Need ideas to cover BAD paint job

[seastarmath]

The paint on my classroom walls is REALLY BAD. I am putting in for new paint, but it will be of poor quality and a really ugly color. I would like to jazz it up with some colorful stencils, but I am not allowed to paint the room. I've tried sticker appliques in the past, but when I remove them, the paint comes off too. (We have to remove EVERYTHING at the end of the school year.) Has anyone heard of some sort of mixture that I could apply to the stencils on the wall that would wash off easily?

ANy other ideas for jazzing up walls? I can only cover 20% with paper, I cannot put nails or stickies that would take off the paint. Any ideas would be appreciated. What do you all do with your empty wall space?

Thank you.

[MsCoffeeLover]

I am in a trailer with brown wood veneer walls and have often thought of taking butcher paper and covering them up--a nice yellow to lighten the place up. Some folks have used fabric too.

That could be an alternative.

[Chef Dave]

I once taught in a school like this. We wound up taking a page out of history.

The Victorians did NOT hammer nails into walls to hang their pictures. They used picture hooks which hung from the ceiling. String or wire was used to hang picture frames.

At work, we hung hooks under the ceiling tiles. String was tied to the hooks and attached to large pieces of cardboard. We then used the cardboard as "bulletin boards."

If you do this, be advised that this type of improvised bulletin board is not anywhere as durable as a real bulletin board. Each time you put something up or take something down, you run the risk of pulling the hooks out of the ceiling.

As an alternative, you could use the cardboard as the backing for a large wall mural.

For example, this mural is 13' wide by 8'8". It's available through any number of on-line retailers.

http://images.fingerhut.com/X6/400/X6878_400.JPG

http://www.fingerhut.com/ProductGroup.aspx?categoryxid=0&cmCategoryID=buytogether&offergroupxid=21169

[Boxcar]

My favorite wall hanging thingie is the sticky velcro. Depending on your walls, the velcro goes on and peels off without removing paint. It works with cinder - block walls covered with some sort of shiny paint stuff. There is also these clips with goo and pins. I don't know the name though. I can't use them with the little kids, so I'm not that familar with them. They are pretty common though.

[seastarmath]

These are great ideas! Thank you!

[irish223]

My favorite wall hanging thingie is the sticky velcro. Depending on your walls, the velcro goes on and peels off without removing paint. It works with cinder - block walls covered with some sort of shiny paint stuff. There is also these clips with goo and pins. I don't know the name though. I can't use them with the little kids, so I'm not that familar with them. They are pretty common though.

I think they're called "sticky-clips" or something close to that.

[julee]

3M makes some fabulous double-sided removable tape... key word removable. Be sure the paint in your room has had at least 30 days to dry, and then put the removable side of the tape on the wall and the permanent side on whatever you want to hang up and you're good to go. No damage or residue will be left on the walls.

[Boxcar]

I have a fondness for double-sided tape. So much neater than regular tape and less messy than glue. Wrapped presents never looked so nice...

[irish223]

I wonder if you could use chalk or finger paint with stencils? I don't know if the chalk would show up, but it would be easy to remove. I also don't know if finger paint would stain the walls, but you could try a small inconspicuous (sp?) area first.

[SS Rocks!]

I have some flags hanging from my ceiling tiles. I'm guessing from your user name that you're a math teacher. Maybe you could get a state flag and hang it up. It could increase morale for state testing...or not. :cool:

I picked mine up pretty cheap on ebay.