Add Whimsy To Your Walls With An Adorable Mushroom Decor DIY

Mushrooms have long been a décor element that has graced many homes, rising to popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. These fun little fungi adorned everything from textile prints and artwork to cute canisters shaped like actual mushrooms. While their popularity as a décor element waxes and wanes every few years, they are once again on the rise. This is due in part to a love of vintage and retro imagery, as well as styles like cottagecore decor and whimsigoth, which often use these natural accents in abundance. If you're wondering how to bring a little whimsical mushroom charm into your home, TikTok DIYer @hollyauna demonstrates how to create adorable lightweight mushroom shelves as part of their décor out of only some hot glue, plastic push pins, and paint. Yes, that's all you need! 

This easily-customizable project is not only fun to do but also very inexpensive to create, meaning you can make as many mushroom shelves as you'd like and experiment with different shapes. While they are not particularly weight bearing as constructed in the video, you can add additional support like small L-brackets that stay hidden underneath if desired. These shelves also make a great renter friendly option, since they can be easily removed when you leave. 

To create your mushroom shelves, start with a single layer of hot glue in an uppercase D-shape on a non-sticky surface like wax paper. Build upward in layers, creating the organic and uneven texture of mushrooms in the order of Polyporales, which grow in shelf-like formations on tree bark. As they start to dry, embed plastic push pins into the flat edge at 1-inch intervals, pressing them into the middle of the glue as it sets. Then cover the push pins in more glue to hide them inside. When the shelves are dry, use acrylic paints to create color and shading on each mushroom. You can even experiment with the shapes and colors of other common mushrooms that grow on trees in your yard or in the forest. You will then have a solid thermoplastic mushroom formation that you can push right into the drywall or a corkboard. With a few gentle taps of a hammer, you can also drive it into harder wall materials like wood paneling or plaster.

Once they are on the wall, add other cottage and fairycore elements like dried flowers, moss, leaves, and other cute lightweight accents. You may need to use a strong super glue to adhere small knick-knacks to their surface. You could also add some small fairy lights or DIY mushroom lights to make your home feel like the forest floor. For a woodsy garden feel, create a full plant wall, either real or faux, and use the mushroom shelves to break it up.