The Star Wars Bedroom

I decided several weeks ago that I wouldn't force myself to start posting on this blog until I was actually in the mood and felt that it would be fun and not a hassle. And today is the day. I'm not sure how often I'll post here... I do have dreams of being up there with the ranks of The Nestor, Kimba, Lindsay, Susan, Thrifty Decor Chick...and SO many others. But, with a full-time job, two little kids, a great husband that I like to hang out with - it's hard for me to do a niche blog very well right now. But, I can use it as a small motivator to me to stay creative and enjoy doing some projects. So, that's how it shall stay. For now. :)

Today I'm displaying a few photos of our son's new Star Wars themed bedroom. I don't have a full before/after type thing going on because we just moved in this house a few months ago and so the before room would just be an empty room.

The one "before" I can show is the dresser that was handed down to me from my great aunt. It was used for a couple years in our guest bedroom in it's antique glory - and then when our little boy was about 18 months old we painted it like this for his room in our new house:

It has now transitioned once again and here is the more "grown up" (if by grown up you mean 6 years old) version. This time it's painted especially for the Star Wars room!

The color is a very pretty light grey and soft black. The knobs really make the dresser! Thank you Ebay. Each knob is a different SW character. Below - yoda - my fave.

To go along with the dresser, we hung a black corner shelf to display some action figures:

And finally - my husband and I combined our talents to make this awesome Darth Vader headboard/wall decor for over his bed.

We would love to paint the walls and do it up a little more - but it's a rental house that we aren't sure how long we'll be in. The good news is that using his Star Wars toys and accessories, it has turned out very cool. I'll try to get a whole room shot soon (as in - when I get a new camera and aren't taking all of these on my blackberry). ;)

Thanks for stopping by. I'm linking up to the following:

It's So Very Cheri - Creative Party

and

Easy trays have changed my life

Ok - right off I'll admit I didn't snap before pictures. I didn't expect to love these little trays enough that I'd post pictures of them here. But I do! One of them is wooden and was metallic gold. I got it on clearance at TJ Maxx around the holidays. The other one is a hard plastic and had a bright, kind of ugly, picture of wine and grapes on it. I think I got it at a grocery store maybe?

SO - some (you know what's coming) spray paint and then some coordinating contact paper and they are now completely useful (easy to wipe clean) and look like they belong in our family room instead of just being there.

We use a big Ottoman as one of our coffee tables and it is so handy to have these trays to put drinks on and then to also move on to the couch to hold my coffee if I'm working there, the kids snacks, etc. Seriously, for about $10 total... I am definitely getting my money's worth. So - voila - here they are:
On the ottoman:

Reinvention Tuesday!

I've been reading this blog: Reinvented... she has cool thrifty, decorating ideas and on Tuesdays invites readers to participate and post links to their recent projects. This week she showed a couple things they did for her teenage daughters room. So - in that spirit, I'll show a couple thrifty projects I've done lately in the bedrooms:

This was a quick and easy solution in my daughter's room (thankfully not yet a teenager ;)). Her books were overflowing from her existing shelves - so I got a couple wooden crates, spray painted (my husband has joked that if you don't want something spray-painted, don't leave it around me) and added some little jewels! Didn't cost much, gives her easy access to choose books - and looks cute.

This is a glimpse of one of her walls. I actually did this a couple years ago. This is an old mirror, painted and hung with a ribbon, and old lamp shade decorated with fabric and trim to match her bedding and window dressings (which my mother made for her). I LOVE the pink and brown theme.

From my closet: A CHEAPO way to store my costume jewelry. One cork board and a bunch of little hooks. Now, my stuff is no longer tangled and thrown in drawers.

This little peg/shelf was purchased for 50cents at a yard sale last week. It was all beat up with chipped paint and some sort of country themed-heart and birds on it (I should have taken a before picture - it was really ugly). But some black spray paint and then some silver and pink paint for the cherry blossoms (I was just playing, I'm not an artist as you'll notice) and it now holds a bunch of scarves and belts that were laying on a shelf and always a mess. I LOVE a quick project like this that helps me feel more organized!

The Boudoir Completed

Here are a couple more pictures of the completed bed re-do. I love the way it brightened up the room (our old comforter was a dark green with gold and Burgundy/red tones) and I didn't have to change the wall color or anything other than the bedding. The best part? I think I spent about $50? Maybe $75. I made the duvet cover out of a pair of "clearance" king size sheets and a beautiful shower curtain I found at TJ Maxx. Plus, the shower curtain was big enough that I made matching shams and then used half of it for a shower curtain in our master bath (and standing stall size) - so we're nice and coordinated up in here. And the sheets are 500 count I think - so nice and soft. The pictures on the wall are new enlarged images of pics I took but the frames we had. The pillows on the bed are a mixture of some I made and some we had.

The new duvet cover is currently being put to the test by being washed and dried. Someone pee'd the bed. I won't name names. It wasn't me. Or my husband. Or Brother. Or Mighty Boy. Ahem.

Anyway - spring time is a great time for freshening up the house! Loving it.

More decor

This past weekend I sewed a new duvet cover for our master bedroom and I'm working on pillows. Duvet covers are harder than I anticipated! It's the SIZE of it. Trying to keep it all straight. Oh my goodness. I do love how it turned out...here's a sneak peak picture. I'll post a picture of the room once I have it all done.

A quick Before and After

Editing to Link up to a Goodwill Party Post! Scroll down to the old banguet chair!

I've been doing some improvements to my work area (I mainly work here... but am organizing and making changes that will allow me to do more of my sewing and craft stuff up here too - as opposed to the dining room table). Here are some pics of what I did this week. I've had fun - but, like all projects, the starting is more fun that the finishing for some reason.

An old filing cabinet in the garage. Ugly.

A $3.99 chair from the Goodwill store. Ugly.

The space - I know this looks like a holy mess... but I had pulled everything out of it's place and had a huge pile of fabric scraps, etc.


Ta-Da! - My little workspace. I just use a laptop, so I will be able to easily move it and set up my sewing machine. So far - I'm loving it! Note the chair and filing cabinet - so much better, huh?!