Continuing with URBN: Unwrung this week, I created four home décor ideas inspired by Anthropologie.
I don’t think I’ve ever walked into an Anthropologie store and NOT wished that I could make it my home address. With gorgeous glass tables and exposed brick everywhere, the Anthropologie stores look just as amazing as their clothes.
However, their décor is also extremely pricey, and are sometimes not all that dorm friendly. If you also live in campus housing, then you know that you can’t really bring your own dresser, or nail anything to the wall or make any lasting impression on the place at all. Thus, you’re left with tape, command strips, and with this article, a couple of cute DIYs that can add some Anthro inspiration into any space.
After checking out Anthropologie’s Pinterest page, here are a couple of things that I recreated and took inspiration from.
1. Wall Tapestry/Yarn Art
One of the trendiest home décor items are woven tapestries. Anthropologie sells beautiful ones. However, the ones at Anthro start at …. (drumroll, please) … $60, with some going as high as almost $300! As a college student, I can’t really afford to drop almost a full day’s summer-job pay on some yarn tied to a string, so I made it myself!
I didn’t buy any of these things because I had a lot of the materials already. But, the materials I used are extremely cheap, easy to find, and easy to customize to your own style.
Materials: White yarn, Rust colored yarn, two chopsticks, and scissors.
How To:
Cut around 30 pieces of each color yarn, all the same length. Then tie each strand onto the chopstick by folding the piece of yarn in half, then putting the folded yarn behind the chopstick, and looping the tail ends of the yarn through the loop at the top. Make sure to pull it tight.
After, I just repeated this step with each color yarn until I had the color effect that I wanted, then when I was done with each tapestry, I used the same color yarn that was at either end and tied a piece to the top so that I had something to hang them up with. I also trimmed the bottom of them to make more of a geometric shape.
These tapestries are pretty small, which is great for a small dorm room. And even better, they cost me NOTHING to make.
2. Floral Frames
Inspired by the beautiful floral table that Anthropologie is selling for $398, I wanted an equally floral piece for my room that doesn’t cost more than a college textbook. So, I came up with a smaller, more decorative way to introduce florals by using cheap frames and fabric.
This is the only DIY where I had to go out and buy the materials. But don’t worry, I didn’t even spend $15 on this project.
Going to T.J.Maxx, I scoured the clearance section for picture frames and was lucky enough to find two that match pretty well. The best part? One of them was only $5 and the other was $3.
Then I went to JoAnn’s Fabric Store and found two fabrics that seemed like they belonged in Anthropologie. One of them was a floral print that looked really similar to the one that served as my inspiration for this project and the other one had some gold deer with antlers on it.
I got a quarter-of-a-yard for each fabric and together the two pieces cost $3. I then found a coupon online (score!) and I ended up paying $2.50 for them.
Altogether, this project cost me $10.50.
Finally, I took out the stock photos from my frames and replaced them with the fabric I had gotten at Jo-Ann’s. I also tied a piece of yarn to the back of the frames so I could hang them on the wall from a Command Hook. Literally so easy!
3. Decorative Door Tassel
I’m not sure that Anthropologie actually sells the door tassels that served as my inspiration, but they definitely look like they could be on their dressing room doors, so I wanted to try this too.
Using the white yarn from my wall tapestries, I cut about 15 pieces each about a foot long and folded them in half. Then I used a tiny black rubber hair elastic and combined the two sides so that there was a hole at the top and the ends of the yarn hung like a tassel. Next, I took some embroidery floss (that string you use to make friendship bracelets at camp) and started wrapping it around the yarn, leaving the bottom ends of the yarn exposed.
I found it was easiest to cut off a long piece of embroidery floss and wrap that entirely and then cut another piece, rather than trying to use the whole bundle of floss.
This project took me the longest to complete because of the wrapping of the floss but it came out pretty cute! I even used some of the rust-colored yarn from the wall tapestry as well!
Just a note, make sure that the hole is big enough to fit around your doorknob before you start wrapping the floss around it.
Materials: Yarn of your choice, assorted embroidery floss, scissors, small rubber band or other elastic.
4. Washi Tape Mirror Frame
The last project I did was also ridiculously simple. Using washi tape, I created a frame around the ugly mirror that came with my dorm room. Not only is the door covered in dart-holes, but it’s dented and peeling. Using the washi tape (which I had gotten a couple years ago), I created a frame around the mirror that now distracts from the ugly door. Of all the DIYs, I think this one was the easiest.
I surprised myself with how easy these projects were and to be honest, how well they came out. While my dorm room may not look entirely like an Anthropologie store, these cheap and easy DIYs certainly make it look nicer.
Hopefully one day, I’ll be able to afford to fill my house with Anthro décor. For right now, DIY yarn tapestries and door tassels are going to have to do it.
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