When it comes to personalizing things, we’re masters at adding our own custom details to our stuff. Whether it’s the smallest details in our room or the bigger decorative pieces in our house, our clothes or our accessories, we just love putting our own creative touch on the things we buy. Just because we can’t make something ourselves doesn’t mean we can’t still embellish it to show our personality! Even our most expensive pieces of technology have been known to undergo DIY makeovers and our laptops are not exception.
Just in case you’d like to add a bit of personality to your own laptop but you feel like you could use some inspiration, here are 15 awesome ways to safely decorate your personal computer without damaging it!
Are you a big social media guru who maintains a big social media presence and loves sharing your life or expertise online where you can help your followers learn things or share stores? Then what would be better to decorate your laptop with than pop culture and social media stickers? Katherine Elizabeth guides you through the process of making and arranging different logos and sayings that relate to your online life and tastes.
Do you actually already have a thin, clicking laptop case to cover the outside of your computer with but you can’t help but feel that it’s just a little too plain for your tastes? Well, you could buy one that’s more exciting looking, but we think it would be a lot more fun and satisfying to simply customize the one you already have to give it a little extra style! That doesn’t mean you have to get complicated; Lisa Pullano transformed theirs in a stylish way by adding a few chicly messy painted stripes to contrast with some strips made completely of glitter.
Do you love the stripes idea but you don’t actually have a snap on case, so you’re not sure paint is the best way to go for you? Well, we’d say that’s a wise decision, but we also want you to know that it doesn’t mean you can’t have your stripes! Check out how Apartment Therapy made an eye catching striped pattern right on the outside of their laptop itself using brightly coloured and patterned washi tape.
Is your laptop actually an older model that you kind of built, altered, and pieced together yourself because you’re a bit of a techy and you wanted to give it a certain combination of features that store bought laptops don’t usually come with affordably? Well, since it’s already a DIY creation, why not take it to the next level and add your own design too? If you’re an avid hand painter and you think you can be careful enough with a splattering technique to keep your work under control on a piece of technology, we have a feeling you’ll love recreating this beautiful galaxy paint job by Park Rin.
Are you an avid Tumblr user who has always loved aesthetic blogs, cute theme images, and browsing through people’s memes or cartoons and illustrations? In that case, we have a feeling you’ll get a real kick out of the way Lydia Deramchia made these awesome Tumblr inspired cut outs, featuring all kinds of trend images, emojis, and online jokes.
Were you very intrigued by the idea of hand painting a design right onto your laptop but you’d rather create something slightly more subtle and easy to keep contained to one corner? Perhaps you’d rather make a smaller design because you’d like to be able to mimic it on your smaller devices too! In that case, we think perhaps this lovely dotted paint pattern, inspired by pointillism techniques, might be the best idea for you. See how it’s done in more detail on Cake, Carrots, and Curls!
If you’re going to decorate your own click-on laptop skin, would you rather create something so eye catching that people can’t believe you made it yourself? Then perhaps embellishing it with a little bit more than tape or paint is the best idea for you. We can’t get over the absolutely stunning finished results of this custom made mermaid laptop skin by Quiet Lion.
There are all kinds of awesomely coloured, patterned, and visually textured laptop skins premade out there that you can buy in stores or online, but what if you can’t quite find the one that’s precisely what you’re looking for? Well, we think that’s exactly the kind of situation where your DIY skills can save the day! This tutorial from Apartment Therapy guides you through the process of making a stick-on laptop skin, specifically a beautiful wood grain design, from contact paper.
Were you a huge fan of the mermaid idea we showed you, but it was more because you love the idea of using 3D embellishments and rhinestones than because you love mermaids? In that case, here’s another design using the same kinds of DIY trinkets but in a slightly more subtle way! Cici Dawn shows you how to make cute floral corners to accompany embossed letters spelling out your name.
Are you looking at your laptop skin and thinking about how good it would look covered in cut outs but you’re not sure you have the time to go to the trouble of making your own stickers or specifically themed cut outs? Then why not reach back into your old kid crafting days and cover your case in a brightly coloured magazine collage? Jennifer Omaly shows you how to do it lie a decoupage craft.
Have you been collecting jacket patches for a while now because you had dreams of sewing them onto an old denim coat to make a cool custom piece, but you never got around to it because you realized how time consuming sewing around the edges of each one will be? Well, why not repurpose those patches into another, easier project instead? We love the way A Little Craft in Your Day glued them all across the top surface of a click-on case for a cool, kitschy effect.
Are you the kind of nostalgic person who mostly has an Instagram account because it gives you somewhere to collect your memories all in one place, making them easier to scroll through when you’re bored? Then why not choose some of your very favourites and recreate this Instagram inspired case cover from LaurDIY! We love the way they arranged the case to mimic the grid layout of your actual Instagram feed in the app.
Were you pretty intrigued by the dotted hand painting case we showed you earlier but you’d rather make your dots a little bigger and more eye catching because you don’t plan on making your phone or tablet match? Then perhaps you’d prefer this laptop décor made of sparkling scattered polka dots created by By Stephanie Lynn! It adds a bit of glitz and glamour without taking things too over the top.
Are you actually so used to working on your laptop after years of school, writing, and office work, that you find you don’t even need to look down at the keys to use the computer anymore? Then why not give them a super fun facelift instead of just leaving them with their original labels? We love the way Making it With Danielle used a fun contrasting scheme of washi tape cut down to size to cover each key.
15. Printed wax paper and laminate laptop skin design
Were you intrigued by the idea of making your own printed laptop skin but you’re just not sure that the contact paper idea we showed you earlier is quite the tutorial for you? Then here’s a slightly easier alternative that uses a few different materials. Check out how The Fantesstic Life created an awesomely patterned laptop skin from printed wax paper and laminate in just a few simple steps!
