A decorated house does not have empty walls. But walls are a big space to fill and buying lots of paintings to hang all over them can be expensive. But there are plenty of other options and plenty of ways to fill those walls without spending a fortune.

Photo Boards

It is a terrible waste to have photos stuck in an old album where nobody ever sees them. Instead, get them all out and make photo boards. Have one board for each of your children, one for each holiday you have taken, and one for any special events. Make a collage of photos, frame them, and hang them. They will fill up that space on your wall as well as give your home that special personal touch.

Rugs

Cheap rugs aren't always the best quality and that is no good if you are going to be walking on them. But even a cheap rug won't wear if you hang it on the wall. Choose a nice pattern and use a rug to fill up space on some of your bigger walls. The color, pattern and texture looks just as good as any large painting would and at nowhere near the same price.

Calendars

A calendar contains twelve similar pictures. Buy calendars a few months into the new year when they are being sold for discount prices. Then cut out the pictures and either frame them separately or make a collage. Group them together into themes for the best result. Have a wall devoted to nature pictures, one devoted to famous artists and you can even use kids calendars to decorate a child's bedroom.

Make Your Own Wall Hangings

Another way to add real character to your home is to make your own wall hangings. Buy some timber the size you want, either with the timber finish or with a white finish. Then get some paints and start painting. Unless you are a talented artist, this works best if you don t try to paint anything in particular. Instead just put the paint on in messy stripes, or put on drops of color and swirl them together with your hands. Or get your children to do hand and foot prints all over them. This works best if you do a matching set, all of the same size, and hang them all up in a row.

Real Paintings

One way of getting real paintings for a good price is to look at the artwork of students. Consider going to college and school art shows. You can purchase an original for a very good price. Who knows? That student could one day become a famous artist. You could even consider asking a talented young artist to paint a mural on your wall. This will give you something unique and distinctive, and most art students would be thrilled at the opportunity to make use of their artistic talents.

These are just a few options to get you started. One final point is to always remember that just because paintings are specifically made for walls does not mean they are the only thing you can use. You can hang up anything: quilts, antique rifles, antique golf clubs, Japanese fans, your child's framed sports uniform. The only limit is the imagination.

Do you have a time or money saving idea that wasn't included in this article? Please send it to tips @stretcher.com. We get the best ideas from our readers!

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