APARTMENT GUIDE
15
Crafty ways to spruce up your bare walls
Turn that dull room into a shout of your own personality with these cheap remedies
BY ISADORA RANGEL editor@kansan.com
It's common sense that college students live on a budget. Few have enough money to buy all those cool items in decor catalogs.
Low funds is no excuse for living in a sloppy apartment. With only a few bucks and some free time, there are a lot of things you can do to outfit your room and give it a personal touch.
Start with knowing where to go. The Dollar Tree, 2108 W. 27th St., is
coffee. Also, its material allows you to customize it, with glitter pens or collages of pictures, for example.
one of the best places in town for those who don't feel like spending more than a dollar on each item. Some of its best finds are card board under-bed storage chests that you assemble yourself. They are a good alternative to plastic organizing bins, which cost about $15 each. Of course, they are not as durable as the plastic ones, but come on, they cost less than a cup of
Another good find at the Dollar Tree are card board posters. Don't expect to find a poster of your favorite band, most
To make a funky lamp shade out of your old, boring lamp buy customizing fringe for $2.39
of them are landscapes and flowers,but they still add color to your walls. While framing them can class up your place, you can just stick them to the wall with Sticky Tak, a removable gum-like adhesive.
The next stop is Hobby Lobby, 1801 W.23rd St.,
the paradise of "do it yourself" lovers. There you find the best materials to give an artistic touch to your room. To make a funky lamp shade out of your old, boring lamp, buy customizing fringe for $2.39. Its colorful fringe comes on a elastic band, so no glue is needed. Make sure that the lamp shade you're using is the same size as the
fringe though.
Simple purchases help organize your room and make it look neat, or just hide your mess. A shower curtain, for example, can have multiple functions. Rebecca Feickert, Goodrich, N.D., sophomore, didn't
like her open closet. She fixed it with two colored shower curtains and a few hooks that she put on a door track that was already attached to the ceiling.
"I don't want people to look into my closet," Feickert said. Not only did she solve her problem, but she also added some color to her room. Feickert's idea has caught
ways to make it more pleasing to the eye. For a different way to hang pictures, use one or two feet of clothesline, wood pins and Sticky Tak. First, glue your favorite pictures on thick panels of cardboard. Apply enough Sticky Tak to hold the clothesline to the wall. Finally, hang
on, as two other people have done the same thing after they saw her invention. The same idea can be used for window curtains as well.
If your wall looks naked, there are many
Simple purchases help organize your room and make it look neat, or just hide your mess. A shower curtain, for example, can have multiple purposes.
the pictures as you would hang your clothes.
If you are in a do-it-yourself mood, create your own art for your wall. Don't worry, your kindergarten skills will be enough to do this. Buy at least three canvases, prices vary according to size, and use tape to apply different stencils, which cost $2.99 at Hobby Lobby. Then paint them with color of
choice. Use the Sticky Tak to attach them to the wall.
These cheap and crafty ways to cleanup and spruce up your room can make your room more homey and comfortable.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
APRIL 3,2008