Makeover Monday: Insider Tips, Tricks & Expert Advice

After receiving so many beautifully wrapped birthday gifts last week, I had to do a post on decorating with paper! Create a large impact on a small budget – get the tips:

1) Create artwork to ooh and aah over by covering inexpensive 12-x-12-inch artist canvases with attractive paper patterns. Wrap the canvas like a present with a 1- to 2-inch overhang. Attach the paper to the front with double-stick tape, andsecure the excess paper to the frame’s back with electrical tape.

2) A clear acrylic tray provides a window of opportunity to showcase a paper print, bringing a dose of much-needed color to this coffee table. Attach paper to the underside of the tray using double-stick tape or, to keep your options open, simply lay the paper inside.

3) Exotic Oriental papers transform the neutralfurnishings and blue walls of this apartment from bland to beautiful. The first project: Add glam to an inexpensive lampshade by attaching a wide band of colorful paper with glue. Smaller bands of paper around the top and bottom edges give it a finished look. Keep clicking for helpful how-tos for all the paper projects you see here.

4) Don’t forget to dress your accessories in personalized designs. It took just five minutes to wrap this journal with a paper belt and a few seconds more to slip a leftover paper scrap into a photo pocket on the album.
5) Paper just isn’t practical for some purposes, such as soft and comfy throw pillows. Enter heat-transfer paper, which allows you to tattoo your favorite paper designs onto fabric. A copy center will reproduce a paper image onto an 11-x-17-inch sheet of transfer paper for less than $4. Transfer the design to fabric using an iron and following the paper manufacturer’s instructions. For an eye-catching change of scale, the patterns used on these pillows were enlarged by 250 to 400 percent before being copied to transfer paper.