There’s not much this sturdy, silver staple of the tool chest can’t tackle. If it’s not supposed to move -- but it does -- reach for the duct tape and you’ll soon have things back to normal. Recently, however, this useful tape has had a makeover. Sure, you can still find gunmetal gray for your household repair needs, but now there’s a whole range of tape in bright colors, patterns and widths. You might never have thought of tape as a fantastic decorating medium before, but once you try one or two of the following ideas, you’ll be a convert to the ease, fun and flexibility of decorating with duct tape.

• Cover the frame of a boring, white mirror with colorful tape.


• Liven up picture frames with a stripe of color.


• Use decorative tape to add spice to the back of your kitchen chairs, dress up the legs or outline the seats.


• Dress up your old kitchen cabinets with a taped border.


• Instead of a wallpaper border around your ceiling or baseboards, use a double row of tape.


• Add a pop of color to plain, white rollup blinds. Just add a tape border at the bottom. Make it even more fun by using decorative-edge scrapbooking scissors along one side of the tape for a textured touch.


• Wrap tape around your flowerpots.


• Make placemats by covering a piece of cardboard with tape.


• Create bold stripes, chevrons, zigzags or stars on a child’s bedroom wall.


• Give an old dresser or nightstand a makeover. Cover drawer fronts with tape, and wrap the furniture’s legs.


• Show off the front edge of a bookcase, shelving unit or open kitchen shelving with contrasting tape.


• Make your own pop art with tape. Simply use various stripes of tape to cover a cardboard square, then frame your art and hang it on the wall.


• Dress up the toilet paper holder or towel racks in the bathroom with bright tape wrapped around the bars and supports.


• Add stripes to the blades of a ceiling fan.


• Cover plain light switch plates and electric outlet plates with tape for little punches of color on your walls.


• Spiff up your home office with chevrons of tape along your magazine holders, pen cups, desktop accessories and wastebasket.


• Cover old jars, cans or other containers with pretty tape and use them as vases or plant pots.


• Transform a plain lamp from boring to wow by wrapping an animal-print tape around the lamp, then adding a matching stripe to the lampshade.


• Jazz up plastic storage bins in the laundry area, children’s room, craft closet or a dorm room.


• Spell out a name, word or inspirational phrase on your wall. Start with plain, wooden letters from the craft store, then cover them with tape.