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Decorating Ideas for Temporary Spaces

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My mom always tells the story about how every year when people asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I would say (without hesitation) “a baby sister!” One day, it finally worked (thanks Santa!) and when I was 8 years old, my baby sister was born.

Being 8 years apart, my sister and I have always been at different stages of life. When I wanted to play with Barbies and dolls, she couldn’t even walk. When she wanted to play dress-up and school, I was in high school and far too cool for that stuff. When I was in college and wanted to relate, she was in 6th grade. But now, for the first time in our lives, we are in the same place—both college graduates and working women. We are also physically in the same place—both living in my house, like I’ve shared before.

It’s been so fun to have my sister around. She’s a first year teacher and a super talented vegan chef and baker (I’m trying to convince her to do a guest post sometime soon!), and has the opposite personality type as me. Where I’m carefree, she’s cautious (wait, which one of us is older again?!) and where I like order, she is more casual.

One thing we have in common though, is we both like interior design. She did a fantastic job decorating her last apartment and while I am way behind schedule, I wanted to make sure she has a nice place to hang out while she’s here in our home. I already took care of the bed/bedding, but she still needed a few more things.

To give her a side table, I picked up these super cute brackets on sale at Anthropologie and mounted a board from The Home Depot that Scott stained for me. Underneath I put this awesome vintage basket I picked up in Fredericksburg, so she would have a place to put all her books and notebooks she looks at nightly for teaching.

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So we had function, but now we needed the pretty. Ya’ll know I am all about the function AND fashion of a room. I knew I wanted to add something to make the room a little more homey, but it had to be something that is easy to install and easily changeable since we aren’t sure if/when we’ll have different guests stay with us with different needs.

So you all can imagine how excited I was when I had the opportunity to work with Wallternatives. They are part of the Royal Design Company, whose stencils I adore (and am scheming on how to use!). Their goal with Wallternatives is to bring “pattern for the people”, which I love

I chose these adorable little Garden Bunting Wallprints for her room because—another thing we have in common!—we both LOVE pink! Are we related or what, hellloooo? 😉 Plus I think they add a bit of sweet whimsy and femininity to the room, which is always much appreciated in our house.

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Believe it or not, these little flags are made of fabric! They come in packs of 7 in both small and large, but I opted for 2 small packs so I could cover more space.

Putting them up was super easy. I simply peeled off the paper, and smoothed on each bunting. I made sure to stop and step back every few just to make sure I was heading the right way.

If you are like me and change your mind often, then this is an excellent product for you. I rearranged the layout of them about 3 times before I was happy and each time it was so simple to remove and reattach them to the walls!

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It took me about 20 minutes to add these to the wall and I can’t believe the difference they make!

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The Wallprints are removable whether you leave them up a day or a year and you can use them again and again. They are also non-toxic and environmentally friendly—so no worries there. I think these would be so sweet for a baby shower or a birthday party and take so much stress away from having to make decorations. Obviously they are also great for renters or college students, since they add big impact with no nails or damage done to the walls.

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We have just a few more things to do until we can call this room done (for now). Clothes storage is an issue since we don’t have a closet and don’t thing we’ll be adding one back quite yet. So we have a fun alternative in the works…and, you guys, there are two more empty walls in the room begging for some art! 🙂

But for now, I’m just admiring our handiwork thus far and enjoying the before and after.

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I’ve half-heartedly promised my sister she can take the Wallprints with her when she leaves, but now that they are up…I don’t know. Wouldn’t I be a mean sister if I just kept them for myself? 🙂

Probably. 😛

Disclosure: I was provided the Wallternative prints free of charge. The opinions, projects and ideas—as always—are 100% my own. I only work with companies I love, so please check them out!

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Tania Griffis is an accomplished writer, blogger, and interior designer with a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She started her popular blog, Run to Radiance, in 2011, demonstrating her design expertise through the personal remodeling of six houses to millions of readers across the globe.

Tania also owns The Creative Wheelhouse, a respected ghostwriting agency for bloggers, further showcasing her talent for creating engaging and informative content.

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9 Comments

  1. That is so cute! It works great in a grown up space like this, but would also be really cute in a kid’s room. It’s all coming together so well! 🙂

  2. What a great idea! Amazing that these are made of fabric ~ one more thing I am not familiar with. 🙂 You two did a great job with the design! Your sister is adorable and yes, she should guest post.

    xo
    Pat

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