Vinyl Wall Art: Never Again Worry About Crooked Pictures

Posted by Walls Need Love on 1/23/2012

Who knew vinyl wall decals could solve my problems and make my apartment a home? I hate bare walls but I also hate tilting picture frames.

Don't laugh. Crooked pictures drive me crazy, but no matter what I do, I just can't get the darn things to hang straight. I measure. I mark with a pencil, just like Dad says I should. I buy the special little hangers that won't leave big holes in the wall.

I attempt to place the hanger and drive in the little nail. I hit my thumb instead. Apply a bandage. Remove the crooked nail and try again. Finally, I have a straight little nail. It looks promising.

Holding my breath, I carefully place the picture, steady the frame, let go and step back. It's almost straight. With one finger I nudge the corner to bring the picture into perfect alignment. It slips back.

Not to be denied, I try putting a discreet piece of tape behind one corner. The frame tilts in the other direction. By now I'm fuming. The whole process brings back all those humiliating days of learning just how unlike the rest of the family I was.

My dad was a carpenter. Mom taught high school art. Brother Jack took up architecture. Little sister Susan became a craftsperson. Me? I'm Charlie, the middle kid. The one who's all thumbs. The one who didn't learn how to tie his shoes until fourth grade. Mom would tie my shoes with a double knot each morning. If that came undone, I was stuck with flopping laces until I got home.

Like all the other guys, I took shop and woodworking in high school. Neither class went very well. Woodworking was a disaster. I managed not to cut off my thumbs or any other digits. That's the total of my accomplishments. For guys like me, they should teach classes in vinyl wall art.

Measure twice and cut once. That's what Dad always said. How about measure five times, pray a lot, and then cut once? This method should have worked. It didn't. I still couldn't make the pieces of that wooden box fit together the way they were supposed to. I mentioned creative carpentry to the instructor, but he wasn't impressed.

Finishing that course with a merciful D+, I hung up the saw and hammer forever . . . at least until I got my first apartment. I soon got tired of looking at blank white walls and beige carpet. Not much you can do about the beige carpet, but surely I could get some pictures up on the walls.

The local discount store had some nice items that would work pretty well. I even found a mountain scene by Ansel Adams that would look great over my fireplace. But no matter what I did, it insisted on listing to one side or the other. At that point, I had never heard of vinyl wall decals.

Finally I came across a solution. Cruising the Internet one night, I found Walls Need Love. After exploring my options, I placed an order. The Sparrow Birds Wall Decals look great over the fireplace. I chose Bricks to liven up the kitchen. Bamboo is perfect for my tiny bathroom. And the bedroom really came alive with terracotta Rapid Wall Stripes.

The directions are so easy, these babies went up in a matter of minutes. With vinyl wall art, my apartment is complete. The wall decals never tilt, not even at 3 a.m. when the guy upstairs rattles the walls with his jungle music.