Cheapest way to make my walls black?

October 21, 2009 12:05 PM

What is the cheapest way to cover my apartment walls in black? I have a huge apartment, with a lot of surface space which I want to make black for an upcoming 'ween party. The material has to be purchased in New York.
posted by pakoothefakoo to home & garden (16 comments total)

Black plastic sheeting like this usually runs pretty cheap. We line the walls of our enclosed porch with it and it looks really good at night or by candlelight.
posted by iconomy at 12:12 PM on October 21

Black kraft paper -- try art supply and educational supply stores
posted by hydrophonic at 12:14 PM on October 21

Slice open some black garbage bags and tape them up. Viva la Halloween!
posted by joelhunt at 12:14 PM on October 21

We always used black visqueen for Haunted Houses. You should be able to get rolls and rolls of it at a large hardware store. Note that it's noticeably shiny.
posted by muddgirl at 12:14 PM on October 21

(Oh, you can get the black plastic tarp sheeting at most hardware stores and/or garden centers)
posted by iconomy at 12:15 PM on October 21

Black velvet is the blackest black, although the plastic route is sure to be cheaper.
posted by Night_owl at 12:38 PM on October 21

absolute cheapest has to be to turn off your lights.

Really though, I've had success with plastic sheeting / garbage bags, but they will be shiny. It gives it sort of a wet cave look though which can be good.
posted by CharlesV42 at 12:43 PM on October 21

Black paper or plastic tablecloths at the dollar store. Even bigger, possibly cheaper by the square foot: rolls of tablecloth material from party stores.
posted by Elsa at 12:53 PM on October 21

If you want fabric (rather than shiny plastic sheeting), use black felt. Super-cheap, comes in gigantic rolls.
posted by ourobouros at 1:14 PM on October 21

Rolls of black fabric weed barrier tend to be quite cheap.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:38 PM on October 21

A roll of 12 yards of 9 foot wide black seamless photo backdrop paper is about 30 dollars at B&H Photo (9th and 34th St.)
posted by blaneyphoto at 1:40 PM on October 21

How about using black light? Although it'll make your place look like a bad rave and all the lint on your clothes will glow and look like dandruff.
posted by cazoo at 1:41 PM on October 21

Thanks for all the answers! Keep them coming!

Seems like the cheapest option so far is visqueen/black tarp, but still looking for non-shiny alternatives.
posted by pakoothefakoo at 1:51 PM on October 21

I love the idea of black weed barrier fabric. You should be able to get that pretty cheap, maybe at the Brooklyn Home Depot?

Or for some other kind of black fabric, P&S fabrics on Broadway a few blocks south of Canal should have a bunch of affordable options.
posted by dayintoday at 3:05 PM on October 21

I've decided to go with black kraft paper, since it is the cheapest one by square footage. Thanks for the useful answers!
posted by pakoothefakoo at 10:44 PM on October 21

Once We put up cardboard boxes and painted them black.
posted by nuke3ae at 8:58 AM on October 22