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DIY: Decorate Your Room for Spring

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCD chapter.
Looking out my window, I see the sun shining, flowers blooming, and girls flouncing around in spring dresses, but when I turn back and look around my room, it still looks like winter. A few changes alleviate the gloom, jersey sheets in replace of flannel, and a cactus on my windowsill lighten my room, but it could still use a little something extra. After some searching, I found the perfect way to fast-forward to spring- a painted paper lantern.

Woah, some of you may be saying, I can barely hold a paintbrush, much less paint with it. Well, then this is the project for you! No matter how far you vary from my example, it will still look artistic, no skills or paintbrush required.

Step 1: Supplies! Purchase your paper lantern in desired size at your preferred retailer, both Target and Ikea have different sizes available in plain white. Next, purchase any variety of poster paint, finger paint, or craft paint in the colors you want your lantern to be.

Step 2: Mix! Pick out the colors you want on your lantern; you can stick to just one color or use as many as you want. In a plastic cup mix equal parts paint and water, thinning the paint to pouring consistency. Feel free to mix colors together to create new, original shades.

Step 3: Paint! Set up your lantern on a couple sheets of newspaper, outside preferably, to avoid stains. Pour your thinned paint starting at the very top of your lantern to allow the paint to drizzle down in interesting patterns. Play with layering by dripping some colors on top of others, making new color shades directly on the lantern. Let dry, and if desired, flip and repeat process at the other end to create interesting mixing. Let dry overnight.

Step 4: Hang! After your lantern is dry use the provided string to hang on a hook from your ceiling. If you want some extra light in your room, you can even wire in a light bulb to create a lamp.

So get crafty colligettes!, and celebrate spring with some new room décor.

Edited by: Jacquelyn Little

Rachael Brandt is your typical collegiette. Her free time, you'll find her roaming the CoHo, nourishing her hourly caffeine fix or rocking out at the campus rec center in Zumba class. Rachael has interned at Acosta/Salazar PR firm in Sacramento, CA --working with politicians and interest groups to aide their campaigns. She now spends her days working at the Events and Conferencing Center, in hopes of saving up for the many goodies she hopes to acquire while studying abroad next year. After cultivating an obsession for Her Campus, she opened the UC Davis branch, and now serves as campus correspondant.