DIY: String Wall Art

As a renter, dorm room dweller, person who moves frequently, and/or lazy college grad still living at home, it's never a good idea to go nailing a million holes in your walls. As a high schooler, I had at least 40 tacks and nails in my walls at all times plus at least as many glow in the dark stars on my ceiling - let's just say my dad wasn't terribly happy about filling all those holes.

So what's a girl to do when she sees this kind of wall art (and this one and this one) that requires roughly a million nails, but really really really wants to recreate it in her room? ...this:

Put it on an old corkboard!

What you need:
Old corkboard, painted or "raw"
String and/or yarn
Lots of nails
A hammer
A printout of the word(s) (or you can freehand them)

I found these awesome white nails!

What you do:
1) Nail around the edges of your letters. I put a nail every inch or so, but this will depend on how large your letters are.

Be careful not to hammer the nails through to the other side of the board, as this can damage what you're nailing on as well as the wall when you hang your art! I definitely recommend doing this step outside.

My cat was kind enough to supervise my progress.

He was a real helper...

2) Run away from the mosquitoes and go back inside. Wrap yarn around the border of the letters a few times to give it definition, then randomly wrap around the inside. Begin and end each letter by tying the yarn to one of the nails.

You can push your yarn to be flat against the board, but I really liked the more 3d effect. Here you can kind of see how I wrapped the edge of each letter three times before zigzagging around the middle.

3) Cut off the dangling ends of yarn, and you're done!! I haven't figured out where to hang mine yet so for now it lives in front of my dresser.

DIY Home Inspiration Series, Part 1

As the seasons change, people begin moving into/out of new rooms, places, and spaces, so I've decided to share some of my own decoration tips (I'm proud to say that several people have walked into my dorm rooms and said "oh, it's so home-y in here!"). So here's How to Make Your Room Feel Homier, Part 1.

Get curtains.

No, really. Get curtains. Whenever I tell my friends this, they always whine about not wanting their room to look like their mom decorated for them. But it really is the easiest way to make your room feel more like a home and less like a dorm or crappy apartment.

And just because I'm super awesome, I even found this tutorial on how to make curtains out of a bedsheet. Super easy, super cheap, and makes your room look super nice!!

Images via: Pinterest, DecorPad, Ikea, Elements of Style, Young House Love, StudioTen25, UrbanOutfitters, Martha Stewart

Changes: Making More Room

Every time a huge life event occurs, I get the sudden urge to move things around my room, change it up a bit. Even as far back as middle school, I'd be hauling my furniture around and changing my curtains every 4 months or so. Having a different personal space completely changes my energy, and focuses my nerves (or fears, or hopes, or anxiety) onto something productive and energizing. Since I've been living in a dorm room for the past three and a half years, this has been especially important for me.

And over break, that's exactly what I did. I took the things I didn't like about my room (not enough floor space, not a great work space, light from my window wasn't good, didn't really have any place to organize my jewelry [causing me to just not wear any], etc) and pushed stuff around until it finally all worked.

Really - I have so much more floor space now! Anyone get the movie reference?

There's still a few things I want to change, but with the new semester starting yesterday, they're just going to have to wait a bit. So here's my favorite parts so far:

My favorite new part: I got this bedside table a couple years ago but decided to change it to a jewelry stand of sorts. More visible jewelry = I wear it more.

Can you tell I'm going through a gold jewelry phase? 

My newly re-vamped closet. 

I never used to be a shoe girl. How did I get this many shoes? And why do I still think I need more boots? (Note: I have my summer collection in storage) 

I have a thing for orchids. Mine have been hibernating since last summer, but starting to grow a new stem! The boxes I made with my dad back in middle and high school, and the painting I made last year. 

More orchids, more paintings, and more lace atop my dresser.

My bed, my home, my comfy place. I told my teddy bear Sumo that he'd be famous one day.