Apartment Wall Decor: 5 Easy Ways to Make Your Walls Pretty
Living Pretty Ep49// Apartment Wall Decor: 5 Easy Ways to Make Your Walls Pretty
Apartment wall decor can be sooo overwhelming, right? So let’s simplify it a bit! I’m giving you 5 easy ways to make your walls pretty so that you can figure out where to find wall art and which stylish wall art is right for YOU.
If you’ve been wondering how to decorate your walls, need guidance on hanging wall art (without drilling holes!), or you need some interior decorating tips so you can make your small apartment decor look cohesive, watch this video for my apartment wall art advice!
Video Transcript ↓
I’ve made some slight edits in the transcript below so that everything makes more sense in text form. But overall, this is almost a word-for-word dictation of what I say in the video. I’m a much better writer than this, I swear, haha.
If your walls could talk, what would they say?
Would they say, “Help me, I’m naked and afraid so could you please put some art on me already”?
Or, “Stop it you're suffocating me with way too much art”?”
Or would they say, “Thank you, my friend. You’ve adorned me well. ”
If our walls could talk, we would want our walls to say the last one, right?
We all want to adorn our walls with art that compliments our space, conveys our personal style, and expresses our distinct personalities. A pretty tall order right?
Figuring out the wall decor in your apartment is one of the toughest challenges in the interior styling process. Please know that there’s nothing wrong with you if you’re having a hard time with this!
So in this video, I’m going to give you some styling tactics that will help you get your wall decor just right.
And stay tuned ‘til the end, because I’m going to share how I’ve been hanging art in my apartments over the years without drilling holes in the walls, which is one of the most common questions I get asked about!
And if you’re new to my channel, my name is Steffi and I’m the creator of the interior style blog Moda Misfit as well as the online course Small Apartment Styling School.
And you’re watching Living Pretty, the place for apartment styling tips. Just because you rent your space doesn’t mean you can’t own your style!
So if you want to get inspired with me every week, be sure to subscribe!
And before we dive into my wall decor advice, I wanted to let you know that I have a brand new free guide that you can download today called the Apartment Styling Handbook!
It's a bite-sized roadmap for decorating your apartment so that you can create a space you love - without feeling like you're stumbling alone in the dark. Because sometimes you just want someone to tell you what to do to decorate your apartment, right? So download the FREE Apartment Styling Handbook for some extra help!
1. Repetition
So the first interior styling concept for wall decor I want to share with you is repetition.
Repetition is a powerful visual tool.
The human eye enjoys seeing patterns. We like to form connections between things and to feel like we’re being told a story.
So to make the wall art in your apartment feel cohesive - to make it feel like a cohesive story is being told rather than a bunch of random plot points that don’t go together - you can use repetition as your ally.
You can repeat colors, patterns, styles, subject matter… it’s all about using repetition to drive home what you’re trying to say in your space.
Here’s how I do it in my studio apartment…
In terms of color, black and white photography is repeated over and over again in here.
In terms of pattern, there are a lot of bold graphic elements in the form of typography, sound waves, maps, and wall decals.
And in terms of subject matter, music and nature are repeated numerous times.
This is how you tell a visual story. Repetition allows you to convey your point of view and avoid creating a cluttered chaotic look on your walls.
Do you have to repeat things as aggressively as I have in my studio? No. You can be much more subtle with your repetition if you want.
Aggressive or subtle, the human eye is drawn to repetition. So when in doubt when it comes to wall decor, think of the colors, patterns, and subject matter you’d like to see repeated in your space!
2. Size (Scale & Repetition)
Next, let’s talk about size when it comes to artwork.
Specifically, it’s really about scale and proportion, which takes into account not just size, but how items like wall art relate to each other and to the space overall.
When buying artwork, I want you to not only think about whether the size of a piece will physically fit on the wall, but how it’ll enhance or detract from the things around it.
Size should actually be the least of your worries! It’s scale and proportion you should be thinking about.
For example, I initially bought this magnolia wall hanging from Society6 for above my TV. And look how that turned out…
Sure, the size of it physically fit up there, but did it play well in the overall picture? Not at all. It looked so puny and out of place.
Then I layered it on top of my wall decal arrangement above my desk, and suddenly it came alive. It needed to not only be on a smaller wall, but in this case it really benefited from being supported by a dramatic pattern like this.
Here’s another example. Before I found my sound wave prints for above my bed, I had made this little mistake…
On its own, it’s a really pretty piece of art. But did it work above my bed? No. Because the scale and proportion was totally off. It took up too much vertical space while not taking up enough horizontal space.
See, this is why you need to think about how a piece of art factors into the overall space! It’s not enough to simply like a piece of art on its own. It needs to play well with its surroundings too.
Which is why the sound wave prints look so much better here. They take up the proper amount of vertical and horizontal space in relation to the bed and everything else around them.
Not to mention the repetition factor I talked about earlier. These prints are a perfect example of how effective repetition is at telling an aesthetically pleasing visual story.
3. Personality
Now let’s talk about the importance of expressing your personality through your wall art!
This really wouldn’t be a Moda Misfit video if I didn’t cover this, because this is what I’m all about: expressing your personality through decor.
But tapping into your personality is not just a good way to create a space you connect with. It’s also a way to just narrow down your options!
Choosing your wall art can be very overwhelming. There are so many stores to browse, so many pieces to look through. It can make you feel like you have no clue where to start.
So to narrow that down, start with your unique personality. What do you love? What do you geek out about? What makes you you?
Also think about what feelings and sensations you want your wall decor to evoke.
Each individual is different when it comes to figuring out what decor will compliment their personality.
Do some self reflection before shopping for artwork.
What are your specific needs? What are your specific interests? Then find art that reflects that.
If you spend two minutes in my apartment, you can pretty much guess things about my personality. It basically hits you over the head with who I am as a person even just from the wall decor alone.
And that’s what I want for you too! A place that feels uniquely like you. Seriously, good styling is not just trying to make things look nice - it's storytelling. What story do you want your wall art to tell about you?
Treat your artwork like your autobiography, not just pretty things that are taking up space on your walls.
4. Places
Now let’s talk about places. Where do you find your artwork?
I’ll be honest: the possibilities are endless here. Art of varying quality and prices is everywhere, and that’s one of the things that makes finding it so overwhelming!
So I’m going to narrow this down to my three favorite places to find wall art.
In my opinion, you could just buy all your artwork from just these three places and you’d be good to go: Etsy, Society6, and Redbubble.
The reason why I recommend these three particular places for wall art, aside from my positive personal experience with them, is because they are specifically great for finding those personality-driven pieces I was just talking about.
If you want to express your personality through your wall art, these three places will help you do that!
For example, do you like mermaids? Look at this piece from Society6…
Are you a fan of Stevie Nicks? Look at this piece from Redbubble…
Do you love camping? Maybe this piece from Etsy will make you feel like you’ve brought the great outdoors inside!
Seriously, go to any of these three sites, type in something you like, and you’ll likely find a stylish piece of art around it!
5. No-Hole Hanging
And finally, one of the biggest questions I get asked about apartment wall decor is how I hang my art.
I obviously have a lot of it in here, so you may be thinking, “Damn Steffi. That’s a lot of holes.”
But it actually isn’t! Because I don’t drill holes in here. I don’t think I’ve ever drilled a hole in my life…
Instead, I simply use Command adhesive strips. It’s not a super creative hack, it’s nothing revolutionary. But I swear by them. Watch the video to see how they work!
And there are two things you must do or else these won’t work and your wall art will end up on the floor. You have to…
Be certain about where you want to put the art and once the stickiness hits the wall, do not unstick them to adjust. If you need to adjust where you’ve placed the artwork, you’re better off just starting over with new strips. I’ve learned this the hard way.
Make sure you really push into the wall for, like, a solid minute so the stickiness really adheres to the wall.
Also, when you’re taking your art down, make sure you peel it off very slowly, or else the Command strips might take off a piece of your wall with them.
Command adhesive strips don’t usually do that if you’re careful. Scotch strips, on the other hand… Don’t use them. In my experience, they have a 100% wall tear-off rate. They’re just too aggressive. Command strips, on the other hand, are gentle, yet firm.
There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to buying wall art, but if you just simplify your approach by using these things that I’ve talked about, then you’ll be in really good shape!
And if your walls start talking, they’ll have something really cool to say. And you might need to have a conversation with your therapist. 🙃
For daily glimpses into my studio apartment life, you can follow me on Instagram @moda.misfit!
And for regular doses of apartment styling tips and small space decor inspiration, subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when a new video goes up every week.