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A large statement piece of wall art can make a huge impact to the look and feel of your home. We’ve collected some great upcycled decor ideas for blank walls that we think have the potential to turn your interiors from bare to rare (in a good way!). We want to get your upcycling juices flowing to make your space your own by making a large statement that shows both your inventiveness and your style!

P.S. this post was first published in 2019 and it has since been updated, so you might find just a few more than 10 ideas now! Enjoy!

When one door closes

This is far from a new idea in the upcycling world, but its worth reminding how striking it can look. We especially love the door panels over the sofa in the third photo from Achados de Decoracao. Of course the trick with this idea for blank walls is in how to attach it to the walls. Depending on how heavy your door is a bracket (similar to what you would use to hang a fabric headboard could work) or if your doors are really heavy you could try something similar with your door leaning against the wall rather than properly attached.

Pallet Art

Pallet Art has been a bit of a trend lately. Especially the geometric angular framed versions. Trouble with those is they require a lot of precise cutting to get the shapes to fit perfectly. The photo above is a simpler way to get something just as impactful, but potentially more personal. It does still require some cutting and nailing but not nearly on the same level as other types of pallet art.

Here’s what to do: 1) Measure your blank wall space; 2) Cut your pallet planks to the length you want them; 3) nail together to form one piece; 4) sand rough edges; 5) stain or paint a base colour; 5) add a stencil design to make it your own. The one above is from Cutting Edge Stencils.

More Pallet Wall Art

Both of the photos above are from an experiment I did with upcycled pallets and some seriously lush mural style wallpaper. I set out to make some large pieces of wall art for not much money and these were the results. You can find all the step by step instructions for these two projects and another extra long and large wall art piece here.

Let it all Hang Out

Want to join the Macrame style wall hanging trend without learning a complicated pattern of knots? Try these ideas on for size. You can use old scrap fabric strips, beads, or the ends of your balls of yarn that are sitting unused. The white and pink inspiration photos above show you can get as creative with this as you like. You basically start with a twig or stick, a bit of twine for hanging and then you knot on different lengths of fabric, yarn or beads. Experiment with braiding bits together adding knots in different places or arranging colours in a creative way.

If it is the huge statement tassle backdrop version of this look you are after to fill your blank wall – check out the DIY tutorial on Ruffled.

If you are looking for an even easier version of this look and even more upcycling points try our tutorial all about how to use upcycled men’s shirts as a ‘macrame style’ wall hanging. This project was part of my mammoth undertaking to upcycle as many things out of 2 men’s shirts as I could.

Branch out with your Decor

If you have some an empty frame, or a collection of frames lying around this is a cute idea to use some branches, either found in your garden or perhaps on the ground while walking the dog. Bring a bit of nature inside! Home Depot have a great tutorial about how to do this. You can find it here.

Dress Your Walls

Do you have a piece of fabric you love but no projects planned for it? Or an old scarf you never wear that has sentimental value? Why not use it to fill your blank walls? We love the look of the luxury acoustic panels from Innovasia (the first photo) – that are definitely not upcycled. We think they are a great inspiration piece for your own fabric wall panels. You can go large like the blue and white ones above or just use frames you already have to add touches of fabric like Decor Chick did in her gallery wall. You can wrap and staple fabric around existing canvases to have a full fabric panel or pull taught and staple to the inside of a frame for a smaller fabric picture.

A different kind of Wall Paper

We love these framed paper hearts from Pixie Paper Art. She sells her stuff on Etsy and we’ve seen versions of this on Not on the High Street and elsewhere. Definitely a saleable upcycle idea. We especially love this idea when the paper used has a special meaning, like from a map of the place you met your future husband, or maybe cut out from condolence cards you received when a loved one passed? You could colour theme them, use different textures and shapes and generally get creative to make a truly personal piece of art.

If you are looking for more of an explosion of colour try this tutorial from A Little Hut that explains how she made the circular scrap paper masterpiece in the second photo above.

Bring out your inner Artist

When we talk about upcycling we often talk about painting something to give it a new lease of life. But how do you give a new lease of life to the last dregs of all those paint pots? Or even the tester pots you bought to pick out exactly the right shade? We think these are the perfect materials to use to break out your inner artist and create some homemade art. Find something large you can hang on your wall, a bit of card, a canvas, or the backing board from a frame you already own and start from there. You can choose a colour story like the photos above or just pick one colour if it fits best with your scheme. The geometric square piece above certainly has impact but requires more precision. We prefer the Parima Studios or Victori Atelier examples above as there is more freedom for experimenting with circles and dabs. If you like Victori Atelier’s dabs you could even forget the brush and indulge in some adult finger painting!

Picture This

What better to fill your blank walls with than all your precious memories? There are lots of ways to create a stylish photo wall. These are a few ideas we like including our own DIY Fabric Covered Photo Display Board made from cardboard – the full tutorial is here.

Dip into Colour

We love love this idea of using a collection of old spoons to add a wall feature. The added pops of colour from the paint they were dipped in gives it an extra modern twist. A Joyful Riot shares the full tutorial here. Don’t have a drawer full of unused spoons? Get creative and find something else to play with – pencils? takeaway chopsticks? You get the idea – use anything you have a lot of that would look cute half painted and is light enough you could stick a lot of them to your wall!

Out of the Cupboard and onto the Wall

If your think your home can handle more of a full on statement wall, then you could try moving a collection of old unappreciated things out of the cupboard and put them out on display where they can be appreciated….and fill all that blank wall space.

Not sure how to attach any of these objects to a wall? Try our tutorial on how to upcycle tiles as wall art or how to make a display wall out of dishes. The sticky back hanging hooks would work just as well for some of these objects as for dishes.

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Looking for more upcycled wall art ideas? Try these posts:

Or have a look through the different categories in our treasure trove of tutorials to find even more upcycling ideas!