20 Easy DIY Wall Decor Ideas for Your Home

20 easy DIY Wall Decor Ideas to decorate your home, adding warmth and personal style. These ideas are affordable, unexpected and so easy to implement.

Skip the big box wall art for a personalized look that oozes charm!

It seems I’m always trying to fill a wall somewhere in our home. We’ve lived in our fixer-upper home for several years and I love making updates and changes, so there is always more decorating to do.

See our ever-evolving before and after of our St. Louis home here, and take a photo tour of the before and afters from the lake cottage we’re renovating as well!  

DIY Wall Decor Ideas

Today I’m sharing some of my favorite DIY wall decor ideas for your home. It’s so easy to add personality and charm to your walls with these inexpensive and fast ideas!

Adding personalized art to our home is a passion of mine. If I’m going to hang it on our walls, I want it to be special and reflect our family. It should tell a story or add something useful to your home! 

I’m definitely not an artist! You don’t have to be super knowledgeable to learn about choosing art. Here you can learn how to choose framed art, Free Art Sources, as well as how much homemade art can mean in your home. 

I love that when we have visitors in our home, they can find parts of our family story right on the walls. Adding artwork that is personal to you becomes a great conversation starter and a way for people to get to know who you are.

“Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.”  – Chuck Klosterman

1. Pressed Botanicals I’ve always been drawn to botanicals, but pressed botanicals are even more special. They just feel rich, add a little depth, and yet they are truly so easy to make. This diy wall decor is easy and inexpensive, especially in comparison to the original that inspired me! Learn how to make these pressed botanicals here. 
2. Use a mirror. A beautifully framed mirror makes a statement and is a piece of art itself, but can also make a room appear larger. Of course my favorite reason to use a mirror is to reflect light!   
3. Frame photos. This one is so simple. Of course you can print your photos at a local drug store, but using a high quality printer that photographers prefer can make all the difference! Many photographers like Mpix, who offers the same size prints for nearly the same price, with significantly better quality. Framing photos is always one of the easiest and least expensive wall decor ideas that you can do in a variety of ways! Whether it be photos of your family, (like these simple snapshots of the girls playing on the beach that adorn our hall), framed vintage photos like the bridge that lies beneath the lake in our lake cottage living room, or even a sunset or photograph of something particularly special to you… the options are endless and this diy wall idea is as easy as it gets!
4.  Make a pencil drawing. I know this might sound like something complicated, but I promise it’s not! If I can do it, so can you! A pencil sketch is an easy way to add the feeling of modern, yet timeless black and white art to your spaces. I’m showing you how, and you’re going to be blown away!
5. Frame sheet music Is there a song that is notable to you or your relationship? Frame it! I framed a page of sheet music from our wedding song, “Crazy” by Pat Green for our bookcases. It took minutes, but has so much meaning.  
6. Hang Platters In each of our 3 homes we’ve hung platters on the walls. Because I take a minimalist approach to design and love integrating functional decor, these pretty platters double as useful entertaining pieces and beautiful wall art. You can easily remove, use the platters to serve and rehang!  
7. Free Printables A variety of sites, including history museums, botanical gardens and art galleries make vintage pictures that are now public domain available from books, line drawings/architectural sketches and more. It’s an invaluable resource for really incredible art. The options are endless! In fact, so many prints you see available for sale online are truly available to all at no cost – it’s just that designers know the secrets that take the rest of us a little longer to figure out! You can read more about these botanical prints here.
   
8. Use Something Organic Plants, shells, driftwood and coral are among my favorite organic art. Start collecting! I know this post is about wall decor ideas, but this coral provides a nice backdrop for bookcases, which I treat like functional walls. However, you can easily frame sea fan coral! I purchased some a couple years ago and am excited to finally frame it for the lake cottage! 
9. Use Antlers Anything organic brings a room to life, and pieces with history are unique and visually interesting. These antlers add a small, unobtrusive touch of something slightly rustic, charming and natural to the room. This is a classic element of French Farmhouse Decor, too!
10. Frame a Map Need a large piece of art? Frame a map! For our former basement guest bedroom, we framed a map of Hawaii where we honeymooned. It took just a few minutes and cost less than $30!
11. Alternatively, you can have a map made. Below is a map of the lake our house is on – I had it created for the girls’ bunk bedroom on Etsy. To make framing easy, I uploaded the digital file and had it framed here. Two days later it arrived on our door step! 
12. Frame Recipes There’s nothing more beautiful than a piece of your family’s history or your mother’s handwriting (especially if she’s gone!). It’s an inexpensive diy wall decor idea that’s perfect for a kitchen or breakfast room. For simplicity, I had it framed here but you can easily do it yourself! 
13. Frame Cards. A few of these botanical cards framed using stacked mounting tape to give them depth filled Isla’s room with art for about $50! 
14. Wire Wall Art. I had this quote made by an Esty artist and inserted it directly into the wall. It’s easy to install, inexpensive and customizable! There are so many fun and unique personalized sayings you can use, and the effect adds a lot of dimension to your spaces.
15.  Frame an Heirloom – This idea is from an older post but still totally relevant! We used a sweet little baby sweater and added it to a frame to elevate it and give it a special space. Why tuck those sweet pieces away when you can use them as art?
16. Make a Pin Board – I “made” Adalyn’s pinboard by adding fabric, but purchased Ani’s. Either way, it’s a great way to let kiddos showcase their art while acting a large piece of art in itself! If you don’t want to DIY this project, you can find a variety of options here. 
17. Create a Silhouette. My grandmother had made silhouettes of my sister and I that hung in her hallway for many years. It’s a classic, timeless piece of art that you can easily create to frame for your home or as a gift. Especially in black and white, these can create a striking grouping when hung together or alone.  
18. Hang an Architectural Piece Something old, something new, right? An old wooden panel or piece of wrought iron can make a beautiful decorative piece for your walls. Bonus? It’s a textural, organic element with history – it’s very likely that you’ll have something super unique that none of your friends could replicate.  
19. Hang a Branch Sometimes the simplest things are simply the best. A branch from your yard makes a beautiful place to hang your necklaces while filling another space. {This is yet another way to integrate something organic into a room to bring it to life}. 
20. Create a Painting – From a Photograph I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, proving that it’s so much easier to paint something beautiful than you’d think! Get all the details on how I created this painting with very little time and effort

Did you know you can print art for free? Art galleries, history museums and botanical gardens offer an array at no cost!

Sources for Free Printable Art

Below are sources of art in the public domain which are free of copyright. You’ll often find prints of these available in boutiques, online stores and big box stores, but “you can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.”

• Art Institute of Chicago
• BioDiversity Heritage Library
• The Cleveland Museum of Art
• Indianapolis Museum of Art
• J Paul Getty Museuem
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• The Met
• Missouri History Museum
• Moma UK
• National Gallery of Art
• Saint Louis Art Museum
• Paris Musée
• The Walters Art Gallery
• Yale Center for British Art
• Yale University Art Gallery

Including a variety of DIY wall decor and family heirlooms in your home instantly gives a sense of warmth and makes every space feel more interesting.