College Bedroom, Through the Years

As I have mentioned in a previous posts, I love decorating!  So it should come as no surprise that I was beyond thrilled when I was told I got to decorate a whole new bedroom when I went off to college.  Well that was three years ago, and my room has been evolving through the years.  Just as I did with my bedroom at home, I tried to stay within a budget.  Because the style of my room and my bedding has been the same since I was a freshman, I have added new pieces to enhance my room each year.

Here is my room freshman year, when I lived in a dorm.  There was not much room for personality here, but I did my best!

Sophomore year I moved into the sorority house.  There was a lot less space, and a lot less room for personality.  This was my lest favorite set up, and my least favorite room.  Yes, I had a bunk bed that was like 20 feet high.

This year, I have had two different bedrooms.  For the fall semester, I shared a bedroom and still had a twin bed.  This semester, I got my first queen bed AND my own room!  It has taken a while to decorate, but like I said, my room is forever evolving and changing.  I was also lucky enough to get some new pillows- all white, my favorite.

Pine Cone Hill bedding, Target bed skirt

My favorite part of my room, all white pillows! All from Pine Cone Hill and Z Gallerie

Great mirror from Home Goods

Pottery Barn version

My version...the Ikea version

BEFORE. Bed side drawers from Home Goods; before Anthro nobs 

AFTER with new Anthro nobs!  So much better!

I still need a headboard, but I don't want anything traditional.  I want something unique like I have above my bed at home.  If you have any ideas or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate them!

It's February 1, Do You Know What That Means?

It means it's almost Valentine's Day- the best holiday ever created.  Maybe it's because I am hopelessly in love, or maybe it's because I grew up in a house that was always drenched in pink and red for Valentine's Day, but either way, I love Valentine's Day.  As a child, the best time of year was watching my mom tear down the Hanukkah decorations, and put up the Valentine's decorations.  The rugs and hand towels were switched out for heart shaped rugs and red towels, every door knob had a heart on it, and the front of the house always had six giant tinsel hearts (one for each door, of course).  My little brother and I were always the first kids in line to buy Valentine's for our class, in fact, I still pass out those cheesy Valentine's to all of my friends.  What a fabulous tradition- props to whoever invented those.  Every year I also brought homemade cookies-on-a-stick for my classmates.  Yes, you guessed it... Sessy made giant conversation heart cookies with sayings like "HUG ME" and "YOU'RE MY BFF."

But my favorite part of Valentine's Day was not the Valentines or the teddy bears or the cookies, but instead it was a tradition that my parents started when I was little.  Each year, before I went to school, I got to unwrap a present, and inside that present was always Valentine's pajamas.  To this day, my mom still sends me Valentine's pajamas, and I always wear them- no matter how ugly they may be (sorry, mom).

It is sad being in college and not being able to go home and see all of the Valentine's decorations.  So this year I had a bright idea, and asked my mom to bring the decorations to me.  We had so much fun hanging the decorations in my apartment, and now my roommates get to live in a love shack for the next month (they are thrilled, I promise).

Anyways, hope you all are enjoying the countdown to Valentine's Day as much as I am! ♥

Redecorating (On a Budget)

One of my favorite things to do is decorate, specifically, I like love decorating my bedroom.  My very first bedroom was completely handmade and painted Pepto Bismol pink (ick).  There were about 20 different patterns, and about 30 different colors going on.  I loved this room, especially because my mom sewed and painted everything in it herself, but come middle school, it was definitely time for a new room.  This is when my love for animal prints started, and I decided that I wanted to incorporate every possible animal print into one room.  While I was away at camp that summer, my mom surprised me and redecorated my entire room.  My walls were now tan, my window treatments were giraffe print, my bed was cheetah print, and my pillows were zebra print.

Unfortunately I only got to enjoy this room for a few years before my family moved to a new house.  With the new house came a new room, but this time I took a completely different approach.  My third room was directly out of PB Teen, of course.  I painted my walls in my bedroom sherbet orange and my bathroom baby blue.  My duvet cover had every color ribbon sewn on it, and my pillows were fuzzy pink and orange.  My new room had a giant bulletin board, which was covered in hundreds of pictures.  As if there weren't enough pictures on that bulletin board, I had two more large bulletin boards hung on my walls.

After six years of living in my PB Teen model room, I decided I wanted something more relaxing and more sophisticated.  Once again, my mom surprised me and began the redecorating process while I was away at school.  This time, she gave herself a challenge, and that was to do everything on a budget (with a few splurges, or course).  I now have a FABULOUS shabby chic room, with an all white bed, and soft blue walls.  We are still working hard to finish my room completely, but here are a few pictures of our progress so far.

Before:

As we started to take my room apart...

View of my windows before painting

My giant bulletin board...which I still don't know what to do with

During:

After we finished painting my room

View of my "nook" before I took everything down

 View of my windows after painting

Lamps from Home Goods ($50 each)

Mirrored nightstand from Home Goods- I am obsessed with mirrored furniture! ($160)

The most amazing, giant, heavy, rustic mirror from Home Goods.  Boy was it a battle to fight off other customers for this. ($250)

Cute little ruffle Pine Cone Hill bed skirt (purchased on sale).

Hanging the amazing mirror as my headboard!

Took everything off the shelves, now looking for ideas of what to decorate them with.

After:

Comfy, fluffy, white bed with Target bedding. ($80)

Rustic, floral wall sconces from Hobby Lobby. ($25 each)

PILLOWS PILLOWS PILLOWS!  In descending order: 1. $25 each from TJ Maxx, 2. $80 each, on sale from Pine Cone Hill, 3. Included with duvet from Target, 4. $90, on sale from Pine Cone Hill

Old, rustic fence from a torn down house down the street.  Bought a bunch of white frames from Home Goods and tied white ribbons on the back to hang them!

View of the fence on my wall

Plain wooden trunk from Hobby Lobby.  Mom painted it, distressed it, added the designs in the corners and added the hardware! ($70 for everything)

My shelfs from my aunts garage sale, which still need some design help. (free) All the frames and accessories are from Home Goods. ($6 - $12 each) 

Mirror from Home Goods that took the place of one of my many bulletin boards. ($40) 

Giant "bird cage" filled with white candles from Home Goods ($60)

SPLURGE: Giant metal 'H' from Anthropologie ($100)

SPLURGE: White velvet drapes from Restoration Hardware ($150)

This was a black metal bench with a tacky green cushion from Home Goods.  Mom painted it, distressed it, and recovered the seat with white terrycloth. ($50)

Little metal glass box from Home Goods with various balls from High Fashion Home and Home Goods ($30, $50 total)

I am still looking for more room accessories, so if you have any suggestions please let me know!  I also need ideas for what to do with my giant bulletin board (pictured above), as I no longer want to use it to hang pictures.  What do you think?