Decorating on a Budget: A Teen's Bedroom

Ems lost the other tie back, so I had to leave the curtains down...darn it!

When we moved into this new apartment, we decided that Alex and Cami would share a room that was bigger and had a huge walk-in closet, while Ems would get the smaller, front bedroom off the living room. This was mostly because Nate and I spend a lot of time in the living room after the girls go to bed and Ems can sleep through anything (she slept through an earthquake!). However, the bedroom situation isn't working out. One preteen (almost teen) girl and one teenage girl cannot share a room, at least in my house. Alex and Cami are constantly at each other's throats, so Nate and I thought that we would separate them and give Alex the front bedroom with Ems moving in with Cami.

So far, this is working out well, except that most of the furniture we had for that room wasn't really something for an older girl. Ems had pink, flowery, girlish bedroom items and Alex wasn't going for that. However, Alex couldn't bring the zebra comforter and sheet set from the other room because it matched Cami's and the room. Also, there was no headboard for the twin bed and the furniture consisted of an armoire and a computer cart/TV stand. It just wasn't enough.

So, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a comforter set for $30.00 and my mother, God bless her, bought a dresser to go in the room. We moved the armoire to the back of Cami and Ems' closet (like I said, it's HUGE) and moved the dresser in. However, the room still felt incomplete; it just needed something.

While going through Ems closet and the armoire, I had bags of clothing that no longer fit her or, if they were too large, she would never wear, so I packed them into the van to drop them off at the local Goodwill store. Most of the items were like new and what wasn't was still in great condition (my uncle's wonderful, wonderful wife gives the girls lots of clothes, she is amazing) and I know that I'm always tickled pink when I find stuff like that while browsing the aisles. Anyway, I digress; I dropped the bags off and planned to go straight home, but decided at the last minute to go inside and look around. I wasn't really searching for anything in particular, I just wanted to look at house stuff. Imagine my surprise when I found a wood twin sized headboard with a shelf for...$15.00! I was ecstatic and bought it immediately!

We brought it home in the van (Bless Alex for helping me carry that thing up the stairs), set it up, and it looks amazing! It's a tiny bit darker than the wood on the dresser, but its not noticeable unless you're looking for something to complain about. We moved the bed 90 degrees and now Alex's room looks awesome! We also figured out that we have enough room in there to place an old desk we have, so we're going to paint it white (the dresser is white and maple) and put it in there for her to do homework and/or work on her laptop. I'm so excited! Total cost for her new bedroom set up: $60.00 (comforter set, headboard, wall hangings/art, and paint for the desk). That's not bad!

Anyway, that was my excitement for the week. ;-) I'm at home today with a sick kiddo and one who just received shots, so it's been kind of quiet (they've been sleeping). It was a crazy morning, but the day has gotten better.

Have a good one!

Decorating on a Budget:: Flower Garlands

Most of us with children are on a tight budget and it can be hard to find items that beautify your home without breaking the bank. I'm a tightwad when it comes to money, honestly (with most things anyway), and I won't buy things that are more than I, personally, think is reasonable unless I absolutely have to. It just kills me to pay way too much for anything and I get a small tic in my eye when I have to. Okay, not really, but you get the gist. ;-)

I've been searching for an inexpensive way to make the cabinets in our apartment look better and I found it! While browsing at Wal-Mart (which doesn't happen often since I like to go in, get what I want, then leave) I came across garlands of flowers on sale for $3.00. I bought one of those, along with a few separate pieces that were on sale for $1.00 each and had my wonderful husband place them on the cabinets since I am too short to do so, even with a stool. The picture below just doesn't do it justice and I couldn't get a really good one. It definitely warms the kitchen and the colors match perfectly! Next, I want to get some small ferns to place at each end, but for now, this will suffice.

What do you think? Does it go well with my other home decorating project?

Update: Decorating on a Budget

Just a quick update on my wall decorations.

I have one of those round, wooden tables with the screw on legs that was just sitting at the top of the stairs, so I put a white table skirt on it and bought a new plant to place on top of it. I put the table under the new wall decoration and here is what I have.

Does it look wonderful? I'm digging it!

Decorating on a Budget: Wall Art

The girls were out of school today, due to teacher's professional day, so we just relaxed and worked on the house a bit. Since we live in an apartment, we are unable to paint or stencil, so I have to use what I've been given. However, at Wal-Mart, I found stick on wall art that was gorgeous and just what I was looking for. I bought two of them and here is the result of one.

It was much harder to put up that I thought it was going to and I'm still not satisfied that it's straight. I'm going to have Nate look at it tonight or tomorrow and see if he can get it straighter. I just hope that the sticky doesn't come off of it from moving it around.

School is going well. I've got almost all of my homework done for the week, I just need to study more. My first face to face class this semester is on Saturday and I'm nervous. I'm really very shy and prefer to hide behind my computer screen. Oh well, I can only hope for the best.

Tomorrow, I may show picture of my next project; my laundry room! I've been washing every single article of clothing from the old place and I'm still not even close to being done. To get my butt in gear, though, I might post pictures on here so that I can show exactly what I've done.

Have a great day!