Vinyl wall art has come a long way in the past few years. Once reviled as tacky, temporary art for college students, vinyl decals are now recognized as a legitimate decor element that helps bring energy and beauty to even the most plain, boring and naked walls. And while you can get them at specialty shops in NYC, you’ll find that stores like Target and Home Depot are filled with awesome wall art options, too.

Types of Wall Decals

You may have bad memories about cheesy, old-school wall decals that looked tacky, were difficult to remove, and looked exactly like what they were: wall stickers. Advances in technology have made today’s wall decals beautiful, workable pieces of art that look great and are easy to apply (and remove!). There are several types of wall decals to choose from, including the following:

• Border decals These are meant to be used in small areas to add little pops of visual impact. They can also be used to add a design element while taking the place of chair rails or mimicking crown molding.
• 3-D wall decals: Thanks to their three-dimensional perspective, they can appear to jump off your walls.

Image Source: Flickr

Beautify Your Uglies

Some things are in your home are homely but necessary: Electrical outlets and old unsalvageable doors come to mind. You may not have the budget required to replace that plywood interior door with something more stylish. But you can camouflage it — and other not-so-pretty elements of your home — with vinyl decals.

• Mask those electrical outlets with the coolest decals that interact with the outlet holes. For a whimsical touch, play up the outlet’s placement on the walls or turn the outlet holes into cute faces.
• You may not be able to replace an ugly door with the door of your choice due to financial constraints or because you live in a rental, but that doesn’t mean you have to live with the old thing as is. Cool decals applied to doors can turn them into hip, beautiful entrances and exits.

Turn a Wall into an Amazing Installation

So you have a blank wall, and you have no wall art that’s quite right for the space. Fear not: There’s amazing vinyl wall art that can make that space need its own velvet rope.

• Use abstract wall graphics on a small section of wall to make a conversation-worthy space.
• Art is meant to make you feel, so choose wall decal art that elicits an emotional response from you. Choose wall decals with inspirational messages or scenes that can help set the tone for your day.
• Fill an entire blank wall with a giant graphic. This can be a full scene or a solitary visual.
• Create a theme for your room — a futuristic theme for a baby’s room, for example — and emphasize it with vinyl wall art. There are plenty of amazing, spirited wall decals that can enhance and complete whatever scene you choose.

Armed with these tips and tricks, you can banish bare walls in a single afternoon and turn your NYC home into something straight out of New York magazine’s Design Hunting section, without even cracking open a can of paint.

Main Image Source: Flickr/Francesc Esteve

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