While each and every homeowner seems to experience their own, personal decorating journey, it’s clear that some get much more creative than others, especially when it comes to their walls. Because of this, we felt the need to shine a spotlight on a particularly savvy decorator who decided to look beyond the paint can to something a bit more unexpected—wallpaper.

Wait! Don’t click off of our page yet! We’re not talking about your grandmother’s wallpaper here—there are NO gaudy floral designs involved.

As a matter of fact, Lily Ardor, the brilliant designer and blogger behind today’s featured DIY managed to turn her living room into a head-turning, one-of-a-kind space with custom wallpaper, all for less than the cost of a Frappuccino!

But before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look at the chosen space, pre-makeover. Prior to installing that innovative wallpaper, Lily’s living area looked like this:

As you can see, the room itself is rather long; in fact, the blogger herself admits that the poorly-designed area reminds her much more of a long hallway than a proper living room— and we have to agree. We think the space has great potential and lots of light with plenty of chic furniture, but the white walls are quite overwhelming!

To remedy this, Lily looked inward, to really explore the depths of her personal style; the idea that came out of her journey will really surprise you.

After considering every possible variety of store-bought wallpaper, including “floral, geometric, gold leaf…damask…etc.,” the handy gal settled on something truly unexpected.

Believe it or not, the chic designer decided to use a 1967 College edition dictionary, of all things, to liven up that perplexing room.

In Lily’s mind the choice was a literal win-win. On making the unconventional selection, the blogger writes:

It had the perfect amount of images and I loved the fact that it was a dictionary. I figured it was a 2-1 whammy… I’d be a genius pretty soon from all the words I’d learn every time I walked past it. hehe. (Never happened. I got so used to it I forget it’s there.)

While she didn’t exactly become the wordsmith that she’d hoped she’d be by the project’s end, she DID manage to create her dream space, all on a 6-dollar budget. Doesn’t get much more successful than that!

Now, we know that this particular project might not seem like everyone’s cup of tea, but we think the gorgeous results really speak for themselves…

Doesn’t that just look like the best spot on earth to curl up and read your favorite novel? A book-lover’s dream!

See what a bit of perfectly-placed wallpaper can do? To get the full tutorial for yourself, as well as her inspiring backstory behind the literary-themed DIY, be sure to visit Lily Ardor’s site here. Who knew that one small change could make an entire room look so much more inviting?

What do you think of Lily Ardor’s custom wallpaper project? Have you ever attempted a similar DIY before? How have you transformed your awkwardly-shaped rooms?