issue 7// vol 46 life & style // no. 13 When you cant paint Y a Photo by Billy Bui N 2 a 2 o = ie c o a 3 c vu > & > 9° £ ° x oa » Six artsy things to do to your rental home Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor L been looking at a lot of apartments and suites to move these last couple of months and not finding enough of an upgrade from my current place to bother aside, these places are all so damn boring! The walls are always beige or white and the suites so conformist and unstylish. And what’s worse, a lot of landlords and rental agencies seem to be touchy about painting. If you're one of the lucky ones and youre able to snag a sweet pad with a pretty shade painted onto the walls, good on ya! But if youre not, and your landlord’s not cool with changing things up, here’s what you can do. Punny Pillows This one is non-wall related, but I thought I'd include it anyway because for one, maybe the puns will distract your guests— and even yourself—from those boring, naked walls; and two, who doesn’t like a cute pun pillow? You can throw one on the couch ora couple on your bed. You could even decorate the corners of any space with these. And the best part? There are so many puns! My favourite one now is this: “Why can you never trust an artist?” “Because they are a bit sketchy, a little shady, and will always try to frame you.” =] From Dracu-dont to Dracu-ohlala! » Halloween help for this year’s spook-fest Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor alloween costumes are crazy expensive while giving you little for your money! Or at least that’s my experience. Each time I walk into a costume shop, I’m greeted by cheap, wrinkly plastic, cotton, or spandex outfits often imitating “sexy-something-or-others.” But what if I want to look good and feel warm this year? What if I want to be crafty, scary, or unique? Welcome to Costume 101: Your guide to great costumes for this year’s spook-fest. Firstly, go ahead, walk into that crappy costume shop on Granville street, or wherever else they're setting up shop this year, and get some inspiration. Find out what you want your look to be, maybe even shop for some accessories—not all of them are crap, right? But don't settle. Next, take inventory of all the items you'll need for your costume and see if you can make your outfit from thrift store finds and more quality dollar store options. If you want personal recommendations in New Westminster, My Uptown Party Store—located at 616 Sixth Ave— and Golden Coins Dollar Plus Store—located at 608 Sixth Ave—are seriously the best dollar stores I’ve ever been to. They have amazing quality wigs that look almost real, starting at $40. Much better than those lumpy, frizzy plastic ones you'll find in Halloween costume shops; I can guarantee that. Besides, grab n’ go costume bags that you find in Halloween exclusive stores are all overpriced because of the season, made of low-quality material, and are often missing half the items that the model is wearing—including the wig. For face paint, you could buy a package of paint from the same stores you'd buy your crappy low-quality costumes from if you want pimples up the wazoo, or you could purchase actual makeup, and make your own fake blood. Sure, it'll be a bit pricier, but that marked-up price is for a reason—these products will save your skin from breakouts. It’s not worth it for one night. Plus, you can reuse everyday-wear makeup as many times as you wish. Here’s an edible fake blood recipe from Epicurious to help with those special effects: Makes about 1 cup Ingredients 3/4 cupcorn syrup 1/4 cup water 1/2. teaspoon red food colouring 5 drops blue food colouring 2 drops green food colouring 1 tablespoon corn starch Ina small bowl, whisk together the corn syrup and water. Add the red, blue, and green food colouring and whisk until well combined. Whisk in the corn starch and let the liquid sit for 10 minutes to thicken. If you've scoured through all your local thrift stores and can’t seem to find that specific piece that you need, check out JQ Clothing at 2120 Commercial Drive and Venus&Mars Clothing at 324 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. These shops will blow your mind with what they're stocking. Were talking harnesses, jumpsuits, corsets, leggings and fishnet bodysuits, boots, dresses, chainmail, and accessories of all kinds. While JQ is more aimed at women and trans shoppers, Venus&Mars specializes in all genders, and asa bonus, all their products are locally made! Hope this helps with your haunting outfit for this year’s Halloween party! Tapestry/sarong On my last vacation, | ended up buying a lot of sarongs. I mean, it was hot out and they were all just so beautiful. However, now I find myself with all these sarongs and cold weather fast approaching. Guess I can hang them up over those greasy beige apartment walls! Like a coat of paint but made of cotton and easily removable, sarongs double as flexible, soft, and unique pieces of art that cover up a lot of space. What's more, when you get tired of your current design, switching up your sarong- art is super easy since it’s only tacked up there! Poster boards This one is more of a quick-fix-turned- discovery than anything else. Long story short, I ended up putting a hole in my bathroom door—to be fair, the thing is practically made of two pieces of cardboard and a whole lotta air—and needed a short- term fix solution. So, I bought some white poster board from the dollar store and taped that across the hole on either side of the door, and taped it, and taped it, and taped it again. You really need a lot of tape or the good quality kind for this idea. But once you ve got that bad boy stuck to the surface of your choice, it acts as a canvas; bringing back those good ol’ childhood memories of drawing on the walls. Only this time you won't get in trouble. Scrapbook I used to be big into scrapbooking. If youre not familiar with “scrapbooking,” it’s basically making a book, only instead of words, you paste photos, stickers, fancy pieces of paper, and so on in this book. This activity can be a lot of fun if youre into vision boards or card-making, but it can also be quite expensive. However, if you're creating a statement piece to liven up your living room, scrapbooking seems more worth the cost! Just pick a spot and slap all your favourite clippings, photos, and pretty scraps of papers and felts to the wall. You can always add to or change your creation later down the road. Bonus, this is a unique way to frame photos and create memories. Photo by Billy Bui Battery-operated string of lights This one is as simple as it sounds, just acquire a couple of strings of battery- operated lights and put ‘em up! Nowadays, you can get pretty much anything for some string lights: Cacti, footballs, snowflakes, red chili peppers (the fruit, not the band— although, I’m sure somewhere they both must exist), stars, even Edison bulbs! These little guys add light and a cute, artsy flair to any space. Whiteboard/chalkboard Admittedly, this idea I found in one of the upper-level units I looked at not too long ago. On the doors to every room, they had chalkboards put up. On these boards, the names of those whose rooms these were, along with an array of fun doodles, graced every entryway in this suite. This idea seems pretty cool. It’s informative, creative, and boosts the appeal of a plain door.