Vinyl Sticker Art: Apartment Decorating on the Cheap

The apartment needs some flair. We’ve now lived here for nine months and our walls are still white. We had this great idea to shoot panorama shots on our phone camera’s of the places and cities we’ve visited together, but that hasn’t quite come together. I guess we need to go more places. Now more than ever I want the Nokia Lumia 8MP camera / phone! (or the Apple equivalent, get on it, Tim Cook!)  I’ve had a few panorama’s printed and one framed, however that frame is resting against the wall in the corner rather than gracing my living room wall above the couch (weight issues, yeesh). You see, although my brilliant decorating ideas are still very… brilliant, they’re quite expensive. The panorama prints themselves range from $22-$30, while the custom plexiglass frames are $50 and above. If you live on a mid-sized income and still want to eat out every once in a while, spending $75+ on one single piece of wall art can’t be justified.

I’m all for repurposed art, but unfortunately I am not one of those artistic, rustic types that can make a room all come together with a piece of wood, some string, and eco-friendly, non toxic paints. (This is LA, come on.) …so I found vinyl sticker art!

We all go to Etsy to become inspired, but I’m pretty sure 95% of us viewers never actually follow through with our crafty side. Anyway, I came upon vinyl art stickers at many online Etsy stores. I’m quite familiar with using these stickers, as my boyfriend has a small plot cutter for bike decals at his carbon repair and custom bike shop. However, I’d never really thought to move the vinyl from the bike tube to the wall! For me, someone who is the least bit sensible when it comes to home decorating, it was like having this creative, ethereal epiphany.

I found that most uses for vinyl sticker decorations are for children’s rooms, nursery’s, and high art gallery-type rooms. However, my uses are mainly for my kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen is outdated and narrow (but it’s an apartment and one day I’ll be rich with a mansion, right?!) and the half bath is quite small (designated only for the boyfriend…and his iPad….apparently magazine racks are so 20th century).

For the kitchen, we already have cow-patterned carpet squares from FLOR and I’ve decided to continue this barnyard theme. Although I found a lovely cow head sticker, fifty-seven inches of cow seemed a bit too overpowering. We might as well just pack up and move back to Ohio if we really want giant cows. Instead, I opted for this simple yet fitting silhouette farm decal set for above the sink. I think it’ll be subtle enough, yet add to the decor. The farm stickers were purchased at SixUnderATree.

The closet-like half bath will be turned into a bicycle themed sanctuary. Let’s face it, he’s in there watching online racing anyway. The bike vinyl sticker was purchased at MyWallStickers.

They both should be arriving very soon. Once I get them up, I’ll write an update with how well the materials held up and if I am, in fact, a real-life vinyl decorating visionary or just a 27-year old with a 12-years old’s love of stickers.