedy/tragedy masks, etc. My only piece of fancy purchased art was a graduation gift for my parents (I think for undergrad, but it might have been my Master’s, I don’t remember)–it’s very cool and also music-themed. Can you guess what my field is? 😉
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“A framed copy of the first thing you ever published (or your favorite thing you ever published)”
-What a brilliant idea! Why didn’t I think of it on my own?
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I liked that too. Although I might stick it in some hidden corner in my case.
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I have walls full of lovely original art, pottery pieces, silk scarves, and framed embroidered pictures, mostly bought from thrift stores or ebay. I even found a woodcut of Hokusai’s Great Wave at the thrift store. If you have an eye for what you like, you can find some incredible buys.
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Silk scarves! That sounds lovely. How do you attach them to the wall?
I’m very ignorant.
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oh yes, I’ve hung scarves too. I have a weird thing for them, especially cheap $10 scarves. Hung together or in a row on the wall, they can look very pretty. I just use hooks or nails and line ’em up. It’s semi-functional, but still makes the room look interesting
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I use map tacks (thumbtacks with little round colored heads). You can also use short sewing pins (these won’t show).
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False modesty is not our way! 🙂 🙂
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I have a white wall on which I placed a five foot high bamboo curtain for depth and texture. I attached various objet d`art such as handmade quilts, limited edition signed prints and plates from Rhodes which I have accumulated during my travels in the world. Hard to describe. I will send you a picture.
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That’s a neat idea!
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You could just put up lots of white boards. N being a statistician would make use of them.
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Yes, then I will have walls covered with scary statistical calculations and my nightmares about failing math in high school and being forced to retake it will intensify.
I can also imagine doom and gloom if I try. 🙂
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My office has nature photographs by other people, in poster form and in silver-under-glass form. Soon I will get around to changing out the pictures for some of my own (digital). Also, MO state law demands that your (M.D., R.N., hairdresser, etc) license be displayed at your work site, so I have said 5 x 7″ license.
You could always frame and hang your diploma.
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It would feel a little weird to hand it at home. And at the office our walls are covered with metal sheeting, so you can’t hang anything.
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