Sprucing up your space can be both exciting and daunting, but with some creative thinking you too can design an inviting space, and if you're a renter we have great news, this article is rent friendly, so you can hold onto your bond!
Our suggestion? Wallpaper, of course. Wallpaper is almost too versatile, make a feature wall? Yep. Stick it on the ceiling? You bet. Jazz up a staircase? Why not! With the growing popularity in removable wallpaper, you can really make your rental space shine, and easily restore it back to it's dull self before you move.
Melissa Cripe is a prop stylist based in New Orleans, USA. Her 800-square-foot apartment is design centric, full to the brim with colour, character and creativity. Her favourite part? The living room, naturally... “The light in this open space is just the dreamiest,” Cripe says in her house tour. “And as far as decor: More is more is more!” Everywhere you turn, there are cool little details, like the lips-shaped pillow in the corner, the wallpaper on the second layer of the coffee table, and the square-framed vintage art.
A self declared lover of 60's pop art, Cripe likes to consider her style to be playful, decked out with props and with hints of nostalgia. “Stylistically, I’m drawn to the surreal world of ’60s pop art, so I playfully sprinkled that — along with an absurdist, French flair — throughout my home,” she says.
“I’ve divided my space to reflect the different facets of my creative personality,” Cripe says. Keeping her bedroom as a more subdued and soft, the character really comes alive in the living room and kitchen, "visually graphic" as described by Cripe. So it will come as no surprise that the funkiest detail in apartment is a hand crafted DIY in the entryway, sitting between the living room & kitchen.
A quick glance would leave you thinking a clever use of the leftover wallpaper has been used, but as it would turn out, it's not exactly what you'd think.
“Since I’m renting and not able to paint, I constructed this DIY arch to create a visual divider between the living and kitchen spaces,” Cripe says. She ended up freehand-cutting hundreds of “Matisse-inspired shapes” out of black vinyl to create this custom look that really is stunning.
While the end result is absolutely stunning, and detail rich, it can be time consuming to complete - and a steady hand is vital. A more approachable recreation, and our recommendation, make use of wallpaper! You would be pleasantly surprised what a bit of texture or some patterns could do to make the space really 'pop'. As for the leftover wallpaper? Use the excess wallpaper to line the doorway. How clever!
“I love the living room most because it’s the first thing people see when they enter the apartment,” Cripe says. And the end result is no accident, but clever thinking to not only jazz up the first thing you see, but to serve as a visual conversation starter, and in our opinion, Melissa has certainly achieved that!
