I admit my attempts at being ‘crafty’ start out with good intentions and enthusiasm, and if it takes longer than I thought it would, I get bored before finishing - ending up with a pile of half finished projects.

But decorating your home on a budget with your own craft projects is cheap and cheerful, and it will be personal to you – you know no one else will have anything like yours.

Cheer up your walls

A blank wall doesn’t necessarily have to have a picture on it – unless you feel like having a go yourself. Blank canvases are cheap to buy, and a few tubes of acrylic paint and a set of brushes won’t break the bank and can maybe encourage your ‘arty’ side out into the open. Be creative – it doesn’t have to be a Michangelo – bold swirls and blobs or sprays of paint, or geometric shapes are all ways to express yourself! If you aren’t happy with your first effort, it’s easy enough to brush over your creation with some white paint and start again, so your canvas won’t be wasted.

Be creative – I saw a video recently of a wall decoration made with just cardboard and drinking straws of all things, where a sunburst shape was created then sprayed with gold paint - the final result looked professionally artistic and was a really good space filler.

You can make a display with a montage of photographs – just a piece of board covered with coloured felt or similar, and filled with pictures makes a nice feature for a plain wall. Another option would be to frame your own favourite picture – it could be family, a seascape, a building with special memories or a rural scene. If it is too small, get a big frame and make your own mount for inside the frame from card, plain white if you want, or even graduating layers of several colours picked out from the picture.

An eye-catching display can be made by taking a selection of related pictures – for instance four black and white photos of your favourite people, or a selection of seasonal shots of the same tree for example – all framed the same way, and hung equal distance from each other, making a stunning way of showing off your skills as a photographer and filling an otherwise blank wall.

Empty corners

An empty space in a corner of an under-furnished room can be filled with a tall pot or basket filled with dried grasses, or even plastic ‘greenery’ sprayed with a suitable colour that goes well with your décor, either to blend in with neutral colours or a bright colourful contrast.

Stencilling is also another good way to fill a blank wall, and there are many ways to do it, either meaningful sentences or designs or patterns that take your fancy. There are kits available to make it easy – you only need to ensure your lettering or pattern is centred and straight before you start. Even a textured surface shouldn’t be a problem, just a bit more care might be needed, and there are plenty of internet blogs and advice available online.

You can even use a blank wall to showcase your favourite collection of, say, sunhats, or plates, or even pieces of bleached driftwood. All it takes is a few hooks or nails to suspend things from.

If you are into gardening, another terrific idea - and a bit more ambitious one – is to get a large rectangular canvas, and cut two plastic plant pots in half lengthwise - making four half-pots - and glue them in a row to the canvas. Once the glue has dried, you can leave them plain or decorate them with your acrylic paints, and fill the pots with say, sand, and pop in some small artificial plants to get an instant hanging garden for your wall.

Having a blank wall is like having a blank canvas, and is a chance to show your own personality. Think about being creative, use colour (or not), use shapes (if it pleases you). Being artistic isn’t just for the ‘talented’, and you have a chance to do anything you want with your wall!

Author

Marilyn writes regularly for The Portugal News, and has lived in the Algarve for some years. A dog-lover, she has lived in Ireland, UK, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. 

Marilyn Sheridan