Curing white wall syndrome on the cheap

Aloha -

I have a nice, chill, backroom tiki bar but I am running into a major problem that I did not find an answer for while searching the archives.

I need a cheap(dirt cheap/dirt dirt cheap) and (mostly) temporary wall covering to cure my horrible glossy latex white paint. I am a renter so no painting and I am always broke so most thatch/mat/bamboo coverage is outside my price range.

The plus is that the room is an addition that has a wooden dowel/stud along the top that I can hang things like cloth. I thought butcher paper stained with tea or homemade tapa or cheap cloth coverage but I guess I was looking to see if there are any other good ideas out there.

Budget is somewhere in the $0-$50 range and the two larger walls are roughly 8' tall and 8'long.(One is slightly taller than the other giving a cool roof line). I want to make it cheap so I can do a cool bamboo/netting ceiling to highlight the a-frame-esque ceiling lines.

gabbahey

Netting with cheap plastic fish, crabs, shells etc.

Gabbahey, Tikiville did an awesome job of making faux tapa cloth out of butcher paper and Polynesiac made a link to that and some other home made tapas

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=35862&forum=18&vpost=518928

PS - wide unbleached muslin is fairly inexpensive (check WalMart or Joann's - Joann's often has coupons for 40% and single cut of fabric no matter how long) As long as you are going to the trouble it might be worth the effort to paint on something more permanent than butcher paper.

PSS - As far as paint, it's sometimes easier to get forgiveness than permission :wink: Nothing too wild, maybe some kind of a yellow/brown faux finish. You could alway paint white Kilz over it before you move out

Hey look, mister. We serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast, and we don't need any characters around to give the joint "atmosphere". Is that clear?

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2011-07-12 19:33 ]

How about that Reed/Bamboo looking fencing that comes in rolls, I get it from Home Depot
if you have those in Colo. they run about $25 a Roll.

Hang it from a few hooks and instant Tiki background.

Another option is get a few of those Hanging Bamboo curtains and hang them side by side to fill the wall area.

I have used burlap. It is very cheap, easy to hang and in dim light does the job.

On 2011-07-12 19:18, MadDogMike wrote:
wide unbleached muslin is fairly inexpensive (check WalMart or Joann's - Joann's often has coupons for 40% and single cut of fabric no matter how long) As long as you are going to the trouble it might be worth the effort to paint on something more permanent than butcher paper.

Muslin is dirt cheap and you can paint, or dye, or tea stain, or just about anything to it and then treat it like wall paper. Use liquid fabric starch (there are recipes out there if you want to make your own) to apply the fabric to the wall.

When you are ready to change things up, or move, you simply peel fabric away and give the wall a wash-down and the landlord will never know.

Or.....

Find your local school supply store, or ask a local printer about paper companies and pick up/order a roll of 24" Kraft wrap. Don't get butcher paper because that has a waxy coating. Get kraft wrap, its the plain old brownish paper.

With kraft wrap you can apply it directly to the walls using discreet thumbtacks (poster putty is better!).

You can , with some testing for colorfastness, apply it with the same liquid starch method from the fabric.

You can paint, or print, or mottle, or just about anything else you can dream up. And a roll is typically 200 feet or more so you will probably have enough to do you walls, decide you want something more and you still have enough left on the roll to keep going.

Kraft paper is a good idea too. Home Depot used to sell it as painters dropcloths in 8x10 sheets. They were folded so you'd have a hard time getting rid of the creases, just crumple it all up and smooth it out - gives it texture and hides the folds.

Hapa Haole Hideaway I was in a rental.

I used reed fencing on the walls and kept it in place with fishing wire strung between screw eyes and a few carefully placed nails in door frames. All the support was completely invisible and landlord safe. Nails in the side of the door frame are not noticed...

The ceiling was covered in burlap first, which hid the white and was just stapled up. Staples came out and no holes were visible. Burlap is like $10 for 50 feet.

The thatch ceiling was done by getting in the attic, which you may not have access to, and drilling very small holes up so that I could put a wire into the attic and screw to a joist. Then the entire thatch ceiling was hung from these wires. It took 8 wires to do it and again, when the wires were removed you could not see the holes left behind.

A very easy & thrifty idea is to buy several of those reed beach mats they have for $2 at Walgreens & tacking them onto the wall or even the ceiling. They are about 6 feet long x 2 feet wide and can be used vertically or horizontally. I also sometimes employ them as a window treatment. They are lightweight and do not require more than a thumbtack to put up.

These are all good ideas, and most I've used myself. I suggest a combination of things - pin up your faux tapa cloth over most of the wall, cover some of that with the reed fencing, and then over all put up some fish nets with shells, fake critters, etc. It will give you a very multi-layered, 3-D look and make everyone forget there ever was a white wall in the room.

Great ideas all!

I think you are right about combining the different ideas. I already have some cheap fishnet so I'll definitely use that - probably stock it with ephemera and a bucket of cheap plastic sea creatures. I am going to home depot to price the fencing first since that is probably the most attractive and expensive option. Making custom tapa is a little intimidating but I think with my wife's help I can make something passable - leaning toward muslin.

One question, where do you get burlap - at the fabric store or the hardware store (or both)?

Thanks so much for all the help. I'll post my bar and wall coverings once I get something presentable hung/pasted up.

gabbahey

On 2011-07-13 14:28, gabbahey wrote:

One question, where do you get burlap - at the fabric store or the hardware store (or both)?

I was just at JoAnn's at lunch today, they have burlap. I think it was already 50% off through July 16 but there are always coupons for that much off.

On 2011-07-13 16:30, newB24 wrote:
One question, where do you get burlap - at the fabric store or the hardware store (or both)?

Yes.

Hardware stores have it typically in short rolls, usually 18" wide on 8 to 20 foot roll, to use as landscape/weed block.

Fabric stores typically have it by the yard on a wider roll, as much as 50 inches wide. And fabric stores are more likely to have more than just brown.

If you have a JoAnne's in your neck of the woods you can probably find a coupon for some percentage off that will allow you to save a few bucks, or buy more, or both.

Look in the gardening section, weed abrrier stuff at the hardware store. Usually comes 3 feet wide by 30 feet long for very little money.

I JUST bought this cheap thickly woven fabric for $2/yard at Walmart that really looks like woven green bamboo matting. A renter could tack it to the wall any number of ways.