Nifty Thrifty Girl » Bedroom

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!”

I’m in the Mood Lighting

niftythriftygirl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:16:47 +0000

I was in my bedroom the other night staring at an empty corner and I had a thought…I need some mood lighting. For some reason, this idea just popped into my head so I ran to my garage and grabbed an old lampshade frame (I just happen to have lots of these, collected from sales & flea markets over the years). I didn’t have any ‘fancy’ fabric so I decided that burlap would give it an interesting look.

I took one long piece of burlap and quickly covered the frame; hand stitching it around the top and bottom.

It wasn’t the finest job, but I wanted something quick, because that’s how I am. Plus, my free time is so rare these days I wanted to move on to the next project!

If I had been more patient I would have cut individual pieces to fit each side. I tied pieces of jute around the frame corners to tighten the burlap. And into the bedroom it went…where I filled it with tiny white Christmas lights.

It looks great at night. The perfect mood lighting!

I love this piece so much that I’m going to work on a hanging version for the corner of my living room. Stay tuned!

Ch..ch..ch..ch..Changes

niftythriftygirl — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:59:13 +0000

My house is going through some changes. I thought it only appropriate for my poor old house to have a face lift (at least the interior) prior to it’s 100th birthday next year.

As a professional painter I have the luxury of seeing a plethora of colors in each house I”m working in. That makes it so much easier for me to pick and choose colors for my own rooms. I get to spend several days with the new color of someone else’s walls and even though colors look very different in different settings I can get a ‘feel’ for the color I’m working with. I was working in a friend’s house and she chose a lovely shade for her den and kitchen- Benjamin Moore’s Texas Leather (also a featured color in the Pottery Barn catalog). I never would have picked this particular color for my own house, but the more I was around that color, the more I fell in love with it. So, my dining room is now that color! My apologies for the barren walls…I still don’t have my dining room properly put together yet:

In my house the color has more of a green hue. In my friend’s house it had more of a brown hue. I love the white trim and my antique white cupboard against the lush walls.

I also fell in love with another Pottery Barn color (Pine Cone Brown) and decided to paint my bedroom walls. My bedroom has had white walls for 12 years! It was a big change for me but I am so glad I did it. I’m in love with this color. It makes the room so restful and cozy.

I painted the dresser I purchased at an estate sale (for $18!!) white

And one more big change…a kitchen remodel. It’s only a partial kitchen remodel. I have a mishmash of different cupboards in my kitchen – the old built in ones that go from floor to ceiling (which I love) and the newer not-so-great ones that I will have to live with until I win the lottery. I’m adding another set of base cabinets and shelving on one end of the kitchen, getting new countetops, a new sink, and a new stove. I’ll be posting before and after pictures of the progress. It’s going slowly but it will be well worth it when it’s done!

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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