Whenever I walk into my college apartment bedroom, I can’t help but notice the flaws. There are dents and pockmarks on doorknobs, and scars from years of use. Scars tend to be glorified as remnants of the previous tenant, but in reality, it would be better if they didn’t exist. Because of this, I made it my mission to improve the dirty walls of my college apartment one project at a time.
To transform my space from shabby to chic, I installed towering mirrors, antique paintings from my mom’s collection, and gold leaf art all over the walls. Most of the time I was successful. However, there was one area of the room that had yet to be redecorated. It was a recess in the wall that I had envisioned as my own temporary nook. I already had a leather bench in there, but I was still missing the finishing touches to make the area look really stylish.
Credit: Mia Diamond Credit: Mia Diamond
While scrolling through TikTok, I came across Skylar Marshai’s viral DIY rope art video. This creator’s affordable, easy-to-rent rope DIY 3D art installation was born as an algorithmic gift. It was exactly what I needed to add some artistic zhuzh to this corner. Additionally, my rule of “no heavy toolbox” for home projects was checked.
I tried to follow the steps in Marshai’s video as closely as possible, but of course there was some trial and error involved. Below is my take on this project and what I learned along the way.
supplies list
Credit: Mia Diamond Credit: Mia Diamond
Instructions
1. Boil 3 gallons of water.
The cavernous pot I usually use to make a week’s worth of pasta was fine for holding this amount of water, but I can always use multiple smaller pots to get the job done. You can.
2. Add water, dish soap, and Rit dye to a separate bucket.
Although the instructions on the Rit dye package recommended adding the product directly to the pot I was using, it was difficult to get over the idea that my favorite pasta pot would forever be dyed a deep cocoa color. I couldn’t. Instead, I added water (slowly and carefully so as not to burn myself), a teaspoon of dish soap, and the entire bottle of Rit dye to the bucket and stirred it up.
3. Soak the rope in the dye mixture and let it sit for an hour.
After putting the rope in the bucket, some of the rope seemed to float to the top of the dye mixture, so I used the end of a broomstick to make sure all parts remained submerged. (You can also use a ruler, scrap wood from the hardware store, or any object that is heavy enough that you don’t mind getting the dye on it.) The Rit dye package recommended a soaking time of 30 minutes. , Marshai decided to soak it overnight, but I landed somewhere in the middle and let it soak for an hour before moving on to the next step.
4. Rinse the rope.
This is a step not shown in Marshai’s video, so I made it up as I went along. Well, I learned a few things. When it came time to rinse the rope, I poured the dye mixture down the drain of the porcelain tub…and it turned out. If you want to avoid staining your white appliances, we recommend dumping the liquid into a stainless steel sink. Or, if you have access to a washing machine, you can throw the rope in there and run it through the wash cycle. Be sure to clean the machine afterward!). But that wasn’t my journey — *sigh*. After draining the bucket, I washed the rope in hot water, then in cold water until the water ran clear. I’ll deal with the poor, dirty bathtub later.
5. Arrange the rope into the desired shape.
I cut two garbage bags at the seams, laid them flat to use as canvases, then lowered the rope and formed them into the shape I wanted. The wet rope was much more flexible than its previous stiff pre-dyed state, so it was easy to create the winding twists and loops in the maze-like shape I was aiming for.
Credit: Mia Diamond Credit: Mia Diamond
6. Apply fabric reinforcement and leave overnight.
Once you’ve created the rope in the shape you want, use a popsicle stick to spread a glue-like substance around it and cover it all with fabric reinforcement. (And while the popsicle stick worked well, I dreamed it would have been more efficient if I had used a wider paintbrush. That’s a mistake I made, too. You don’t have to.) Even after it was completely covered, I still had it. Since I had about a quarter of the container filled with reinforcement, I mixed it with an equal amount of water to double the amount of liquid and thin it out. This was to make it easier to spread out and increase the surface area that could be conquered. Add all the remaining mixture to the rope to make sure it gets really stiff.
7. Paste the rope art on the wall.
Considering the next tenant and the security deposit, I decided not to use nails and instead use command strips and thumbtacks to attach this piece. I used 4 command strips around the perimeter of the piece and 6 thumbtacks in each of the wrapping loops. The rope weighed a whopping 15 pounds, so additional reinforcement was definitely needed to achieve the gravity-defying look I was going for.
Credit: Mia Diamond Credit: Mia Diamond
result
I’ve dabbled in hardware store spaces before, but this project felt like a huge contribution compared to buying ready-to-install wall decorations. Ta. Still, even though I was intimidated by the idea of creating my own artwork, I only spent a total of 2 hours of active time on this project (along with a ton of intermittent TikTok scrolling). Aside from the mental strain of realizing that my bathtub is now in dire need of refinishing, the hardest part of this entire project was anxiously waiting for my masterpiece to dry. That was it. But it was worth it. Because now my corner blends in with the rest of the room and I’ve officially joined the DIY fan club.
This post originally appeared on Apartment Therapy. Check it out: This DIY wall art only cost $45 to make, but it looks so expensive
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