Rental properties can be boring and difficult to personalize in a way that is totally temporary. While more removable products are becoming available, many of them are pricey and cumbersome to install. Contact paper, however, is inexpensive, easy to find and now available in a myriad of colors, patterns, textures and styles! If you’re looking for a quick, easy, affordable and removable way to update your rental, give one of these five creative ideas a try!
1. Contact Paper as a Liner
One of the most obvious ways to use contact paper is to line drawers, cabinets, shelves and the other “built-in” features in your rental. Not only does contact paper add an unexpected flash of color and pattern, but it’s great for covering up unsightly damage from previous residents. Further, its protective coating will help keep your surfaces clean and scratch-free, reducing your risks for fines upon move-out!
You can also use contact paper to line and protect the insides of furniture. Look for colors or patterns that match your décor, and install it along smooth, flat surfaces. Adding a wild or geometric pattern is a fun way to modernize a classic piece of furniture!
2. Contact Paper as Wall Décor
Because of its price point and residue-free quality, you can also use contact paper to decorate your walls! It’s a bit too flimsy to apply to your walls as wallpaper (you’d likely end up with lots of bubbles and tears), but it can easily be cut into more manageable sizes and shapes to create one-of-a-kind wall features! The gold polka dots above were cut from gold contact paper using a circle punch and applied in a random fashion to create a whimsical and removable wall feature!
Don’t forget to look beyond the walls to find other, more subtle ways to make your space your own. In the photo above, off-the-shelf chevron contact paper was trimmed into strips and staggered to create a herringbone effect across the cabinet toe-kicks. This is such an easy and effective way to update the more permanent features in your rental … and it can pull right off when it’s time to go! (Want to try it yourself? Use this tutorial!)
Contact paper doesn’t have to be applied right to the walls to be décor; it can also be cut apart to create other decorations. Here, strips of different tapes and patterned contact papers were cut and then folded over string to make bunting! This inexpensive project makes for a great addition to a gallery wall or above a bed!
3. Contact Paper as Labels
Contact paper is a great way to label bins, baskets and other containers around your home. Not only can you pick colors and patterns to match your décor, but its sticky quality allows you to easily add a label to almost anything! Above, toy icons were cut from basic white shelf liner with an e-cutter and adhered to the fronts of fabric-covered totes. Below, basic numbers were cut from leftover geometric liner and secured to cardboard boxes. When it’s time to re-organize, just peel off the labels and add new ones!
Contact paper now comes in “chalkboard” finish, making it super easy to get the chalkboard look and function in your home without the hassle of paint! You can add the chalkboard-like contact paper to your walls or drawers, or punch it into shapes to make re-writable labels for anywhere in your home!
Love these jars? We do too! See how they are made here!
4. Update Old or Thrifted Items to Match Your Décor
Contact paper is also an easy way to update old items that may be dated, damaged or unsightly. If something doesn’t match your décor and can’t be easily painted (or you don’t want to paint it!), cover it in contact paper to give it new life instead! Old, dated boxes (above) were given a fresh and modern makeover with the addition of preppy paper on the inside. To transform a thrifted frame into a pretty memo board, the glass was covered in floral contact paper (below). In both of these products, the true charm of the makeover was achieved with contact paper!
5. Make Ordinary Items Extraordinary
Last but not least, contact paper is a great way to make simple, mundane items around your home a little more fun and stylish. From covering plain file folders to match your home office (above) to concealing plain wood used to make custom drawer dividers (below), use contact paper to add a punch of pattern wherever you need it!
See how we made these drawer dividers here!
Contact paper is an inexpensive, easy-to-find, repositionable and fun-to-work-with medium that can quickly and easily transform your rental space. From adding an unexpected pop of pattern inside your cabinets and drawers to covering your walls and updating thrift store finds, there are countless ways to use it. Next time you come across a pattern you love, scoop it up and try one of these projects. When you’re ready for a change, peel it off and start again!
[tweetthis]Contact paper is an inexpensive medium that can quickly and easily transform your rental space.[/tweetthis]