This post is about making a 15ft Long DIY Faux Green Wall – On a Small Budget – That Won’t Mess Up Apartment Walls
My nephew LOVES plants. His apartment is surrounded by plants. But he also wanted a big “green wall”. He came to me because he knows I’m a DIY fanatic. And I can usually create something from nothing.
The directives he gave me.
#1 Big and impactful. He wanted it to make a statement.
#2 Renter friendly. He does not want to lose his deposit.
#3 Inexpensive. But of course!
#4 A source of ambient light. He hosts many parties.
#5 Could we add a mirror somewhere? He picked up his love of mirrors from my mom, lol.
Challenge accepted!
Where to Begin for a Renter Friendly DIY Faux Green Wall on a Budget
This is the wall I was working with. (I believe our first apartment may have looked just like this over 3 decades ago, lol.) Although my nephew definitely wanted his green wall to be massive, he did not want solid wall coverage. Because his apartment is not that big.
My nephew suggested he might like to see some curves. And he was hoping I could make it continuous from his dining area straight into the kitchen.
Because this whole thing needed to be removeable and renter friendly. I decided it would be easiest and least expensive to create this wall on heavy cardboard.
So for the first step, I took large pieces of cardboard and used thumbtacks to attach the cardboard to the walls. In total, I used (4) smaller pieces of cardboard that were about 4ft wide. (I used smaller pieces because I knew I would need to be able to transport this 15ft long “green monster” from my garage floor up the stairs to his apartment.)
Once I had the cardboard on the wall, we could clearly see the obstacles that we had to work around (like that high white box and the bar). I let my nephew take a big black sharpie and draw the shape he had in mind.
Then I used a box knife to cut out the shape he had drawn. With some tweaking here and there, we arrived at the overall shape that felt right to him.
We then loaded the cardboard in my vehicle and I told him I would see him the following weekend with his green wall 😊
Laying Out a DIY Faux Green Wall
So it began on my garage floor. I laid out the cardboard pieces in the same order as they would be installed on the wall. Then I simply started playing around with the placement of things that I wanted to glue to the cardboard.
I had some green silk garlands and other miscellaneous pieces that I had found on sale. I also found a bag of green items in my stash of silk plants and flowers.
And the chartreuse round thing was an experiment. It was part of a scarf that belonged to my mom (his grandmother). My nephew was very close to my mom. She had passed away a few months prior. So I wanted to include this meaningful memento. And I did incorporate 3 pieces of this scarf in various areas.
It soon became obvious that I was going to need a whole LOT more stuff to cover this massive thing. I started thinking about creative ways to fill it up.
And my next move was to paint all the cardboard black. Having a black background would make it easier to give the illusion of 100% plant coverage without actually having that much coverage. (Green paint would have also been good – but on a budget, you use what you have).
Creativity is King When Making a DIY Faux Green Wall on a Budget
While the paint was drying on the cardboard, I took a trip to Dollar Tree to see what I could find. Dollar Tree is such a wonderland for creative minds. Can I get an “amen”?
As a general rule, I cruise every aisle because you never know what you’re going to find. It’s a great place to just let your mind think and be creative.
I was inspired by these various MOP TYPES that I found in the cleaning aisle. I knew I could dye them green to create interesting textures. And this also meant I could cover a lot more area on this big diy faux green wall for less money.
While at Dollar Tree, I also found self-adhesive (faux rock) wall tiles; some beautiful green crushed glass; and a pool noodle.
My next stop was Hobby Lobby. I found some dark green chunky yarn on clearance. Also some green sand to cover the faux rock wall tiles; a couple more green plants; a bottle of Rit green dye and a couple of Styrofoam balls.
Creating Depth and Texture for DIY Faux Green Wall
After I dyed everything green, more ideas started to emerge. Two of the mop types that I picked up at Dollar Tree are indicated with the blue arrows below. These were perfect for creating unusual depth and texture.
However, the mop head with the gray and white bead-looking things was a bigger challenge. When I took it apart, it looked like a long-beaded rope. I decided to cut it into various lengths.
Then I cut the pool noodle into various thicknesses. (Apologies that I don’t have pictures of all the tiny details. I never dreamed I would be blogging about this.) The pool noodle pieces ended up looking like “donuts” with varying thicknesses.
With some scrap green fabric, I then covered the “donuts”. The next step was to make these little “plantings” as shown below. Notice the long parts in the following photo are from the mop photo above that used to be gray and white.
I then cut the Styrofoam balls in half and painted them green. I also used more pool noodle pieces to create a base for my faux mossy “berms”.
By now, it was all starting to take shape. So I used my glue gun to start permanently attaching the layout to the black cardboard base.
Another important thing was to cut the leaves off the garlands. This would allow me to place the leaves exactly where I needed them.
Creating a Green Crystal River for DIY Faux Green Wall
I found some beautiful green crushed glass at Dollar Tree. I knew it would be pretty as a “crystal river” on this wall. A great hack for something like this is to first paint the background with a similar color to the crushed glass. So I used bright green craft paint that I had on hand.
After the bright green paint was dry, I used Mod Podge to stick the glass to the cardboard. I made sure the crushed glass was thicker in some areas instead of just a flat layer.
Once the green crystal river was dry, I glued plant pieces around it to make it appear the plants had grown around the edge of this “river”.
Creating Faux Stones and Moss Boulders for DIY Faux Green Wall
I cut the faux rock wall tiles (found at Dollar Tree) into rounded shapes. Then I brushed Mod Podge on the panels and sprinkled them with green sand.
And I cut the bulky yarn into pieces. Then glued the pieces to cover the pool noodle “berms”. Not only does this give more dimension. But it’s a soft texture when people touch this green wall.
Installation of DIY Faux Green Wall
Request #4 above, my nephew wanted this green wall to be a source of ambient light. We used a roll of strip lights to accomplish this. But first we had to install the cardboard pieces on the wall with an “offset”. To create this offset, I used sheetrock screws to attach 1” thick pieces of scrap wood at various points on the wall.
Then I used screws with washers to attach the cardboard to the scrap wood. Next, we stuck the self-adhesive strip lights behind the cardboard all along the perimeter.
Here it is with the room lights turned off. You can’t see the green wall details but it does a great job of creating ambient light in the room.
Mirror Pieces as the Last Step of This DIY Faux Green Wall
Request #5 above, my nephew has a thing for mirrors. I decided the best way to incorporate mirrors would be in mosaic form. So I provided him with pieces of broken mirror and put him to work. We have the mosaic mirror in a couple of places.
We had to do the mosaic mirrors at the end because I didn’t want the grout to separate from the mirrors during transit. It was rather easy to apply the mirror pieces with a glue gun. Then we used spackle for the grout. Spackle because it’s not wet like real grout plus it’s lightweight. Perfect for use on cardboard.
My camera does not do it justice with the lights on or off. And it doesn’t help that I take bad photos, lol. But it looks incredible in person. And my nephew is over the moon about it.
Materials Used
Cardboard
Thumbtacks
Black or dark green paint
A variety of silk plants and silk garlands
A variety of textures that are green or can be dyed green
Green sand
Green craft paint
Green crushed glass
Pool noodle
Scrap green fabric
Styrofoam balls (cut in half)
Scrap pieces of 1” thick wood
Tools Used
Take Away
A big Faux Green Wall doesn’t have to be all plant materials. Try looking at various materials from a different perspective. If you can paint it or dye it green, it just might work. And using various materials can help you create something that’s far more interesting to look at.
Here’s to Making it Fabulous with variety!
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