Written by Jill – a former graduate wife
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I was a graduate wife for 7 wonderful years and I am now in my 6th year of hubby having a full-time job! YAHOO! Hang in there girls, it does eventually happen!
I have found, however, that some former habits die-hard…like decorating on the cheap…or sometimes not decorating at all (GASP!).
When we moved to England for full-time job #2, we found ourselves living in a gorgeous Victorian home with lots of character. And bare walls. Bare white walls with 12 foot ceilings! Lots of space. So much wall space that I found it completely intimidating. So my walls stayed bare for 18 months. Yes, 18 months!
After a trip to Ikea with a friend, I came home and announced to the family that I was decorating. They told me I couldn’t decorate in the living room because it was the guy’s tennis wall! Not anymore!
I am not an expert at decorating, but I can assure you that enhancing your space (even on a budget) is incredibly important and enriching. So here goes!
Step 1: Find something you want to frame. If I were in America, there is no doubt there would have been pictures of my 3 kiddos in those frames. Case closed. But we live in England and family pictures just don’t normally grace the walls of your living room. So I had to find something else…and that something else had to be cheap! So I headed to my box of scrap fabric that just so happened to match two of our chairs.
*Other ideas of things to frame: pretty leaves from your garden or local park, cool wrapping paper (MC’s idea!), postcards from a place you love, trinkets, the ideas are endless! (MC is posting more on this next week!)
Step 2: Find frames. The frames I used are from IKEA. I found matching frames in different sizes and made a little grouping on the wall (all for under 20 pounds). Frames can be expensive. So if you have time stroll through local charity shops and yard sales…you may find a beauty! It is nice to find frames with matting as well.
Step 3: Frame it! I cut out the parts of the fabric that I liked and taped it to the back of the matting. Simple as that!
Because the frames were all different sizes and I wanted them to look mis-matchy, there was no measuring and obsessing. I just got out the hammer and started hammering!
I threw in a few more knickknacks (some bought, some hand-me-downs from friends) and voila! a wall
that is no longer suitable for indoor tennis!
the graduate wife 
My favorite thing on my walls right now is a sheet of wrapping paper featuring brown and white birds that I snagged for two quid at Blackwell’s. And put in an old bulletin board frame.
And yes, I’m a graduate wife. (How’d you know??)
Betsy, that sounds lovely! Will you send us a pic and we can share? Every little bit of charm helps!