I'm always looking for unusual and inexpensive decorating ideas for my home. I recently came across something that perfectly fit this description.

What happens to all those brown paper bags that you lug home from the grocery store each week? If your like me, they get folded up and stuck in the utility room. Sure they're good for mailing packages and making school book covers, but that still leaves you with a lot of brown paper.

Well, I have a solution --

wrap your walls in brown paper!!

Now I don't necessarily mean cover every wall in your house, but it will give a striking look to that certain room.

Essentials:

• Lots of paper bags
• Wallpaper paste
• Paintbrush (2" or 3" wide works well)
• At least 1 plain wall

There is no need to prime or paint the wall you are using. And for all the lazybones out there, you can even do it directly on drywall board.

Steps:

1. Pour yourself a glass of wine. (I find this helps get the creative juices flowing!)
2. Tear the paper bags into any shape pieces. I found that around 12" x 12" is good. You will also need some small pieces to fit around the edges and corners.
3. Ball up each of the pieces of paper as tight as you can, and toss them to the side. In fact, it works well if you let them stay balled up for a while.
4. Unball each piece of paper, flatten with your hand, and stack in a pile.
5. Using the paintbrush, cover the back of 1 piece of paper with wallpaper paste. Starting in the corner of the wall, press the paper onto the wall. Rub firmly with the heel of your hand.
6. Take the next piece and apply paste to the back of it. When you press this one onto the wall, overlap a portion of the other piece. Continue this step until the entire wall is covered.

Once the wall is completely covered, you can leave it as is, or you can paint it. I would recommend, however, that for any type of wall treatment like this, you experiment techniques on a piece of posterboard first.

Keep in mind that these are just guidelines, there is no right or wrong way of doing this. This is what makes it an unusual and individualized wall treatment.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. Also, if you have any creative ideas for the home or garden and wish to share them, I'd love to hear from you.

Be sure and check back later to find out what to do with those dry cleaning bags!

Written By: Michele Tiller

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On Line: 22-Jun-96
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