DIY: Guest Room/Home Office Remodel!

As I’ve mentioned before, I live in a tiny, not so great apartment. Slowly, I have tried to make each room look as good as I can with what I have to work with. Since my boyfriend and I rent, I cannot change the wall colors, or replace the disgusting old carpet with hard wood. But what I CAN do is re-decorate to take your eyes away from the lame floors, etc. This summer, I have been getting inspired by seeing a lot of bloggers home offices online. They all looked so cute! So then I decided…I want a home office! But where would I put it? I don’t have a mansion with extra rooms just waiting for ideas. But I did have a spare bedroom that we basically used for storage. It had turned into my closet/junk room. And so, my remodel of the spare room began.

Here is what our spare bedroom looked like before I started – the bed was covered in clothes, jewelry, and randomness. The floors had an overload of holiday pillows, shoes, and bags strewn around that I had no place to store. I had built a desk about two weeks ago(more info below), but that was as far as I got in the project. As you can see, the blue plastic was still on the white desk to keep it from getting scratched!

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First step in the remodel was simple: Organize! Before I could do the fun stuff (aka decorating), I had to organize my life. I re-worked my closet, and found places for all my jewelry and clothes. It really wasn’t hard, it just took some time.

Second step was hanging up the curtains. All you need for this project is a drill (screw gun), drill bits, and screws. I bought my curtain rod and attachments from Ikea for super cheap. If you are using the Ikea set up, I would suggest having a friend or Mom help you. It goes faster. Ikea curtain rods are not at all hard to set up, the directions are pretty straight forward. To check out Ikea curtains, Click Here And Here!

Here is the finished room!!

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How pretty is that?! It’s exactly how I imagined it. Disregard the chair, that will be another post. I need to make it super glam, but for now the chair will have to do. You can see black paint on it from other DIY projects I have done. It is what I refer to as my “Craft Chair” haha 🙂 To purchase the shiny white desk I bought, it can be found at Ikea here. The price is slightly high, but I purchased it when they were having a summer sale. A good rule of thumb for buying new decor pieces is figure out what you want, then wait a month to buy it. Within that month, there will usually be some sort of sale. I have found that if I troll the internet and my emails for discounts, I am usually able to find some sort of savings for what I want. One time that this is not a good idea, is when you know the product is going to sell out. If you are in love with the product, and think it won’t be there in a month, then buy it. You can always return it, and you will usually regret it if you don’t.

P.S. A small note on the Ikea desk – in true Ikea fashion, it took me about 3 and a half hours to build. Annoying at the time, but once it was built I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. So don’t let Ikea and it’s long building times scare you…you can do it!!

Here are the details of every part of the room:

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Pillows: West Elm – These particular silver pillows I purchased around last Christmas, so they are no longer in stock. But not to worry! They are always changing their inventory, and right now they have some GREAT pillows! I especially like this Velvet Pillow because it’s so in for fall right now. West Elm’s pillows normally run around $39 a pillow, which adds up quickly. But as you can see, they are SO worth it. I wanted a glam look, and these pillows delivered. West Elm has a lot of good sales too, so get on their mailing list and you will be happy you did! Everything I have bought at their store I have purchased while they had a promotion going. Keep your eyes open, and you will be rewarded!

Throw Blanket: West Elm – This is currently out of stock as well, but check out their West Elm Throw Blankets page, and I’m sure you will find something you love! You cannot tell in the picture, but in person it is metallic and very shimmery. It looks awesome!

 

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Curtains: West Elm – Can you tell I am OBSESSED with West Elm?! haha It’s a problem! These curtains were perfect because they are pretty sheer (you can’t tell in the picture because I took it at night time), so they let a lot of light in. I also love them because they have little specks of silver sparkles in them that glimmer in the light. Check out these curtains here: Metallic Dash Curtains And BONUS! They are on sale right now!!

Vases In Window: These cute white vases are from Ikea. I liked them because they are small and understated but are able to be a design piece on their own, or I could add a single flower to them and they could be vases. #MultiFunctional. Check these vases out HERE and HERE! I love getting home accessories at Ikea because they are so well priced. It is always a win!

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Picture Wall: All these white frames were purchased at Ikea. After many searches at different stores, I have found that Ikea has the best prices when it comes to picture frames. You can check out their frame selection here: Ikea Picture Frames

The prints in the pictures came from a variety of sources. Some were purchased through Etsy, and one of the prints my mom made for me. As you can see, the bottom two frames actually have not been replaced with real prints yet. I hung up the frames anyway so that I could get the overall look I wanted. The prints will be coming soon!!

So overall, this who remodel took me about a day. I had to re-organize, build a desk, and re-decorate the room. I think it was well worth it, I am loving the outcome!! I hope this post reminds you that you CAN live in a fabulous home, no matter how big or small. All you have to do is have a vision, and make it come to life!

Have you ever imagined a new room, and made it happen?! Let me know!!

xoxo

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DIY: Glam Dresser!

Today’s post is a DIY post. I love doing these posts because I want to show you that it is SO possible to make things yourself! DIY crafts are an easy way to get the exact thing you want, while saving money!

For years, I have had a pair of nightstands that are mirrored. I have always pictured my bedroom as this glam space that would be all mirrored and perfect. But the reality of it was that I had a bed, and 2 mirrored nightstands. Not that much excitement. Now that I live with my boyfriend, I’ve been trying to make each room in the apartment a nice, decorated living space that we like to spend time in. I discovered this dresser while online shopping, and thought it would be perfect for our glam bedroom look, but knew that the price tag was a bit too hefty for our budget.

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So I decided to do a DIY project! I knew I could make a dresser that would look similar, with almost no cost.

Things You Need: a dresser (preferably used), silver spray paint, crystal knobs

So first, you need a dresser. I actually found this dresser at my parent’s house. It was not being used, and my mom was happy to let me take it for my project (She’s trying to de-clutterize their life, now that all us kids have moved out!) . If you don’t have parents that want to give things away, check out your local thrift shops, or garage sales. The whole point of these projects is to be super cheap and save money. So don’t pay crazy amounts of money for a piece of furniture that you are going to re-paint.  I would say that a budget for a dresser is $20. Here is what the dresser looked like when I started: It was the boring wood color that I hate.

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To get it ready for the spray paint, I sanded the top with a hand sander. If you have a hand sander, then go for it. Mostly it just needs sanding on the top. If you don’t have a hand sander, then just sand it with pieces of sandpaper and don’t worry too much. You could go with the vintage/retro look. The next step is to spray paint it whatever color you want. I picked silver. Then let it sit and dry. I spray painted this with silver for two coats. I let it dry between each coat, then sprayed it with a shiny top coat after both coats had dried. I didn’t feel like the top coat really did anything, so I would suggest not wasting money on that step unless you really feel like it will make a difference. Here is the finished product:

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So what do you think?! Does it not look JUST like the glam dresser that I found online?!!? I took off the ugly wooden pulls that were originally on the dresser, and I installed the crystal pulls. I found these crystal pulls at Target, for a very good price. I paid $25 total for all spray paint/sand paper/crystal knobs, and the dresser online was originally priced at $562. That is a HUGE savings! I personally think DIY is the way to go. I know for someone who doesn’t do DIY, it’s hard to comprehend….but it really is a great thing. You CAN make things yourself! It’s not as hard as it seems. A lot of DIY projects are just a can of spray paint and some  love.

Let me know what you think!? Will you do this DIY project?!

xoxo

 

DIY Flower Arrangements

I’ve been scouting out fake flowers for a while. I have some brightly colored fake flowers from Ikea that sound cheesy but are actually super cute for a pop of color in the family room. But I’ve always pictured nice white bouquets in a few vases I have laying around. I wish I could buy fresh flowers every week like some people, but that can be super expensive. And the flowers at our local grocery store are usually dead by the time they get up here, so it’s really not worth it. The issue with fake flowers is that they can look super fake and lame (duh) if they aren’t good quality. Enter Pottery Barn. I became obsessed with Pottery Barn fakies about 4 months ago, and finally hit up a store to see if they really looked as good in person as they did online. They did. They were magical. I HAD to have them. So I bought 3 fakiez from Pottery Barn, and then 5 fakiez from Michaels (way cheaper). Mixing high and low costs leads to perfect arrangements. 🙂

Can you tell which is $12.50 and which is $4.99??

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Making fake flower arrangements is very simple. Grab your vases, and let’s get going!

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( It was a dreary day today, I needed a fun activity.)

For me, the fakiez I got were too long (see below pic), so I needed to cut them. Trimming fake flowers is a little obnoxious because the insides of them are wire and cardboard and plastic and all these weird things. You definitely have to cut, pry and work at it, but they will eventually break off. It just might take a little bit of strength and will power. 🙂

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And that’s all you have to do! Here is my finished product! Now, they are not completely finished because I need to buy more clear marbles or something to put in the bottoms of them – but you get the idea! Super fab right?! And they will look perfect every single day!

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To purchase these fake flowers – check out http://www.potterybarn.com or http://www.michaels.com. I just bought these flowers within this week, and both stores were having sales – so the time to buy is now!

The bouquet on the left is all Michaels flowers – $4.99 each, I bought 5 of them. They were on sale for $2.99 each that day – so total cost was $15. The bouquet on the right is all Pottery Barn flowers (gorg!) – $12.50 each, I bought 3 of them. They were on sale for $10 – so total cost was $30. I had a coupon as well, so my total cost ended up in the $20s ..I think it was about $24.

Some people might think spending $10 a pop on a fake flower is insane, but I just think the quality is SO legit that it’s worth it. And realistically if you average out the cost of fake flowers over the year or two that you will have them – it equals close to nothing.

So those are my new flower arrangements! What do you think?!

xoxo