Longing For A Creative Mural? The Renter-Friendly Hack Anyone Can Master

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Living in a rented apartment or home can sometimes be frustrating for the design-minded among us because of common restrictions on permanent or semi-permanent adjustments. In fact, many landlords and rental companies have rules against painting walls or making changes to the unit's layout. However, if you still long to have eye-catching design elements in the apartment that reflect your personality, there is a great way to decorate the space without causing any permanent damage to the property.

This clever renter-friendly DIY decor trick involves creating a wall mural out of felt. Instead of painting the wall, you cover it with a range of felt tiles in different shapes, colors, and sizes to create one cohesive decoration that livens up the whole room. By using renter-friendly adhesive strips or tape, like these Vimiroo removable glue stick dots, you can stick the felt to the walls and not worry about damaging the paint below when you take it down. In addition, the soft, thick nature of the felt offers a great way to absorb noise and make a space feel cozier. This is a great project for letting your imagination run wild, as it can be customized any way you want to decorate living areas, home offices, kids' rooms, and other spaces. 

The steps for applying your felt mural to the wall are relatively straightforward. Simply attach the tape to the back of the felt (if there isn't any adhesive there already), then attach the latter to the wall. However, before you jump straight into decorating the surface, plan the design thoroughly, so it looks intentional and stays secure, and you get the custom mural's scale right for the home.

First, pick your colors. Consider the decor you already have in your home and come up with a design idea that uses similar shades, so that the mural feels integrated with the rest of your space. For example, if you like nature-inspired decor and own lots of plants, floral prints, and raw materials like wood or rattan, you could think up a design using colors inspired by trees, leaves, mountains, or waves. 

Felt can't quite create fine details the way a paintbrush can, so you may want to opt for a simpler, more geometric outline for your design. To help you get the scale and layout right, first lay out the felt tiles on a flat surface, like a table or the floor. Doing so will help you ensure that each element is proportional to the others and the design doesn't looks oddly-shaped or distorted; this way, you can make the most of this accent wall idea to bring your home to life.