Don’t limit your style just because you’re limited on space. These fun and simple projects are perfect for apartment dwellers because they add a pretty punch of summer without taking up a lot of space. They’re all easy to recreate, as well. The next time you have a little spare time give these decor projects a try:

  1. Painted Picture Lanterns

Family photos make perfectly poignant decor. Easy to frame and display, there’s no end to the unique projects you can create using your favorite snapshots — like these pretty picture lanterns. Easy and affordable to craft, these lanterns use a flameless candle to create a centerpiece. The steps for recreating these lanterns are few:

  1. Use painter’s tape and newspaper to cover the glass panels, or remove them if possible.
  2. Add one to two coats of spray primer to the lantern frame.
  3. Follow up with one to two coats of your favorite paint color. A project this small provides the perfect opportunity to use scraps of leftover paint from other projects.
  4. Measure glass panels, and print and cut photographs to fit. These lanterns use all black-and-white images for a more cohesive look, but don’t be afraid to add your own spin by printing photos in full color or in sepia tone.
  5. Carefully tape the images to the back of the glass panels and pop a flameless candle inside for a little dash of drama.
  1. Balsa Wood Planters

Wood is another medium that’s easy to work with — especially balsa wood. Thin enough to cut with regular scissors, this versatile rainforest wood is quick-growing and eco-friendly. These easy balsa wood planters for succulents are perfect for placing all around your apartment:

  1. Purchase balsa wood in strips that measure 3-inches wide, and then cut the strips into 3-inch squares. You’ll need five squares to make a single planter.
  2. Use hot glue to form each set of five squares into the shape of a small box, adding the glue to the inside of each seam.
  3. Decorate your planters accordingly. These ones use paint and foil tape, but the possibilities for design are nearly endless.
  4. Add soil and succulents. It’s a good idea to protect the inside of each balsa wood planter from water damage. Fiber pots, like the ones used here, are a good option. Simply plant each tiny succulent inside the biodegradable pot before sinking it into the soil.
  1. No-Sew Watermelon Wreath

What says good times and warm summer fun better than watermelon? This easy-to-make watermelon wreath for your front door! It has all the appeal of a peaceful picnic in the park without all the sticky clean up. Plus, the instructions for making it, found at Confessions of a Plate Addict, will surprise you with their simplicity:

  1. Purchase a 16-inch foam wreath form and felt in four colors: hot pink, light green, dark green and black.
  2. Cut pink and green felt into strips that measure 2 inches by 18 inches and tie them to the wreath form using double knots.
  3. Cover the bottom half of the wreath form in alternating light and dark green felt, and cover the top half in hot pink.
  4. Cut seed-shapes from the black felt and use fabric glue to adhere them randomly to the pink felt strips.
  5. Tie a length of twine around the top to act as a hanger.

Summer is here, and with it, the opportunity to craft a whole new season of fun. Start yours off right by trying a few of these favorites that fit apartment life perfectly.

Photo via Brepurposed 

Amanda Mears
Amanda has worked as a journalist, an SEO copywriter, and a social media specialist. Her aim as a Four Walls contributor is to provide something worth reading and create a community for people who lease and love it. She’s also a real person, not just a mysterious internet writer, who loves silversmithing, podcast-binging, and trying to figure out how to fix her rented apartment’s bad linoleum floor (see, just like you!)