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.