Showing posts with label decorate for less. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decorate for less. Show all posts

Monday, October 12, 2009

the big reveal (Julia's bedroom re-do!)...

A few weeks ago I shared my sister's bedroom re-do that we did over the summer. Well, here (finally!) is the other bedroom for my youngest sister that I promised I would share.

Today was also the perfect time to post because a little over a week ago I was reading the blog Room Remix and saw that she was going to do a mood board Monday event. The rules of the event were to design a room around one of two products, a set of drapes from Pier 1 or a trellis fabric. As soon as I saw the curtains I had to participate because I had actually used them in this bedroom re-do over the summer. Which is why this post is kind of a 2-in-1. I'm posting the pictures of the final bedroom re-do and participating in mood board Monday with my project!

Enjoy!
I'm an idiot and I didn't take some before shots of the whole room but I did take shots of the furniture that we sold via craigslist. Above is her armoire desk that we sold because, like my other sister, she never used the desk and it really just took up too much space. You can also see that bright green paint that her room was painted before.

She was about 11 when we moved into this house and she wanted a "tropical beach" theme so the green was nice and bright for when she was younger, but now she wanted something a little more grown-up (but still fun and colorful).

After asking her what she was looking for in her new room I came up with a design idea...
I'm not going to share all the sources on the idea board only because what we ended up using in the room was a little different, but most things (on the idea board) are from Ikea, CB2, and Pier 1....in the real room however, most things she already had, like the furniture, bedding and accessories. We also incorporated a few new pieces, like the nightstand from Ikea (I painted it white, it was like $15, not the one in the idea board), the drapes from Pier 1, and that cute lamp from Ikea on her nightstand.

And now I'm going to stop talking and just show you the room!
I chose a light gray paint (Gray Owl from Benjamin Moore) for her walls because she wanted something much more subtle and relaxing than the bright green. She also wanted to use the accessories as the main source of color this time instead of having bright walls. --and I apologize for the different lighting in every photo, these pictures were taken several different times by different people!
(can't take any credit for this picture, taken as a wonderful favor from my mom's co-worker, thanks Pam!)
My sister has had that papasan chair for years and she wanted to keep it, but in the old room it was behind the armoire so you felt really closed off from the room when you sat in it. Now it's in a nice space that she can use to relax, read, or use her laptop (probably the third, she is 17).
Another shot that I took while I was finishing decorating, clearly I hadn't put up the cute yellow paper lights yet.
Other side of her room, you can kind of see that the room is a little narrow, but it's still pretty long.This was my favorite find for the room. I found this lamp on craigslist for $30! Definitely beats the $100 price tag of the phantom lamp at CB2 (which is in the inspiration board).
We're still trying to figure out what to do with the wall behind the dresser, I haven't found anything that looks quite right yet. I'm hoping to work on this next time I visit. So far though, I think the lamp definitely ads a nice touch to this dresser, and room.
...and that's the room! My sister is very happy with it, and she finally keeps her room clean because of it!
Go there to check out other great mood boards!

Friday, October 9, 2009

bedroom ideas...

I bought it.

The lamp yesterday was calling my name and when I got home from work I had to buy it.

....which inspired me to get some real inspiration going for my room.
I've been wanting to put my suzani on my bed for a while now and I think I finally came up with an inexpensive room re-do. First, I'm going to paint my walls a medium toned gray (originally I was going to do a light gray, but I wanted more drama). Instead of getting rid of my bed I think I might just make some slip covers for the frame in a white fabric....I need to learn how to sew nicely to do this first. I'm also going to keep the dresser that I have now, it's pretty similar to the one in the inspiration board above, but I'm going to paint it black.

The desk shown above is the exact one that I have, bought from Target a couple of years ago, and the chair is just for some color. I actually have a chair that's been sitting in the garage for 2 years now. I painted it white, but now I might just paint it yellow and find some cool fabric for the seat cushion.

I had to throw in that wooden occasional table as a night stand on the inspiration board, but the $1250 price tag is just a tad over my budget...craigslist shopping it is.

Ideally I would like to have a nice natural seagrass or jute rug to ground the whole room, but that's not in my budget now after I get the paint for the room.

Well, there you have it. The only things I'm actually buying for my room re-do is the paint and fabric for my slipcovers....I already bought the lamp so I won't include that ;)

Check out Hooked on Friday's to see what other people are hooked on today!

Don't forget to check back Monday when I reveal my sister's bedroom re-do (my other sister, Julia)!

Friday, October 2, 2009

dining room inspiration...

Now that I have photoshop I can make some nice design boards! So of course, where better to start than some ideas for my own house!

I originally found a great picture of the Ikea Malm occasional table painted and used as a nice console table in hallway which was my inspiration, but I can't seem to find that specific picture. So here are a couple other inspiration photos...
Instead of using the console table in my hallway I would like to use it in my dining room. I have a big armoire there right now--it was actually for my bedroom because my closet is really small but it didn't fit around the corner in my hallway so it's been in the dining room for 2 years.

I would like to sell it and and put the ikea malm occasional table in its place.
Ideally I would paint my dining room a nice powdery blue-gray, since I do have permission from my landlord, but I'm not sure how much longer I will live here so I might leave it white. Everything in my dining room is either stained wood or white so I like the idea of painting the malm table navy blue to pop off the light blue or white walls. I want to keep the color scheme simple so that it ties in with my living room which is painted a mossy light green. I like to keep my furniture neutral and use accessories as accent colors because it's easier to re-use for a longer time, and I don't plan on buying new furniture anytime soon.
\I'm hoping to use this design board as inspiration rather than a shopping list, since I plan do do most of my shopping on craigslist and garage sales. But I like the general idea right now and I think it will look great in my dining room!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

my other sister's bedroom re-do (coming soon)...

First, thanks for all the nice comments everyone left on my last post. I really do appreciate feedback and can't wait for more on upcoming posts!

Not only did I do my sister Catherine's bedroom this summer, but I also re-did my youngest sister's bedroom. I don't quite have the greatest pictures of it yet, but here is a sneak peek of how the bedroom turned out....

I hope you will all come back for more! I will keep you posted on the second "big reveal", I'm hoping I can get some good pictures up in a post within the next couple of weeks.

Until then you can read the posts that I wrote about her room back in July here and here.

Monday, September 28, 2009

the big reveal (catherine's finished bedroom)...

Here's the before....
....and after!

Here's the rundown...
My sister just turned 20 over the summer and even though she lives at school for 9 months out of the year she wanted to have a new, more grown up look for her bedroom. She wanted it to be more relaxing for when she does come home, because she is on vacation. Her room before was too country, too girly and very high school.

What I did was simplify it. I chose a nice blue gray paint color for the walls, and you can't really see it in the before picture, but originally the wall and ceiling above the chair rail was painted green. We painted it white to make the ceiling look higher and the room feel bigger.
One more before shot of the other side of the room. She had that huge corner armoire desk that took up a lot of space, and she didn't really need it because she isn't in high school anymore. So we got rid of it, sold it on craigslist and made $125 off of it to go towards the room! You can see the after picture of the same corner below...

We found that leaning bookshelf at a consignment store and it was already painted black so it was perfect. I wanted to organize her pictures, books, knick knacks in one place instead of having them all over the room (we also got rid of a ton!).
In this corner before there used to be two shelves with lots of stuff on them. I wanted to get rid of that to make this side of the room her "dressing area". I had the idea for the leaning mirror because she hates her closet door mirrors, they really make you look extra "wide". We were thinking about getting rid of the closed doors and putting some white curtains in, but I decided that I didn't want the bulk of the curtains or for them to look to messy, I was going for the clean look in this room. We found the mirror at Homegoods for a great price anyways, only $60!...they were way more at ikea.
Another shot of the "corner" with the dresser. I wanted to build up the height of the dresser a little by getting a taller lamp. The lamp is from Homegoods and the cute shade came with it. Random, but that picture of the ballerina was actually painted by our great grandfather in the 50s.
Close-up of the bed. That cute pillow is from Stein Mart. If anyone lives near Mission Viejo, CA that Stein Mart actually has a really great throw pillow section! For the bedding we decided to a duvet set that we already had (it was actually mine). It's very simple, plain white, which is what we wanted but it has nice lace details on it. The tiny lamp on her night stand is from Ikea and was only $19.99.
Excuse the mess, this is a progress shot that I took before we hung the pictures. This is the only good shot of the small ottoman stools at the end of the bed, super cute and from Ikea. If i knew now to sew I would have put a pretty striped fabric on them, but the white works too.
Close-up of bookshelf. My sister was a synchronized swimmer (actually still is) and she had a TON of swimming photos. I used what we had in decorating, but I tried to bring out pops of orange to tie in with the rest of the room.
Pretty vignette of her night stand.
One last shot. Forgot to mention the curtains! They're from Ikea, online it says $19.99 for a pack of 2 panels, but I want to say that we got them for less (on sale?) if I remember correctly.

Anyways, that is the room! Hope you like it! I would love to hear some feedback so if you're thinking something write a comment!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

fun things on sale...

If you haven't checked out Pier 1 or Cost Plus in a while, they have some great finds on sale right now....
This rustic "twig chandelier" from Pier 1 is adorable, and only $31.18! Regularly it's $125, so that's a great deal!


I had been looking for an inexpensive sunburst mirror for my sister's bedroom and finally found this one, also at Pier 1 for $39.99....I'm trying to convince her to buy it!


Love this cute table lamp which is on sale for $29.98 (Pier 1)

I am a big fan of simple cylinder vases right now and I think this is a nice twist on the style with its bamboo detail....50% off at $8.98 (also Pier 1)

I absolutely love these Moroccan occasional tables from Cost Plus, and they're only $29.99!

I like the simplicity of this candle sconce for $10.39, I've been looking for something similar to put on each side of the artwork above my sofa. (Cost Plus)

I so have these tables! And I love them! The small ones are only $20, the tall painted one is only $24.99 and they're perfect for a narrow hallway. I have them at the top of the stairs with a little dish on it where I drop my keys when I come home. The lamp on the larger one is great because it provides light to the very dark pantry that is across from it, by the way the lamp was only $15 with the shade from T.J. Maxx! Sweet deal.

Last, but not least, this awesome 5x8 jute rug from Pier 1 is only $50!