I'm going to go ahead and post before and after photos now, even though we are still trying to find her a bedframe and a black bedspread with lots of little pink pillows. (Right now she's got a cute afghan we found at the thrift store on it.) I know, I know...the bed will be the center of the room that ties everything together...but it might be a few weeks before we find one and I don't want to wait that long to show how cute it's looking.(We also plan on moving her pink curtains over to her closet opening and getting black curtains with pink dots for her windows....the sun here is bright and wakes her up early so she needs some dark ones.)
We spent around $5 for knick knacks, $20 for paint, and $5 for brushes - everything else was free....I love looking at her room and thinking it only cost $30! (Click on the tag "tween" to see all the posts about us finding freecycle items and fixing them up for her room.) (And remember, we know it would look even cuter if we could paint the walls....but we rent so that's out.)
The best part is that my tween and I did everything TOGETHER. Did we just walk into a store and let her pick out a premade bedroom? No. We showed her that you can have the bedroom you want, using unwanted items, not give in to consumerism, AND have FUN doing it. We spent hours cutting, fixing, painting, and chatting and ended up with a room that she's so proud of!
Ok enough talking....photo time! (Click to enlarge)
Wall 1: Before
After
Wall 2- Before
After
Wall 3- Before
After
Wall 4 - before
After
And some detail shots!
So...how's that for a $30 teen room makeover? :-P
Very nice work!
ReplyDeleteAMAZING!
ReplyDeleteHi -- found your blog through Money Saving Mom. More impressive than your freecycle finds is what you've done with them! Very creative -- I wish I could come up with great ideas to transform plain, boring objects. Looks great!
ReplyDeletevery cute!
ReplyDeleteLove it!!! I too just moved from another country and am looking to decorate a already decorated house but make it my style.
ReplyDeleteYour creativity is wonderful. If only more people stepped "out of the box" to think other than what is the "norm"! I'm not great with decorating and it's not something I'm able to do right now but I think you are very smart. Who wouldn't have wanted to decorate a dresser as a tween or teenager and make it cool? :)
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone!
ReplyDeleteShe's proud of her room, which is all that matters! Now let's see if I can talk her into helping me fix up her brother's room....:-P
I saw your post on LJ. I'm i_skye on there. Anyhow, I really wanted to say how awesome it is that you were willing to paint that shelf to make it more "her" and more "girly." I always thought that more people should do that. Make things more personal. But growing up my parents always acted like you should NEVER paint a wooden shelf a color because then it wouldn't last forever. They never got that you could always repaint it later down the road if she wanted a different color. So props to you!!
ReplyDeleteThanks i-skye!
ReplyDeleteI can see if you pay lots of money for a shelf and it was solid oak or something that you wouldn't want to get paint all over it....so that's why I love using free items in my kids rooms! Those "shelves" were old kitchen cabinets that my FIL tore out of his house, so we didn't care what color they were painted as we saved them from the trash!