Nifty Thrifty Girl » Bedding

a mini bedroom re-do

niftythriftygirl — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:16:51 +0000

My lucky daughter just spent a week vacationing in Florida with her aunt and grandparents. So, while she was away I decided to do what I love best – redecorate. Her bedroom had been painted and redecorated last year but there were still a few things she wanted changed. She decided that the scalloped wooden valances above her windows (that were installed when she was a wee one) were too babyish and wanted them removed. She wanted more modern, ‘adult’ curtains. She wanted her bedroom door painted white (it was a garish green color), she wanted a desk, and she wanted her great, great grandmother’s beautiful, ornate dresser & mirror removed from her room and replaced with something modern. That’s quite a list for someone who’s only eleven!

As soon as her plane took off I scurried home and started tearing her room apart. I have no ‘before’ pictures because the mess that was her room was far too embarrassing to be published. Believe me when I say it looked like a tornado touched down. It took me an entire evening to box up all the things that were scattered around the room. I decided that I would do the decorating and when she got home she could do the sorting.

I knew at some point that I would be redecorating her room so I had previously purchased several pieces at yard sales, IKEA, etc. The major find was the IKEA Knappa pendant light – a mere $2 (!!!) at a yard sale last summer. Her metal swivel office chair was another great find – only $5 at a yard sale…and all I did was clean it up and recover the seat with some Ballard Designs fabric I bought on clearance.

Since a brand new desk was not in my budget I used a small drop-leaf table (that used to be my Mother’s kitchen table) and painted it white. The one white wall in her room was begging for some decoration so I added a little artistic flair and painted a black floral design.

Desk accessories from IKEA and Walmart:

Next, her bed…

I used a previously purchased Ikea duvet that she had picked out, assorted pillowcases & blankets, an Ikea accent pillow and pink accent pillow that I made out of a recycled sweater. I hung artwork/photos (including the photo of a pink lily that she took at a photography class last year) in black frames.

And the final touches: a new white shag rug, curtains and curtain rod from Target. Notice little Waffle enjoying the view.

Not too shabby for a week’s worth of work, don’t you think? I have yet to find a dresser so for the time being we are going to store her clothes in a large, white antique bookshelf.

My daughter arrived home safely last night and her response when she walked into her room: “You’re kidding me!”

Do, Do, Do You Duvet?

niftythriftygirl — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:07:48 +0000

One of my favorite and least expensive ways to change a bedroom’s decor is to use duvets. I bought my first duvet about 15 years ago from Eddie Bauer Home and, believe it or not, I still have it! I have at least six duvets at the moment and switch them out every few weeks to get a quick decor change:

And with crazy boys like these…

who like to sleep with me and roll around in the bed, it’s a great deal easier to wash a duvet than it is a bulky comforter.

Some of my favorite places to shop for duvets:

Garnet Hill

Pottery Barn (I love you PB, but sometimes you are just too expensive and I can only shop your sales!)

Ikea

Target

I tend to buy most of my duvets on sale ($35-$50), that way I don’t feel too guilty when I amass a half dozen of them. I do, however, splurge once in a while when I find one I just can’t live without. Duvets are, indeed, a fun and inexpensive way for a quick change!

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Weekend Room Re-Do

niftythriftygirl — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:54:56 +0000

A little paint and some inexpensive fabric can go a long way. My daughter is growing up and decided that her girly pink room had to go. Boo hoo. Unfortunately, I never snapped pictures of the ‘pink’ room in all it’s glory but you can get the idea from the few photos I will share with you.

When changing a room over I like to grab several paint swatches, tape them to the wall and ‘live’ with the colors for a bit before I make my decision. Well, my daughter had her own ideas and immediately fell in love with a lovely shade of blue from one of the swatches, so we went with it.

BEFORE – the PINK room

The pink gingham roman shades were removed from the windows, as well as the shutters to make way for new window treatments.

DURING – PINK to BLUE room

AFTER – the BLUE room

While shopping for paint I happened to pass by the fabric clearance rack and spotted this funky fabric that I knew my daughter would love…so I stitched up some panels. The blue fabric combined with the brown polka dots = oh, la, la! I had to persuade her into allowing me to use the brown polka dotted fabric. She insisted that it was ‘babyish’.

We scoured the stores for a bedding ensemble that would match the walls. It didn’t take long for my daughter to spot this set…and it looks perfect:

So, for approximately $80 (the majority of the money was spent on the bedding) I completely changed a room – in one weekend.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.