It wasn’t all that long ago that having a printer tucked neatly away in the corner of the bedroom or home office was something of a luxury. Nowadays, the printer is so much of a staple, with almost every household owning one, that technology innovators are struggling to keep up the pace and it’s advancing practically by the week.
In fact, with so much choice of inks, papers and printers now on the market, the printing possibilities are endless. Here we take a look at the top 10 ways you can give your home a face lift and bring it to life, simply by using your printer.
Photos
Nowadays, there’s none of the inconvenience of taking your camera to the shop to have your photos developed as you can add personality to your home by printing your own photographs and then displaying them, perhaps on a gallery wall. Inkjet and thermal dye are the two printing technologies that guarantee a good photo print, but be sure to experiment with different kinds of paper and the printer’s editing features for the best print.
Wallpaper
Technology has come so far that you can even decorate a wall in your house with custom wallpaper printing. Digital inkjet printing technologies use ultraviolet cured inks to make custom wallpaper[1] so photographs or digital art can be printed on wallpaper material, ready to add a burst of colour and personality to your room.
Calendars
If you like to keep all your dates and commitments in one place, there are plenty of templates and printables online for ready-to-use calendars. Print these out on to matte or glossy paper and display your calendar on the wall in the kitchen, or on the desktop in the office.
Artwork
You can decorate your whole house with your favourite prints. Play around with different paper to get the best quality image possible – photo paper is manufactured to enhance vivid and bold colours. Find a pretty frame for your print and hang it on the wall to bring even the most lacklustre of rooms to life.
Wall Art
Quirky and colourful wall art needn’t cost the earth – you can create it yourself and brighten up any room using your printer! Dress up children’s bedroom walls, for example, with 3D-styled font alphabet letter printables that look great hung up or simply stood on shelves.
Posters
Long gone are the days when posters only adorned teenagers’ bedroom walls. Using your home printer to print out posters of your favourite quotes or images will instantly brighten up your living room. If you don’t want to take up wall space, you could print them to a smaller size and frame them to sit on a shelf or cabinet.
Place settings
Get as creative as you like for the next time you have dinner guests round by printing your own placemats. Seek out printable designs online to add a pop of colour to your next dinner party.
Reward charts for children
Provide children with a colourful visual aid as to how well they’re doing either in school or with their chores at home. Design your own reward chart or print out one of the many formats found online, but make sure you’ve got plenty of ink because when it comes to children’s learning, the bigger and brighter it is the better.
Toys
An intriguing concept, yes, printing your children’s toys, but also a very easy and do-able one. Print out templates found online and cut, score and glue all the tabs to make colourful and unique toys for the kids to play with. The bonus points here are that the children can help make them and you won’t have spent a fortune at the local toy shop.
Recipes for the kitchen
Inspire the would-be chefs in your house with colourful printouts of recipes of all their favourite meals. Recipe card printables are popular at the moment, and there are endless designs to choose from.
By simply using the printer that you’d ordinarily only use for work purposes – along with a little imagination – you can add character and colour to your home.
