~brown bag wallpaper tutorial~

First tutorial ever!!!!!

Hello everyone out in bloggyland!!  On my last post I promised a tutorial using this:

But since I had a few requests for the brown bag wallpaper instructions.......I decided to do that

first!  So, here is how you make your walls look like this:

 You can do a small room for under $15 and a bunch of grocery bags....so start saving them!

Here's what you're gonna need:

1)  grocery bags- the less writing the better

2)  Wallpaper glue - the type for unpasted wallpaper

3)  a bowl to pour the glue into!

4)  about a quart of satin finish taupe paint (depending on the size of the room),

5) some latex gloves and

6)  a damp sponge for later....

Now for the highly complex procedure......

Tear the bag into random shapes.....

Similar to this!

   Tip:  leave some pieces with the straight edge in place to use at the top of the wall or around door frames.  You can either do this or use a razor blade to trim when you're finished. 

Now, scrunch 'em up! This is really so easy your kids can help!

and flatten 'em out!

Next, you're going to completely soak each piece in the glue (one at a time is how I did it....less mess)

You will probably want to wear gloves at this point!  Now wipe off the excess glue w/ your hands just so it's not dripping and put it on the wall!!

Then smooth it out and lay on the next piece!

You'll want to overlap each piece.

Continue adding pieces in a random fashion.

My 9 year old Allie was loving getting messy helping!

Here's what I meant about the straight edge at the top of the wall

Once you have an area of about 2 ft x 2 ft completed, use a straight edge of some kind or a wallpaper roller tool to smooth out any bubbles & bumps.

When you're finished, and it's dry (about 24 hours) use a  razor edge or utility knife along doors, windows etc....to cut away any excess paper.

Lastly mix about 1 part taupe paint to 3 parts wallpaper glue, and smooth it on with a damp sponge.  This gives the wall a nice finish and also acts as a sealant. 

There you have it!! Super easy & cheap and it looks so awesome.....people will be shocked to find out how you're recycling grocery bags these days!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shellagh

P.S.  I found the book I used for this technique, and it's called Junk Chic by Kathryn Elliott.  There are tons of great ideas in it & all for the budget minded~ I would highly recommend it.