Total RooM makeOVER on $200!!!

raise your hand if you've ever told your kids something... then when it came time to follow thru, they DIDN'T forget and you're thinking "what was going thru my head when i promised THAT???" !!!!

that would be ME!!!  over the summer i made this huge declaration that for lexi's 13th birthday, we'd re-decorate her room.  well, she didn't forget... but my wallet wasn't prepared!!!  or so i thought...

i'm dedicating this blog to all the thrifty parents out there!! 

once again... i'm lousy with the "before & after" pics...  so let me give you a description!!

before:  lexi has a fairly large room, approximately 12x13.  she has vaulted ceilings with a large ledge.  she had two green walls.  two orange walls. she had a twin bed, a 1983 TV stand, a night stand and an ATROCIOUS put-together chest of drawers. 

lexi went camping with her grandma over the weekend and we went to work!!  lex thought we were doing her room NEXT weekend!!  the first thing we did... EMPTY THE ROOM OUT!!  we only kept two things:  the bed~ went into little sister's room and the night stand~ went back into lexi's room.  we saved the TV Stand to "reinvintage", but the chest of drawers became kindling!

lex had a few things she wanted:

1.  bright pink & black walls

2.  bigger bed

3.  super cool "reinvintaged" dresser

4.  desk & chair

SOUNDS EXPENSIVE!!!!  i did some checking... Value City Furniture- dresser $999, desk $249, chair $99, bed $699, bookcase $199... TOTAL= $2245

WE HAVE SIX KIDS!!!!  that is sooooo NOT HAPPENING!!!! 

here's how the gonser's roll...

1.  bright pink & black walls... well, we had to actually buy the pink paint at full price.  but i found black paint on the "mis-mix" shelf at lowes!!  $5 for a gallon!  score!  Paint- $65

 those are some BRIGHT pink walls!!

2.  bigger bed... my dad called me "laurie, there's a double bed frame, head board, and foot board for free... you want it??"  DUH!!!  OF COURSE!!!  dad brought it home and it was PERFECT!!!  he did alittle work on it for us... and ba bam!!  lex has a bigger bed for... $0!!!

the picture is so bad... doesn't show the wall color accurately.

 

 

3.  super cool "reinvintaged" dresser... i was at a garage sale looking specifically at one dresser for our business, but while i was there, i went ahead and made a package deal- 6 drawer dresser with mirror, antique dresser, and kitchen buffet for $70.  i took them all home and sold the antique dresser the next day for $80.  i'm calling the rest free!  the 6 drawer dresser with mirror became lexi's!  dresser... $0!!!

this took awhile... i painted all the drawers with Annie Sloan 'Old White', then did the pink in the middle, then taped off to do the black.  i used a black paint pen to make the lines around the white.

4.  desk & chair... when mike and i started "ReInVintaged Designs" our parents were very supportive and offered any extra furniture they had laying around (that sounds funny!) mike's parents mentioned they had "grandma cooper's desk" down in the basement... "it has some damage... if you don't want it, we'll just burn it"  DON'T BURN IT!!  so we brought it to the house!  lex of course loved it even with the cobwebs and layers of dust!!  it did have some damage, but mike was able to repair it.  now we just needed a chair.  well, mike's parents also had "grandma gonser's chair"!  PERFECT!!!  the fabric on it was truly "vintage", so i ran down to walmart and it just so happened, they had black and white zebra upholstery material!!!  so... desk + chair... $4 (for upholstery fabric)

horrible picture... but this is a 1930's waterfall desk... lex wanted her name on the middle drawer.

5.  bonus bookshelf...  when we were cleaning out the room at the beginning, we realized lex REALLY NEEDED a book shelf... so my dad whipped one up out of materials he had on hand. $0

another HORRIBLE pic!!  i need a new phone with flash!!  here you can see the one black wall.  for the shelf, i painted the outside black... the inside is the same pink as the walls.  and zebra contact paper on the shelves.  the top is corian.  only MY DAD has pieces of corian laying around the workshop!!!


other expenses-

dresser hardware-  i believe the hardware on a piece is SUPER important!  i salvaged the drawer pulls off the original dresser from her room and i painted them with designs using a paint pen & acrylic paint.  i didn't have enough so i used four white ceramic pulls from a salvage shop i love.  i also got four handles there.  so... paint pen $3, paint $2, pulls/handles $4= $9

these were the black wooden knobs i saved from the old put-together dresser.  i painted them.

handles from the salvage store

white ceramic knobs from the salvage.  the paint pen worked perfectly.  just give the paint time to dry!!!

paint-  it's hard for me to put an exact price on the paint i used for the dresser, mirror, desk, and chair because i used paint from the business... but i know how much i used... so i can estimate...  $50

bedding-  lex originally found a set she liked at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $129.... yeah no... we looked some more and found a very cute set at Walmart for $39.  i also got a set of sheets for $15.  total... $54

canopy-  we didn't buy this, it was a birthday gift lex got from gma becky... but if one were to buy them, i believe it was $29 at BB, and B.  for my purposes, i'm not adding it in the total

contact paper- we needed to line the desk drawers and bookcase shelves.  $6

mattress-  lex inherited a mattress that gma and gpa weren't using anymore- $0

TOTAL=  $188 !!!!!  NOT BAD!!!!

and the BEST part, was listening to her enter her room and hear her go... "what the...WHAT??  HOLY CRAP!!!!"  IT WAS PRICELESS!!!!!

 just for fun... here's the BEFORE         and      AFTER  of lexi's dresser!!!!  not bad for a 1976 dresser!!!

we had A TON of fun surprising lex with this!!  i think the room turned out great and i'm happy it was so affordable!!!  it really goes to show, it doesn't have to cost a fortune to have a beautiful home!  after my parents stopped by to see it all put together, my dad came to me and said "i REALLY sucked as a parent!!  you NEVER had a room like that!!"  awe!!  he's right~ i didn't!!  but i love him anyway!!!