5 Creative Ways to Decorate Your Walls

Top five tips for decorating your walls with something other than art:

• Use dried flowers as an everlasting touch of nature in your space.
• Hang up an old instrument to give your room a touch of personality and style.
• Place old book pages on your wall for a playful take on a traditional gallery wall.
• Use old records and record covers as a functional piece of decor for your walls.
• Vintage paintbrushes can add an artistic touch to your space.

Boy, there are so many reasons to find unique things to hang on our walls.

Perhaps you just moved into your new abode and want to zhuzh up your space with something that represents your style and who you are. Maybe you want to add some extra flavor to existing walls that you've been dwelling in for some time, or perhaps even cover up a paint color as gracefully as possible that our landlord insists on keeping?

If you're anything like me, the first thing you might be stuck thinking about is mounting pictures and photos. A gallery wall. Or a mini gallery. Or even a single photograph. But if you think outside of the box, there are plenty of other things we can hang on our walls outside of just pictures—especially if we want to have fun with them!

Use dried florals as an everlasting touch of nature in your space.

This technique, which I now use in almost every room possible, caught me by surprise. It was triggered during an online workshop I took about flower arranging.

In the class, I'd learned how to arrange a beautiful floral bouquet, and throughout it all, I realized how fleeting this beauty was. I wanted this bouquet forever, not just for the small amount of time these flowers could live in this vase.

After making the bouquet and placing it on our screened-in porch, a rainstorm hit and blew it to the ground. When I went outside to pick it up, it was almost entirely upside down. And that's when it hit me! I went inside, hung these flowers upside down to preserve them, and realized this amazing design hack I've been using ever since!

If you're not a frequenter of flower shops, a trip to Trader Joe's may serve you better than you think. Just as if you would create a regular bouquet, arrange your florals in a way that you love, then wrap some twine around them, spin 'em upside down, and with a gentle nail in the wall, you have a real floral arrangement that'll keep!

Try hanging up an old instrument to give your room a touch of personality and style.

If you're a musician like me, you might have flinched when you read "instruments." Yes, propping up a new, frequently used instrument like a guitar prone to humidity is definitely a no-no. But I'm talkin' old, vintage instruments. I'm talkin' bells, chimes, gifts from friends, old, unusable bongos that you passed by in a thrift shop and had to get.

Hanging up old instruments can give a nice, earthy feel to a space and say a little more about your personality and style. Even if it's unusable, it almost gives the impression that old music can start playing at any moment, and people can break out in song in your space. I don't know about you, but that's a vibe I want to create!

Place old book pages on your wall for a playful take on a traditional gallery wall.

My fellow cottage-core-loving friends, this right here is for you. You might have happened upon images of this on Pinterest. And although I haven't done this one (yet), it just reminds me so much of when I was a teen and plastered magazine cuttings everywhere (albeit, those were of Shawn Johnson and Avril Lavigne, but the same idea, right?).

Putting up old book pages is a quirky, playful way of stamping your personality more on your space, almost like you're creating a gallery of your own. Of course, to many, ripping up a book might make you cringe, so think about finding an old book at a vintage shop that's on its last legs before the trash can. But, on the other hand, savoring these precious goods as much as possible is a beautiful way of honoring them, especially if it's a writer you have a history with or who you love.

Now, if your walls are a free-for-all, I've seen that you may be able to plaster this directly on and add some adhesive. Still, if not, a simple nail might be all you need, especially if you like allowing the pages to flutter and flow along with each passing step in its space.

Use old records and record covers as a functional piece of decor for your walls.

Here's yet another call-out to my musical/design cohorts who love using functional musical pieces as a design! There are a ton of different record player wall mounts that you could get up on the wall with a few holes so your record can stand your record proudly and safely. As far as record covers go, they're art in and of themselves! If you're an '80s and '90s lover like me, you might see a Cocteau Twins or Mazzy Star record standing proud as a painting somewhere in a future iteration of my home. Either way, it's a really fun, light, and simple way of adding colors and moods, especially if you already have them!

Vintage paintbrushes can add an artistic touch to your space.

I have to credit my musician and thrifty friend for this idea. As we were shopping together one day, she gazed at some old, mounted paintbrushes on a wall, and said to the shop owner, "why don't more people mount these?" I immediately thought to myself, why don't I do that?

The best part is that most paintbrushes already come with a perfect little section to hang at the handle. So if you can repurpose a brush you've used and know you will never see the light of day again, great. Bonus points if you find a super vintage one with old paint on it (I'm still on the search).

Here are how Spoak members are decorating their walls in creative ways.

Just in case you need a little more inspiration to get you going, here are how some other Spoak members are decorating their walls in creative ways.