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I’ve been embroiled in a room makeover that seems to be taking up all my spare time lately – and though I’m re-decorating my home office (at long last!) I can’t help but be inspired by any DIY decorations and ideas around.  One particularly inspirational source I’ve found is The Land of Nod – and though I’ve never bought anything from the company, each issue of the magazine transports me away to a lovely, whimsical location, filled with bright, fun things that any child (or even adult!) would be thrilled to lose themselves in.  Here are some great, inexpensive ideas for your child’s room – easily adaptable to other rooms in your home:

Add a lacy texture to a wall with doilies (some painted with silver glitter) – which could also be a stand-in for a headboard.  Christmas lights can become a makeshift curtain, and drawers in a side table can be replaced with glitter-sprayed cardboard boxes.

A fabric bunting is a colorful and easy way to add some whimsy to a room – as well as your favorite fabric filling up a large frame on the wall instead of a standard picture.  Add some colored paper cutouts to a lampshade for a fun and personalized light.

A sweet little woodland vignette can be made in the corner of a room with some painted corrugated cardboard mushrooms and grass.

Instead of a large mirror on the wall, mount smaller gilt hand mirrors.

A wall can be made unique with a number of mirrors of varying sizes and shapes.

A room can be made lively with origami sailboats (or something else!) strung from the ceiling.  Also: colored boxes mounted to the wall to hold trinkets and treasures.

An ingenious use for old skateboards: strung together to made a ladder bookshelf.

Make a unique and playful wall shelf using just a tree branch…and a handful of colored sticky dots and paper trees.

When painting you don’t have to do the whole wall: masking off large stripes and leaving areas unpainted can look really modern too.

Speaking of not painting walls, you can also do a unique decoration by painting Contact Paper, cutting out circles, and adhering to the wall.  (I did this for Lil Tot’s nursery/bedroom in our old condo – and everyone who visited asked me where I bought the beautiful blue dots that were on the wall!  …Which I just peeled off once we moved – and was left with the unharmed white wall beneath.)

Make a faux chandelier swag with colored paper cut into triangles and circles, strung across the room.

I think someone enterprising could DIY this twig mirror with a few branches, some strong glue or nails, and some gold paint…for a lot less than $219, don’t you think?

And likely an intermediate knitter could knit a cover for a lampshade…or anyone could repurpose a sweater to the same effect!

Happy DIY’ing!
xoxo

Carly

Images scanned by me from Land of Nod Holiday Collection 2012 catalog, and online from the February 2013 catalog.

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