Office makeover using fabric as inspiration and wall cover!

So as you all know, I live in a rental unit. This place has two bedrooms and a spare room that would work as another small bedroom, if it had heat. Naturally this little ice cube is my office. I use a space heater to warm it up when I am in there. Besides being a naturally occurring walk-in cooler, it's hideous on top of it.  Somehow it was deemed necessary to nail reclaimed two by fours to the wall as paneling around the room. I mean, why not, right?

Yuck.

Since again, we are not allowed to paint any surface of this space, I had to think of something else that would work. Upon examination I realized that the reclaimed wood walls were both porous and poorly installed. Plus they are spattered with paint and speckled with nail heads. Clearly aesthetics were not considered at any point from conception to execution of this ...we'll call it an "idea".

Look at all that lovely wood paneling...

Oh yeah, now that is sexy to look at.

Due to the inherent hideousness of the space, the fact that we will probably be moving on soon and also  that we're not "allowed" to permanently alter anything here, jazzing up the room might seem like an all-around waste of time (to anyone but me). Let's remember who we're talking about here - saying that a space shouldn't be made to look appealing just because it is temporary (to me) carries the same weight as saying Nutella shouldn't be eaten by the spoonful. It's just downright ridiculous!  (mmmm...Nutella...)

What to do, what to do.

That's when the thoughts started flowing. Wood. Nails. Nails, staples. Staples, staple gun. Staple gun, fabric. FABRIC! Yes, I had decided to cover these hideous wooden walls with fabric.

I emptied the place. I threw out the garbage. I went to the fabric store, found the perfect print and then stood impatiently in line behind a high schooler that was buying Sesame Street patterned anti-pill fleece to make what he exclaimed would be "the most amazing blanket ever" to his pimply faced buddy standing next to him. Ok, I didn't have to mention that they were pimply-faced, but they totally cut in front of me and then didn't offer their 40% off coupon to me when they realized they couldn't use it. I mean - come on! Chivalry is dead. Or it's at least in a coma.

Alright, alright - enough tomfoolery! Here are the results of my endeavors...

Tada! Bright and clean looking, no?

I just happened to already have that zig-zag beanbag ottoman! 

Now this is a space I can work in!

I love the way it turned out, and it was easy! The fabric was just the right width to go from the top ledge to the bottom trim. I used a heavy duty staple gun (borrowed) to affix the fabric to the wall starting at once side and moving all around the room. Silvery ribbon and thumb tacks were added for some pizzaz. Frames I already owned were filled with pictures I quickly printed off from my computer (I plan to get the real thing in there soon, haha) and researching online I found a bunch of inspirational quotes which I then edited to match my color scheme. Paint swatches from a hardware store got cut up and clothes pinned to my curtain and the make-shift clothes line I hung above my computer (this serves the dual purpose of looking cute and hiding my wireless router and coordinating mess of cords)

This project cost me less than $70. The only things I purchases was the fabric ($35...it'd have been less if I'd had that darn coupon...), rug ($20), ribbon, thumbtacks and cork board squares (around $10 for all). Everything else I moved around from other parts of my house! Even the pillow is repurposed (it's a brown pillow wrapped in one of my husbands old shirts! Then I used a gray ribbon that I had saved from a throw blanket I bought a while back and a piece of silver ribbon scrap that was left over from the wall project! VOILA! Brand new toss pillow!)

And some detail shots... 

Repurposed pillow :)

Faux clothes line with a scrap of fabric, paint swatch squares and black and white photos.

Photo collage of my son paired with zig zag pattern to match the ottoman ties the look together. 

Detail shot of the fabric and my ribbon/thumb tack embellishments.

When it comes time to move out of this place, a flathead and three quarters of an hour will make taking this home-decorating project easy to take down and remove all traces of. And it gets better - since the fabric is largely intact I will be able to reuse it to create a future project (or projects!), to really maximize my investment! Yeeehaaaaw.

Hope you enjoyed my office makeover! See you next time...