Using Chat GPT to Solve a Decorating Dilemma
Our rental home had a big eyesore, but Chat GPT helped me come up with an affordable solution that completely disguises it! Let's take a closer look.
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Hey friend, this isn't my normal DIY, crafting or decorating post. But I
wanted to share how I solved a decorating dilemma in our home because maybe
it will help you too! When we moved into our temporary rental home on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast, I knew I was going to have to find a way to disguise
a big eyesore in our home!
Using Chat GPT to resolve an eyesore in our home
Our rental home was built in the early 2000's. It's a custom home and has many
nice features, like wide crown molding, real wood floors and vaulted ceilings.
However, there was a big eyesore in the living room. An entire wall of blocky
cutouts above and around the fireplace mantle. These cavities were originally
built to house a big boxy TV, along with a DVD player and VHS machine - anyone
remember those?
The eyesore before
Here's a terrible phone image of the eyesore in our living room. Sorry for the
blurry resolution, but you get the idea.
There is nothing attractive about these big cubbies. They are deep, and the
glass shelves are so not my style! The single redeeming feature, in my
opinion, is the fireplace and mantle.
Mr DIY quite liked the cubbies, and as you can imagine, they quickly became a
catch-all for paperwork, keys and numerous other things that needed a more
permanent home.
Solution options
I know that buried somewhere in the storage unit we're renting, is my
oversized and gorgeous French style chalkboard that Mr DIY and I made from a
chunky and carved $10 yard sale frame. You can see that piece
HERE and read about how I found it (this was one of the very first blog
posts I wrote so no judgement please haha).
I'm sure that piece is large enough to cover up the hole for the TV; however,
it's not accessible.
Everything that I currently have available to use is too small to cover the
big gaping hole. I leaned my largest mirror against the mantle, but not only
wasn't it large enough, now it was reflecting the ceiling fan, lol.
My solution was to layer shutters to the sides of the mirror, and another pair
in front of the mirror. Now I finally had successfully covered the largest
hole (except for a couple small spots). I took the decorating opportunity to
add a little bit of Fall decor with garland. This adds some life, softness and
movement to the hard edges of the layered pieces.
I turned my attention to the side shelves, but I was stumped. I thought about
having Mr DIY build faux wood shelves to disguise the glass, but that was a
lot of work for a home we're only in for a short period of time.
The shelves wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so deep and so tall...they
almost go to the top of our 10' ceilings!
Chat GPT help
I'll be the first to stand on my soapbox and say that I'm not a big fan of the
AI that is taking over our world! It's affected me personally, as fewer people
are visiting my blog because they're getting answers from Artificial
Intelligence instead!
However, I decided to turn it around and use it for my own needs, in this
case, to see if it could offer me some solutions. I took a couple pictures of
the wall, and sent it to Chat GPT. I requested a solution, including my style
and the fact that we were renting.
Here are a couple of options it gave us.
Solution #1: beadboard
I quite like this solution. The shelves are made much less deep, and the bead
board enhances the decorative items so they are really seen. While I like
the way this looks, it wasn't the right solution for us. The cost and work
would not make sense in a temporary rental! But long term, this is probably
something I would do if I owned this home!
Solution #2 - fabric
I continued the conversation with Chat GPT, reminding the bot that we needed a
more affordable solution for a temporary rental situation, and this is what it
came up with.
Covering the cubbies with fabric is an affordable idea that I quite liked.
There was something about it that I didn't love, and in the end I tweaked this
idea and came up with something that really works for us!
Using fabric to disguise ugly wall cubbies
I decided to hang curtain panels that would cover up all but the topmost
cubby...a girl needs some decorating real estate after all!
I purchased 6 yards of inexpensive muslin fabric, along with a set of
small spring tension curtain rods. It came in a set of 6 and I used 4. I created a rod pocket at both the top
and bottom of my curtain panels, and hung the rods just inside the edges of
the cubbies.
The neutral gathered fabric effectively disguises the unsightly holes in the
wall, and add a little softness too.
It's not perfect, but it's a solution that I am happy with. No, the cubbies
are no longer accessible, but it's forcing both Mr DIY and me to find
permanent spots for our junk, which is a better solution for everyone as I
can't stand useless clutter!
The best part is that this wall in our home now feel like my style, a blend of
vintage+cottage+farmhouse.
My favorite part is the exposed shelf I left at the top of each cubby. It's
the perfect place to highlight a single pretty item on either side of our
fireplace mantle.
Now you know the process that went into making this wall of our home a
pleasing one and no longer the eyesore it was!
Have you thought of using Chat GPT to helping you solve a decorating dilemma
in your own home? I would love to hear your thoughts!
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Love your post. I had no idea you could ask Chat GPT for decorating ideas. I prefer the full curtain look as it looks classic with the mantlepiece items. It looks busier and less streamlined with the items displayed on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteIf you like the headboard idea you can always buy a roll of the wall paper cut it to the size of a piece of cardboard that fits the holes and slide it into the holes. I would add a bit of wood pieces ( on the back to hold it in place). Very renter friendly. Remove when you move. I am the self proclaimed queen of cardboard, ha ha. There are so many uses for it.
ReplyDeleteYour solution is cute, but really doesn't take advantage of the space that's there. I would have used foam core cut to fit and beadboard paintable wallpaper. And cut inexpensive pine for the shelves. Both the wallpaper and shelving are temporary and the excess wallpaper can either be used for other projects in this home, or kept and taken with you. Ditto for the pine shelves. Scrap wood is always valuable! Or just leave the glass shelves, with the background of beadboard provided by the faux walls in the back, the glass becomes a non issue, and provides more options for decorating with books, and plants, etc. Using books to fill those cubbies actually provides a faux wall instead of using foam core or carboard and wallpaper, and is cheaper still if you have books! If not, those are cheaply sourced at Goodwill for a few dollars, and books are wonderful for color and texture. If you have a TV that fits in the cubby made for one, you could make an inexpensive frame for it and place a sound bar in front of the dvr cut outs. Or hang a much larger TV so that it covers all those cubbies, and your hubs gets the benefit of watching sports on a larger TV, and you get the benefit of watching movies or HGTV. win, win. On another note, and I am not trying to be rude, just educational. Mantel isn't spelled mantle, and it's one of my biggest pet peeves. Mantle is a covering, think, "the world is covered in a mantle of fresh snow. While mantel is the piece that tops the fireplace surround. Thought you'd want to know
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, looks pretty too. No I have never used Chat GPT, but nice to know if I had to it isn't a bad thing.
ReplyDelete