There is no doubt I made you lovelies wait just a tad for this DIY project. I could tell you that I am sorry for that, and I am, but the truth is I have been blogging in slow motion since hatching the bird more than a year ago. Can't seem to snap out of it- do any of you have this problem? I'm sure I'm not alone here… it must be a bit like Mommy Brain, which by the way also hasn't gone away for me since bird #2 yet, eek! Anyhoo, as I was saying, the truth of the matter here is that I have had this project done for more than 3 months. Yep, I've been holding out on you… Actually I have just been slammed by life happening and so I chose to embrace it in this instance and let time do the telling on whether or not my method for this project would hold for longevity. And, after what is probably closer to 5 months (I constantly underestimate time), I'm happy to report that the process I am about to share with you is still going strong and shows no signs whatsoever of coming apart at the seams, pun completely intended!
Hold on to your socks folks, I'm about to blow your mind with the simplicity and budget friendliness of this fab project!
MATERIALS REQUIRED
Marbled Paper – 24″ x 36″ or a paper of your choosing.
Double Sided Photo + Document Tape
Scissors
That's it. Except you may benefit from a ruler or long straight edge to act as a guide for cutting, and an exacto knife to touch up your edges if you get a bit crazy, but honestly you can simply overlap a bit more if you are off a tad on your cut dimensions, so not to worry.
Ok so here is the skinny… Depending on the size of the area you plan to paper, you may need to cut your sheets down to size. I attempted to find pieces that either complimented each other in pattern or were very contrasting so that it would stand out and look like different sheets or tiles. I varied which of these I did depending on what I had in my patterning. For my space the size was such that I could place a whole sheet, then overlap a second sheet just a tad and cut off about 11″ of excess. I did this in an every other pattern so that the top row had the left sheet as it's whole sheet, and the second row had the right sheet as the whole sheet. There is nothing worse than a bunch of accidentally aligned seams. It looks odd, trust me on that.
Once you have your pattern figured out, place strips of the double sided tape along all 4 edges of your paper. I did a test fit before I removed the tape backing and actually stuck the sheets onto the wall. I also only removed one side of the tape backing at a time so that I could smooth and readjust as needed. I would begin on the top edge and peel back just a few inches of the tape backing, then smooth and peel for the remainder of that edge, a little at a time. This kept me from sticking an edge down and having to peel it off to adjust. Since the pattern is organic and relatively busy, it's pretty hard to screw this up, but having a crooked sheet near an edge can be a tad obvious depending on the overlap.
You can see my progress shot above. And the bird sitting with his babysitter, the tv. Don't judge… my other kid won't even watch tv so I am taking full advantage this time around!
I actually started on the second row first (after measuring down the proper distance), since I needed Mr. TDC to help me reach the top row. We inadvertently installed the Besta cabinet and secured it to the wall before I came up with this idea and so I couldn't reach the top portion, even with a ladder. Picture a velociraptor or T-Rex with short arms, that just can't quite reach. It wasn't pretty, but it might have been pretty funny… I had to get creative for the bottom portion, but found that essentially I could slide a portion of a sheet behind the cabinet pretty easily and just added the tape on the edges sticking out. Since many of the bottom sections only have tape on one edge and part of the top edge, that should tell you how well this particular tape has worked! And of course it's clearly not the kind of tape that will ruin the drywall when you attempt to remove it. Nope, it comes off easily but holds firmly while it's in place. Interesting little thing, this tape is. I guess those scrap bookers know a thing or two, eh?
So that's it. That's all she wrote, quite literally. Wasn't that ridiculously easy? Told you it would be! Yahoo
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