Ta-da! Girls' Room Before and Afters Part Two

I can finally show you our girls' room! We really wrapped up this project quickly, but I had just a couple things left that I needed my husband's help with. My vision for this room was inspired by my oldest daughter's love for horses. I didn't want a manufactured horse-themed room, however. I was hoping to achieve a sweet room that would make you think of riding horses in a meadow. The colors were inspired by the quilt (used on the top bunk) that my husband found in some of his old stuff: pale green, yellow, and touches of red.

In case you missed it, here is the before.

After!

For the curtains, I used a king size sheet cut down the center to make two panels. Years ago, I spotted some curtains in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog trimmed in ric-rac. I always wanted to copy the design, and I really like the way these turned out. The ric-rac is red, yellow, and pale blue. The beauty of making your own curtains is you can get a grand look for not a lot of money. These curtains are ultra long and full.

The desk was a sewing cabinet collecting dust in the garage. It was cheap brown wood with outdated knobs. New paint, new knobs, new look! It has lots of drawer space for art supplies. The chair is a favorite of mine from long ago.

Instead of spelling the girls' names out on the wall like we did in the old room, I just used their first initial tied onto each girls' bed. There's a touch of red in the ribbons.

The lantern above the top bunk was in the old room, paired with a pink one. My husband changed the switch on it, moving it from the bottom of the cord closer to the top. Then we swapped out the bulb for a 15 watt one. Now she uses it as a reading light, and it's not so bright that it will wake baby sister below! Cool, huh?

Here's a pic of the lantern after I finished the sleeve for the cord. Also something I saw in Pottery Barn.

Fun banner made from wool and fabric scraps. It's hung with twine and 70 cent knobs from Hobby Lobby.
The peg hanger was in the old room, and was painted white. There's the red I wanted.

Fabric swatches in embroidery hoops. The toile fabric has horses in it.

We love this room! I love that I was able to use so much of what we already had on hand. And, I am now a believer in bunk beds. I didn't think I liked them so much before, but they sure free up lots of floor space! So glad to have this project done.

Girl's Room Before and Afters, Part One

We started a few weeks ago redecorating our girls' room. Then things got complicated. We had homeschool testing, people got sick, and our birthday marathon began. We have four birthdays in our family in less than a month. That drives me crazy. Anyway, now I'm scrambling to get done.

Here are some before shots.

Notice the room also needs a good cleaning. I'm into multi-tasking.

Now for the nice clean, freshly painted and wallpapered version:

You can't really tell in the photo, but the green on the wall is wallpaper. It has a tiny cream dot pattern. I originally wanted something floral, but when we saw this we loved it. Wallpaper was our big splurge, as was the crown molding. I can't imagine wallpapering a whole room; that stuff is really expensive.

We have new bunk beds to bring in, but everything else for the room I'm either sewing or we are bringing in from elsewhere in the house. I "shopped" our garage for some things, and we re-painted a couple of pieces. I think for the girls' name letters, I'm going to just use their initial and hang with ribbon.

Stay tuned for the big reveal!

Cheap-O Christmas Decorating

My husband says I have expensive taste. Maybe that's true. Yep it is true. However, I also love getting something from nothing, being resourceful, and being a good steward. I love decorating my home with things I already have on hand.
I always wanted a way to display my antique cookie cutters in my kitchen for the holidays. A wreath would be perfect I thought, so I went outside and cut a bit off my boxwood. I used floral stems I had in the closet to fashion a wreath shape. Then I reinforced that with floral wire. I wired the boxwood around the shape in small amounts. Then I used a little wire to secure the cutters. It's a little wonky I'll admit, still cute though. I was thinking some red and white bakers twine would be perfect to accent this with.
There was a concern about how long it would last, but it's been hanging in my kitchen window for five days and it still looks pretty fresh. I couldn't get a good picture of it in the window because of the lighting. Hopefully, you get the idea.



My other cheap project was something I saw several years ago in Better Homes and Gardens. I made this star garland out of old Christmas cards. I always hang onto those, and this is a much better use of them instead of being packed away. I used a star cookie cutter for the template. They are strung onto tweed colored yarn. It's hanging in our little art room. Again, kind of crappy photography. Maybe you'll be inspired to try it anyway.





I love homemade Christmas decorations! What are your favorite ideas for decorating on a budget?