Decorating for cheap

My favorite part of moving every year is redecorating a new space. While the main elements of my room have stayed with me through college, I like to add a little something new every year. And I prefer to add those extra touches without breaking the bank. Whether you have no artistic ability or you paint like Monet, these DIYs will be a snap.

I love quotes. I have several word documents of quotes I’ve found and loved and needed to save right that second. I confess to owning a lot of prints of quotes that are currently hanging on my wall, most of which I hand lettered myself. However, you don’t have to spend an hour writing beautifully calligraphic quotes to get a good art print.

The poster sale is huge at IU, and they have a large selection of cheap posters. Buy one or two posters that you just like the colors of. Grab some large sticker letters at Target and black or white paint. Using the stickers, spell out the quote you want on your poster and then paint.

Instead of using the actual adhesive of the sticker, use small pieces of sticky tack to temporarily hold the letters to the poster. When you’ve completely painted the poster, carefully peel off your letters. Wait for it to dry completely and then put it on your wall.


Gallery walls are big right now, but there is nothing that says you have to be uber rich to have one. Using a theme of your choosing, select about 5 to 11 things for your gallery wall. My theme is travel, and I printed my own photos in varying sizes at CVS from past travel experiences for my wall. I also had a travel quote I hand lettered myself and two street paintings my grandparents picked up in Paris long before I was born.

You can choose to save a bit of money and leave everything unframed, make frames out of washi tape or buy cheap frames from Target. I ended up doing a little of both for my gallery wall. I framed my photographs and homemade art print but left the paintings from my grandparents unframed.

The trick to a good gallery wall is to lay everything out on the ground beforehand and play with the arrangement. Hang everything with command Velcro strips — they’re a lifesaver, seriously — and you’re good to go. Other great additions to a gallery wall are old vinyl covers, framed magazine pages and wood initials.

Garland is easy to make with just paper and twine. It looks really good framing a bed or a window or just hanging straight down. Pick scrapbook paper that you like and print a silhouette image that you would like to use — freshman year I had elephants hanging from my walls.

Determine how long you want your garland and cut a piece of twine to that length. Trace your image onto scrapbook paper, and get to cutting. I would say 10 to 15 images is a good-sized garland, but you’ll want it shorter if it’s just going to hang straight down.

With a hole punch, punch a hole into the top of each image and reinforce the top of the hole with a piece of scotch tape. On the twine you cut earlier, space your images evenly, making sure to knot each image to the twine as you go.

schulzek@indiana.edu | @kas_schulze