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Creative Weekend Hobbies That Turned My Apartment Into a Mood Board
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items Weekends used to mean scrolling my phone on the couch until Sunday guilt hit. Then I picked up a few creative hobbies and suddenly my walls, shelves, and corners started looking like something out of a design magazine. This is for anyone renting a bl...
Sections
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Painting Supplies That Make Walls Worth Looking At
Printmaking and Stamping for DIY Wall Art
Macrame and Fiber Art for Empty Walls
Ceramics and Pottery Without a Kiln
Candle Making for a Cozy Apartment Vibe
Collage and Mixed Media for Shelf Styling
Painting Supplies That Make Walls Worth Looking At
I hadn't painted since middle school art class. Bought a cheap canvas kit on a whim and now I have eleven pieces on my walls that people assume I bought at galleries. The embarrassment of bare white walls was real motivation.
Grab this if you want to start painting but don't want to spend $80 on supplies you might abandon. I mixed three colors wrong on my first try and it still looked cool enough to frame.
Arteza Acrylic Artist Paint Set 22ml Tubes Assorted Colors
Keep a stack of these around for when the mood strikes on a rainy Saturday. Went through five in one weekend and now my hallway has a whole gallery wall situation going on.
3 Pack Canvases for Painting with Multi Pack 11x14
Switch to these from those scratchy dollar store brushes. The difference in how paint glides is wild. My lines went from kindergarten to semi-competent adult in one session.
(2)Princeton Velvetouch Series 3950 Paint Brushes 2 Sets
Use this to thin your acrylics without making them watery. Figured this out after ruining a piece I actually liked. Would have saved me a full Saturday of frustration.
Liquitex Professional Matte Medium, 237ml 8oz
Perfect for anyone working off a kitchen table with no studio space. Folds flat behind my bookshelf when I'm done. Guests don't even know it's there until I whip it out.
25+ Table-Top Easels for Artists for sale | Updated Oct 2026
Printmaking and Stamping for DIY Wall Art
Block printing is weirdly addictive. I carved one stamp, printed it on fabric, and suddenly had custom throw pillow covers. My sister thought I ordered them from some boutique.
Try this before you commit to anything fancier. Comes with ink, a brayer, and carving tools. I made four prints my first afternoon and two of them actually looked intentional.
Speedball Block Printing Starter Kit - kit
Softer than linoleum so your hands don't cramp up. Carved a fern pattern in twenty minutes and now it's stamped on half my stationery and two tote bags.
New Speedball Speedy-Carve Carving Block 6" x 12" Pink
Use this on plain cotton pillowcases or curtains for instant custom decor. Washed mine six times and the print hasn't budged. Way cheaper than buying printed textiles.
Screen Printing Ink
Pair this with water-based ink for clean pulls every time. Regular paper buckles and bleeds. Learned that the messy way before switching.
Strathmore 300 Series Printmaking Paper Pad 8 X 10
Get a separate one from whatever comes in your kit because the cheap ones shed little rubber bits into your ink. This one rolls smooth and has survived months of weekend sessions.
Durable 4-Inch Rubber Brayer Roller for Artists
Macrame and Fiber Art for Empty Walls
That big blank wall above my couch haunted me for a year. One macrame wall hanging later and the whole room finally felt finished. Knot tying is also strangely meditative after a stressful work week.
Snag the big roll because you'll burn through cord faster than you expect. I thought 100 yards would last months. It lasted two projects. The natural color goes with literally any room.
3MM Cotton Macrame Cord 328 Yards Natural Craft Rope
Perfect if you've never tied a knot fancier than your shoelaces. Comes with a dowel and instructions. My first attempt wasn't perfect but it still looks intentional on the wall.
EASY Macrame Wall Hanging KIT for beginners
Grab extra dowels so you can experiment with different widths. Thicker rods give a more boho look, thinner ones feel minimal. I rotate them depending on my mood that month.
Dowel Rods
Use this when you want something more structured than macrame. Wove a small tapestry in muted greens and it sits on my shelf like a tiny art piece. Coworkers on Zoom always ask about it.
Boye Knitting Loom Set Round Rectangle Hook
Toss some dried flowers and yarn scraps into one of these for an instant wall piece. Took me fifteen minutes and it looks like I spent way more effort. Ideal for anyone who wants results fast.
Large Quality Made Wooden Round Embroidery Hoop 14”
Ceramics and Pottery Without a Kiln
Always wanted to try pottery but figured I needed a whole studio. Air dry clay changed that completely. My shelf went from empty IKEA sadness to handmade planters and trinket dishes in a single month.
Start here if you want to test the waters without spending much. Sculpted a wobbly little vase my first try, painted it terracotta, and now it holds dried eucalyptus on my dresser.
DAS Air-Hardening Modeling Clay, 2.2 Lb. Block
Ditch the butter knife approach. These give you clean edges and actual detail work. My pinch pots went from lumpy to something I'd actually give as a gift.
Sculpey 3pc Clay Tool Starter Set ~Needle End
Paint these on your air dry pieces for that real pottery studio look. The matte finish tricks everyone into thinking I fired them in a kiln. Nobody needs to know the truth.
25+ Underglaze Set for sale | Updated Oct 2026
Spin your piece while smoothing the sides and suddenly everything looks more symmetrical. For anyone whose handmade bowls keep coming out lopsided, this fixes that problem for under twenty bucks.
Pottery Banding Wheel, 7" All-Metal, Heavy Duty Turntable
Seal your finished pieces so they don't crumble when someone picks them up. Learned this after a guest broke my favorite trinket dish just by lifting it. Spray it and forget about it.
Mod Podge Matte Finish Clear Acrylic Sealer Spray
Candle Making for a Cozy Apartment Vibe
Buying $30 candles every month was draining my wallet. Now I pour my own for a fraction of the cost and my apartment smells like a spa. Plus they double as decor on every surface.
Get the bigger bag because once you start pouring candles you won't stop. Made eight candles from one bag and gave half away as gifts. People kept asking where I bought them.
Soy Wax Flakes 10lb. 464 for sale
Try a bunch of scents before committing to a full bottle. The sandalwood and cedar combo became my signature apartment smell. Visitors always comment the second they walk in.
CandleScience Fragrance Oil Sample Set Lot Of 30 1oz w
Pair these with soy wax for a clean burn without weird black smoke. Trimming them before each light makes a huge difference. Wish someone told me that before I smoked up my bathroom.
Candle Wicks 6 Inch Cotton Core Candle Making Supplies
These look expensive sitting on a shelf but cost almost nothing per jar. Pour your candle, slap on the lid, and it looks like something from a fancy home store. Stock up while you can find the amber ones.
Amber Glass Jar Candle Making & Soap Jars & Containers
Use this to check your wax temp before adding fragrance oil. Poured too hot once and the scent completely disappeared. Five seconds of checking saves you from wasting a whole batch.
Candle Making Thermometer
Collage and Mixed Media for Shelf Styling
Started tearing pages out of old magazines and gluing them onto thrift store frames. Now my bookshelf looks curated without me spending more than a few dollars per piece. Collage is the cheapest creative hobby that still looks expensive.
Snag a stack of these for the photography and color palettes alone. Cut out landscapes, layer them in a frame, and suddenly you have art that looks like it belongs in a coffee shop.
25+ Vintage National Geographic for sale | Updated Oct 2026
Sticks paper to canvas without bubbling or warping. Tried regular school glue first and everything wrinkled. This dries flat and clear every time. Keep a bottle at your desk permanently.
Aleene's Original Tacky Glue, 3 Pack, 8 oz each 3 Count
Thick enough to handle glue, paint, and ink without falling apart. Regular sketchbook paper buckles the second it gets wet. Wasted a whole pad learning that lesson.
Strathmore Toned Blue Mixed Media Pad 9x12, 15 sheets
Draw directly over your collages to add details and outlines. These write on literally anything, paper, wood, glass. My fridge magnets got the Posca treatment and now they look custom.
Uni-Posca Paint Extra Fine Point Set of 8 Colours Marker
Tear off strips to border your collages or tape art directly to the wall without damaging paint. Perfect for renters who can't put holes anywhere. Rearrange weekly without guilt.
20 Rolls Washi Tape Set,10 mm x 5m Decorative Colored
Photography and Display for Finishing Touches
All these projects needed a way to actually show up in my space. Printing my own photos and mixing them with handmade art tied everything together. My apartment finally tells a story instead of looking like a furniture catalog.
Bring this to weekend hangouts and pin the photos to a cork board or string lights. Instant personality on any wall. Beats having all your memories trapped on your phone forever.
FujiFilm Instax Mini 12 Mint Green Bundle Mini Paper
Clip your instant photos, postcards, and small prints to this wire grid. Rearrange whenever you feel like it. Way more interesting than a single frame you never update.
Umbra Hangit Photo Display Wall Decor DIY Picture
Stick these behind your desk and pin up sketches, swatches, and torn magazine pages. Peels off clean when you move out. Every renter needs a spot to rotate inspiration without wall damage.
5 Packs Cork Board Tiles Self Adhesive 12x12 Bulletin
Toss your polaroids and art prints into these clips and drape them across a wall. Warm light plus personal photos equals the coziest corner in any apartment. Guests always gravitate toward it.
25+ LED Photo Clip String & Fairy Lights for sale
Use mismatched sizes to hang your paintings, prints, and collages together. Measured wrong on my first attempt and had to patch two holes, but the final arrangement was worth every mistake.
10 Pack Picture Frames Collage Wall Decor