Adhesive strips: the lazy DIY-er's secret to inventive home decor

By Leigh Kamping-Carder | September 12, 2014 - 12:59PM

If you’re looking to jazz up your apartment this weekend—and, realistically, will only devote about an hour or two on Sunday morning to the cause—may we suggest stocking up on adhesive strips and hooks? Hanging pictures is “just the tip of the adhesive decor iceberg,” as Apartment Therapy recently pointed out, and you can also use the strips to mount everything from a magnetic knife holder to strings of decorative lights. Bonus: you’ll save the hassle of filling in any nail or screw holes in the wall when you move out.

Adhesive strips like these from 3M Command have a range of decorative uses

Another few ideas we liked? Using Scrabble letter holders as little ledges for paintings, hanging your heels on moldings affixed to the wall (pictured above), or customizing your kitchen table chairs by sticking on patterned cushions.

Be sure to buy the right strips, both for the weight of whatever you’re hanging and for the surface; the last thing you want is a heavy shelf collapsing, bringing a layer of drywall with it. But once you've got a stash of the right kind of strips, you're ready to go wild.

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