Add Fabric to your wall for a fun custom look without breaking the bank #DIY project

I love the look of Wallpaper and growing up in Germany, every room had wallpaper. My mom was quit the master in removing and adding Wallpaper. She could get a room done in an afternoon. Without bubbles, tears or mess up. I loved the way it looked and when I bought my first house, well, the house I’m in now and probably will be forever, lol, I wanted Wallpaper, too. Little did I know the mess it would make removing, adding and oh then they would peel off on the corners and fall off the wall. Yup, right then and there I opted for painted walls.

However, I wanted a custom look, so I knew there had to be a way on how to make my room look more custom and homey but without all the mess. Back then there was no Facebook, Pinterest or even Google, it was the late ninety’s and I decided to add fabric to my walls. Yup, you heard that right; I wanted fabric on my walls. I tried a few different ways and finally ended up with a simple solution, Fabric and liquid starch. That did the trick. Check out my picture below, not the best picture, but it will give you an idea that YES, I had fabric on my walls before fabric on walls was cool.

Yup.. That was my dining area, way way, way back when and I’m glad things changed. LOL…. but the strips on the bottom half of the wall are fabric pieces that I cut to fit and added a paper Flower Wallboard on top.  Now since I had experience with the Fabric on the wall, I also know how super simple the clean up was after removing it years later. You pull the Fabric one sheet at time, they don’t fall apart or come in small pieces like the wallpaper would do. NOPE, the same piece that you added to the Wall, will come back off; actually you could wash them and then attach them back to the wall if you wanted to.

So, that brought me to my Office Remodel and how I wanted to add some custom colors to the back of my white bland newly finished office desk.

Add Fabric to your Wall’s Simple as that…..

You need:

• Your Fabric of Choice; I had a heavier fabric, but you can use the “thin” fabric as well. All work well as far as I have tested. However if you take a thinner fabric with light colors like white, the back of your wall will come through. So maybe pick a heavier fabric. The amount of fabric needed depends on the area that you want to cover, measure and add about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch extra and that’s the amount you will need to cover your area. YUP.. simple.
• Bottle of Liquid Starch, I picked this one up at Wal-Mart for like $2.50 I think and if you are using a small area you may not need all, if you have a larger area you may need an extra bottle.
• Bucket to put your Liquid Starch and Fabric in to soak for a few seconds.

This is how to make it ….

Step1:
Cut your fabric to fit your object (Wall, table etc..)

Step 2:
Cover the floor with towels for easy cleanup if needed.

Step 3:
depending on how big your fabric is, add the fabric into your bucket, pour Liquid Starch over it and work it. Make sure your fabric gets all wet and messy; no worries about wrinkles. Just get it all covered in Liquid Starch and then wring out very well.

Step 4:
Hang on the wall, or in my case the backboard of my desk. Top to bottom and smooth out from top to bottom. You may need someone to hold the top for a few minutes while you smooth out the bottom, if you are attaching it to a board or something similar like I did, you could clip it with those heavy paper clips to hold it for you. Just smooth it all towards the bottom; you can easily pull it back up if you see wrinkles (some will go away when it dries, so no worries) or if you see big bubbles. Some people use a kitchen sponge or a towel to smooth it out; I for the most part used my hands and then went over with a kitchen towel.

I added a second piece of fabric to the outside of my “wall” since, yes.. I ran out of fabric and wasn’t really planning on using the orange as my back drop, but it worked out well. I cut a second fabric to fit the edges and attached the same way; some is overlapping, in my case you can’t see it. If you have open space and you are using two different fabrics, you may want to experiment if they are see through after it dries etc… Really simple, just get creative and don’t be afraid, you can always pull it back off after it dried and start over.

See how simple that was; took me like 25 minutes max to get this “Wallpaper” up onto the wall and I let it dry overnight. In case you add extra fabric or have seems, you can always once it’s on the wall add more liquid starch, use a sponge or a little spray bottle and wet the fabric again to attach the seams to the rest of the fabric. Simple, really…. if you have a bubble in the fabric, most of the time it’s not noticeable, but depending on your fabric you may see it, again spray liquid starch or a wet sponge on the area for a few minutes and done!!

Check out what a little bit of fabric did to my desk ….. Simple, cheap and can be exchanged as often as I change my mood ….I love to redecorate and change colors, so now I’m not stuck with a color forever!!

I know, you probably are asking why I added a paper backing to the wall and not add the fabric directly. That’s Simple, in a normal room I would add the fabric to the wall; this room I had to cover a window to fir the desk into the room; I was “hiding” the window and window seal with the board; that’s all. No other reason. You can safely add the Fabric to your walls the same way; when you change your mind, color scheme or whatnot, just pull off the fabric and attach a new fabric the same way.

Oh I just remembered most walls of course have outlets; how I usually work this is tape up the outlets, if you could turn them off that would be great. Attach the fabric as stated above, then once the fabric is dried on the wall I take a sharp knife and cut along the edge of the outlet, replace my outlet covers and voila, done… you maybe could cut the outlets ahead of time, but I’m not sure how it will work with the fabric being wet and maybe shrinking, fraying etc…. I always do it afterwards… but you can try it whichever way you prefer.

So, what room are you “Wallpapering” next? Would love to hear and hear about your outcome, too. This idea is also great for rental homes, because easy cleanup and no damage to the walls and your budget.

Don’t forget to check out some of our other Office Makeover #DIY ideas

The finished room Makeover
Simple window seat with cushion and pillows
Simple #DIY Window Valance on a Budget; NO Sew!
The New Desk with Ikea Part (desk above in picture)