People ask me all the time about how to decorate on a budget. I love helping people create cozy and beautiful spaces without spending a lot of money. If you have a lot of wall space, it can seem overwhelming and impossible to fill without looking cluttered or costing a fortune. I think that Ben and I have found the “best kept secret” of affordable and beautiful wall art. After discovering this decorating loophole, we have filled our home with this unexpected item and you wouldn’t even know it until I let you in on our secret. Here are a few photos of rooms in our home (and my client’s homes) that all contain our favorite kind of art. See if you can figure it out!
My friend, Stephanie’s kitchen.
Our guest room.
Our front porch.
Our master bedroom.
Our dining room.
Did you figure it out? Our favorite thing to use as wall art is wrapping paper! These pieces of wrapping paper don’t look like what you would find under your Christmas tree. And if you’re ever in a shop that sells this brand, you might think it’s silly to pay $4-5 for a single sheet of wrapping paper. But if you look at it with resourceful eyes, $5 for a large scale piece of wall art isn’t bad! We purchased a few large frames from Ikea (for $15 a piece). You can also attach small slats of wood or round dowels to the top and bottom, and hang them like vintage school charts. If you don’t want to DIY the charts, you can purchase a kit from Cavallini on Amazon.
Horizontal Chart Kit + Vertical Chart Kit
These sheets of wrapping paper (Excluding the very last photo of the dining room) are all from Cavallini & Co. You can find their products in various small paper boutiques (like Paper Source). If you are lucky and live near a store that carries their products, you won’t have to pay for shipping. But, some of their wrapping paper sheets are available on Amazon Prime for $8-10 (which is about what you would pay for the product plus shipping anyways). Rifle Paper Co. also sells wrapping paper sheets.
Here are a few of my favorites that can be found on Amazon.
World Map (pictured above in my friend Stephanie’s kitchen!)
Hemispheres (Pictured above in our guest room. This one is my favorite! I love the colors)
This last one is my favorite, and was my first wrapping paper purchase! I bought it while Ben and I were dating in college and hung it in my dorm room. Now it hangs in our bedroom! I love the vintage birds and their french labels.
The links I included above are affiliate links, which means that I receive a small commission if you purchase any of the items through my link. No one is paying me to advertise these products- I only promote products that I recommend or use myself! I don’t like telling people to spend money, and try to avoid telling people to go buy things in order to decorate their homes. My approach to decorating is to first “shop your house” and freshen up a space using things that are already in your home. Instead of going shopping every time you’re wanting something different and fresh, look at your own home with resourceful eyes and repurpose things you already have! After that, if you’re still looking to spruce things up, look for creative ways to make affordable and sustainable purchases. These wrapping paper sheets are very affordable, and create a large scale visual impact! If you don’t want to pay for multiple frames, you can just purchase one and rotate the wrapping paper that you display inside.
My secret is out! I love finding affordable ways to decorate, and this is one of my favorite tricks. Do you have any decorating tricks for saving money without sacrificing style? I’d love to hear your ideas!
Thanks for reading!
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