Did your kids ever draw all over the walls like graffiti artist? Kids take to the walls with their crayons and markers all the time. Wall art is interactive and can be a totally open-ended expression that’s not just for kids. Want to keep that artistic expression organized? Designate a wall for framing art and photos.

While graffiti is a cross-cultural phenomenon evident in every literate society, we’re not abdicating anything so illicit as going all out graffiti on the walls of your home. Let murals, wall art and graffiti provide the inspiration for an interior wall that is uniquely personal and will get the (legal) kind of attention for your home.

Last week, I was in Boston visiting my daughter who is also a graphic designer, and we were eating in a hip café called, Flour. After seeing a wall with notices and artwork displayed in hand drawn frames, I recalled a page I had ripped out from a Metropolitan Home magazine story a while back called, Wonder Wall. New Orleans graphic designer Jill Dupre explains how she created the DIY project (below) by drawing each frame freehand and covering an entire wall with frames. She used just a basic black marker. The photos were blown up to fit the unconventional frame sizes. In between the photos, Dupre mixed wrapping paper scraps and her kid’s artwork. The pictures were sealed with a gloss medium.

When using art and craft materials, always look for the most safe and eco-friendly. Non-toxic markers and an eco-friendly sealer such as, Envirotex, a gloss sealer that dries quickly and contains no fluorocarbons, are a healthy alternative.

When I was researching the eco-friendly wallpaper article, I stumbled across this quirky Frames wallpaper by Graham&Brown (see above). The wallpaper is latex, but provides some inspirational food for thought. It is printed in black and white with frames in all different shapes and sizes for customizing color and design.

Here is a more refined, and equally inexpensive DIY wall project from Apartment Therapy that creates a wall pattern of frames and a headboard.

EcoNesting likes DIY wall art because:

• It’s a low cost alternative to buying frames
• It’s easy to change the artwork without putting holes in the walls
• It’s creative
• It’s personal
• It’s quirky
• It’s environmentally harmless (unless you use wallpaper or contact paper)
• It’s eco-chic

Think like a graffiti artist, throw some art up on the walls and decide what you want to express within the borders of the frames - photos, kid art, a mirror, a beautiful page from an calendar, a small corkboard, a vintage wallpaper design, postcards, a magazine picture some unframed art, the options are endless!

Ronnie Citron-Fink lives in New York with her husband, two children (when they come home to the nest), two dogs and a cat. Ronnie is a teacher and a writer. She has been a contributing writer for Family Fun magazine. She currently writes articles about education and home design. Her writings are in four books including Family Fun Home and Some Delights of the Hudson Valley.

EcoNesting