Time for a New Room & Some Cheap Finds

My first post in quite a few months, and it’s not even going to be about homeschooling!

We’re on summer break right now, and my daughter just spent two weeks back in California with her Grandma. While she was gone, I decided to surprise her and redo her room. We had talked about what she had in mind when the time came to redecorate, and so on that note, I went full force on her bedroom with a vintage/shabby chic/French-type theme.

Something I did not expect to get lucky on was the wallpaper. It was a heavy, cream, pin-striped paper with a geometric border. I decided to just strip off the border to see if that made a difference and found a pale yellow painted wall beneath it. Bingo!! So down came the wallpaper without the messy sheetrock to redo. My husband painted a black border around the top of the wall. It’s not perfect, because ideally we’d like to patch, retexture & repaint, but it looks 100 times better than it did.

The quilt came from a local shop on Main Street, Linens & More, and is what Laina had picked out. The “Love” pillowcases are from Red, another neat store in town. The Eiffel Tower pillows I picked up at Tuesday Morning, while the small rectangle pillow, the red sheets & black pillowcases came from Wal-Mart! Now, for some of my cheap finds! The black bed skirt was a $3.00 thrift store find and the small monogrammed pillow in the front is not a pillow at all, but a $3.50 wine bottle bag that I stuffed with some quilt batting. Pretty clever, huh? The picture over the bed came from an antique/consignment store and is a poster for a French veterinarian’s office. I loved the animals in it and the color really ties that area together.

Laina already had the Eiffel Tower lamp, the white vase & the white nightstand, so I added some thrift store fabric for a runner, along with the butterfly picture ($3.50) and the stack of books. One is an old art book ($1.00), one is a French/English Dictionary ($3.00), and one is a Spanish/English Dictionary ($1.00). The had the correct colors & I liked the look of them, plus Laina could use them to study up on some foreign languages!

The black table was given to me by a friend. It was cream & I painted it black with some leftover house paint my husband had. The lamp came from Target. The silver cat ($3.00), small flower bowl (.50) and marble flower coaster (.50) came from a thrift store, while the bird vase was an antique store find ($5.00). I filled it with carnations from the Dollar Tree.

I had bought this desk a couple months ago at a thrift store & decided it needed to be more exciting, so I gathered up an old letter writing book (free), and some vintage looking scrapbook paper and proceeded to decoupage the desk. I had never attempted this before, but it was a lot of fun and I am really pleased with the results! I painted the backboard and knobs black and my husband attached a small bulletin board ($1.00) to the left side as a door.

Laina likes the look of the jars filled with common items, so that is what I topped the desk with. To the left of the desk is a vintage looking wire shelf ($10 from an antique store) that holds some of her personal collectibles. Underneath that is a cool key rack that has “Paris” stamped in it. I hung some music notes that I found at a teacher supply store on the hooks. On the wall directly above the desk is her baptismal certificate, of which I just repainted the frame. In the right side cubby is a wood artist’s mannequin that I found at Wal-Mart. The cupboard house her art supplies, which I reorganized in a small box found at Tuesday Morning; a tin pail holds her pastels & chalk, a small glass jar corrals her crayons & a large glass jar holds her brushes and sketch pencils. Below that are six little jars that I picked up months ago at a garage sale for $1.00. I put her paper clips, rubber bands, etc. in these. A little silver cup ($2) holds her school pens & pencils and a restaurant jelly holder is a good spot for her calculator, glue & time. (I should have taken closer pictures!)

Since taking the photo, we have added a couple candlesticks to the top shelf, a cool little black beaded lamp shade ($3 Ross) to the lamp ($2.50 thrift store-looks like hob-nail), and a antique-looking mirror to the back of it ($4.50 thrift store). I also found a wooden, white chair to use as a desk chair.

Here’s a close up of the desk top. The typewrite fonts I found in a bag of things at a thrift store ($2) along with the little dish (.75).

Some more of my cheap finds make for a great vignette on the hutch. The numbered bricks came directly from our backyard. We inherited them when we purchased the house. The checkerboard was $1.00 and the wooden checkers that came with it are perched in a little ice cream bowl ($2) on a lower shelf. The wire jug ($1.50) and the garden rake (.75) were thrift store finds. I had the decorative balls left over from another display, so they worked perfectly. The potting dish came from my outdoor shed and works wonderfully to hold the black globe ($5- Tuesday Morning). I just painted it cream & sanded it a little.

The other side of the hutch is home to an old Scrabble Board; the letters are in one of the jars. It was a $2 find. The three middle jars were all from the thrift store and I believe the cost $1 each. The one with the bow now holds some dominoes, and the one with the crown is home for some safety pins. That bottle came from Tuesday Morning and cost a little more, but I couldn’t resist. The one with the handle is a measuring cup that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. The buttons in the milk jug I dug out of my scrapbooking supplies & added to them with a .50 bag of red, black & white ones from a thrift store.

There are a few more little items that I added to the room, such as another wall hanging & a couple little knick-knacks on the dresser. I ordered some black ticking-striped valances today, and will hopefully have them up by next week. I would love to find an old iron headboard to add to her bed, and a tray for the top of her dresser.

Needless to say, Laina was absolutely surprised and pleased when she arrived home. She loves her room, and I have to admit, I do, too! It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to redecorate anything, and I think I have the bug now! I always try to find good deals, and it’s been a lot of fun redecorating on a budget! I’ll have to see what else I can get into before it’s time to head back to school.

I’ll keep you posted.