Ask KB Fridays Renter's plight: stay and fight!

Hey Haibun-bunny!
Okay, so here's my question for your Friday feature. My burning question:
The top level of my house (master bedroom and office) is carpeted in the most
awful "forest" green stuff. (It's a rental, otherwise it would've been ripped
out by now.) Given the oceans of green I'm surrounded with, it's difficult to do
much of anything with color. So, how do I "redo" a room with a color constraint
such as this? Also, since I'm not inclined to re-paint the beige walls, how can
I add color and sass to the walls without clashing with the green? Thanks for
any advice you can give to those of us who live the life of the
design-frustrated renter!

Love your blog!

Sincerely,

Michelle Kodis, aka:

"It's not
easy being green."

Oh sweet cakes,

Wallslicks ( above) has some pretty "sassy" wall decals which, of course, are transferable and easy, breezy to apply. No commitment needed! You can keep your beige.






Oh I really do love this question!! I found the coolest website called Design Your Wall


They have temporary vinyl floor tiles and wallpaper that is amazing. The great thing about wallpaper is that you don't neccesarily have to apply it to your rented walls. ( although there are some peel and stick and restick wall papers.) You can apply any wallpaper to masonite panels that can move with you! How handy!

I thought this seemed like you- maybe. A really great idea would be to put one wallpaper pattern on one side and another on the flip side. Versatility, baby.

Speaking of Masonite, You could have it cut to your office dimensions and then line your floor with it, paint it, faux finish even-think fauxbois!! (Woodgrain is so hip these days.) We usually use masonite to protect hardwood floors during construction - but I find it to be perfect for myriad applications!

I really like this wallpaper pattern and it comes in grey scale as well as blue...

Coordinated panels- not too shabby.

This great poppy wonder is either a Floor cloth or a wall piece. Love that about canvas.

Now, to address the most concerning part of your email. "It's not easy being green" you croaked. Say it isn't so my frog lovin' friend. It's all a matter of perspective. Turn that lime into limeaide. Perhaps, I'm taking the metaphor too far now.

Green = ecofriendly. FLOR has wool product, corn based product, and recycled products. I've only used them a few times because of the amount of hardwood, bamboo, tile and stone we typically use, but if you need to slap some lipstick on a frog, well the module floor tiles are your prince. I sound like I'm paid to rep this stuff - I assure you, dear reader, I am not. As with the three pictures I have illustrated, FLOR can be used as a large or small rug or carpeting for your entire space. You can apply it directly over your carpet and then throw it in the moving van when you blow your current popsicle stand.

Other solutions to your beige wall issue might be:

1. Folding screens

2. Bulletin boards in assorted sizes (they can be spray painted or left in their corky glory.)

3. A hybrid idea is a folding cork board screen . (I didn't include a pic because it was a poor image.)

Wallpaper panels that can be taken with you later to your dream home.

Other alternatives- embrace the green and make it Michelle's jungle room with lots of plants and piped-in bird calls- or go crazy with a spray bottle of bleach on the carpets. Think Jackson Pollock. You could do patterns, or use a stencil...ewww hope your landlord isn't reading right now.

Later decorator!