Although, I don't profess to be the most organized person, my excuse is that I have no place to put anything. We don't have a garage, one linen closet, some cupboards above the washer and dryer and whatever cabinets are in our kitchen - the end. And, with 3 people, that basically means we have to keep everything we own in our rooms.
My room has the oddest layout. So trying to "put things away" became piles of stuff on any open surface. Not that I was a hoarder per se, but pretty stinkin' close.
Anyway, I have had all these ideas and house projects in the works for months and months, and months.
But, the last few weeks I holed myself into my room, and I finally finished organizing it. So, I took photos. Most of them are "after" photos, but I did take a few "before" photos as well. I just kept forgetting to document the "before" stuff.
So here we go....
About 3 or 4 months ago (maybe longer, who knows), I went to the crazy nasty Goldenwest Swap meet in Huntington Beach. How can I describe that place??? You know when you put something you don't want outside on the curb? Well, I am pretty sure it gets picked up and sold there. It's like 100 or 200 garage sales side by side. It's pretty gross. But, if you look around you can find the greatest stuff for ridiculously cheap.
So, I took $20 with me one day and decided that I was going to buy as many vintage frames as I could. I think I paid between $1 and $5 for each of them.
And, then I ordered all of these prints that I loved from various photographers on ETSY, and put them inside the frames, mingled with a few cute phrases I like.
I also took this really old magnetic board and papered it with some bird paper that I bought for $12 at Papyrus. I also used the same paper to line the inside of one section of my hutch.
And, in the end, after I put everything in my room together, it looked like this...
This is a vintage frame I bought for $5 at the GW Swap meet, along with a bunch of random bottles I picked up there also for $5. I added a fresh paint of gold and made myself a 3D picture frame with real flowers. I LOVE fresh flowers. I buy them for my house all the time.
Here is my room from one side angle. How cute is that lamp shade?!? I bought it at Anthroplogie. It was what put my over the edge on HAVING to re-do my room.
This is how my collage of prints and old vintage frames turned out, along with some silver/metal initials that were given to me by my old roommates and dear friends Kara and Cori.
This ottoman opens up and is filled with my purses. (I told you that I have to find unique storage spaces). Do you think I have enough pillows? One of my bffs, Claire, always wanted me to have more pillows. I think she'd be happy to know that my room now looks like a pillow factory threw up.
Here's a center view of my room. That black trunk is actually a real cedar chest. It smells like heaven when it's opened up. I bought it at the GW swap meet for $20 bucks and re-painted it many moons ago. The rug is from Anthropolgie and was given to me by my old roommate Jody years and years ago. It is currently covering up a HUGE hole I burned in my carpet with a curling iron the first week I moved in. The yellow throw and shams my mom gave me for my birthday, from Pottery Barn, of course. I believe there are like 13 pillows on my bed.
These little shelves came from IKEA. The red box is from Pottery Barn (2007) and has all my old photos in it and was given to me by my mom as a house warming gift. That cute little box has all my nail polish in it. It was hand-painted for me by Claire's mom, who knew that I LOVE poppies and that red is my favorite color. I kind of matches my sheets. That green frame was a birthday gift from one of my besties, M.E. And, all the frames are filled with photos of my besties. Most of the frames were given to me from my besties.
I bought this little end table at the Salvation Army. It was green. I painted it heather gray and let some of the green peak through. It cost $40. I left the original handles on it.
This winged heart mirror I bought at Art for the Soul on Balboa Island when I was shopping with my mom on one of her visits. It reminds me of her. She bought some awesome stuff for their house in Texas too. The painting is seriously so awesome. My little Laurel and good friend Angela painted it for me. She sketched it out one day and showed me her idea. I told her how much I loved it and before she left for college (I guess her Sophmore year of college), she painted it for me. It is seriously to die for DARLING.
This red dresser was a find that I got at the GW swap meet. It used to be white-ish. I think it cost like $50. With the help of my dear sweet friend Holly, we painted it red (in the middle of a rainstorm) a year or so ago. I bought the knobs at Anthropologie. I love everything about this dresser and it's matching hutch. But, it's SO SO SO heavy.
All those flowers are hair pins. I had so many of them I made a bouquet with them. The yellow box came from my mom as a birthday gift. The stationary came from various friends of mine. And, I would use them as actually stationary, if I ever gave anyone a card. I am the girl at bridal showers and baby showers that has to say "oh that's mine, I don't do cards." Maybe, I will work on that.
Here's a close up of the papered part of my hutch. All of the pictures are pictures of my family. I just tacked twine and used little baby blue clothes pin clips that Jackie gave me.
Almost all of the furniture in my room has been re-furbished and comes from the swap meet or thrift stores.
This is how my collage of prints and old vintage frames turned out, along with some silver/metal initials that were given to me by my old roommates and dear friends Kara and Cori.
This ottoman opens up and is filled with my purses. (I told you that I have to find unique storage spaces). Do you think I have enough pillows? One of my bffs, Claire, always wanted me to have more pillows. I think she'd be happy to know that my room now looks like a pillow factory threw up.
Here's a center view of my room. That black trunk is actually a real cedar chest. It smells like heaven when it's opened up. I bought it at the GW swap meet for $20 bucks and re-painted it many moons ago. The rug is from Anthropolgie and was given to me by my old roommate Jody years and years ago. It is currently covering up a HUGE hole I burned in my carpet with a curling iron the first week I moved in. The yellow throw and shams my mom gave me for my birthday, from Pottery Barn, of course. I believe there are like 13 pillows on my bed.
These little shelves came from IKEA. The red box is from Pottery Barn (2007) and has all my old photos in it and was given to me by my mom as a house warming gift. That cute little box has all my nail polish in it. It was hand-painted for me by Claire's mom, who knew that I LOVE poppies and that red is my favorite color. I kind of matches my sheets. That green frame was a birthday gift from one of my besties, M.E. And, all the frames are filled with photos of my besties. Most of the frames were given to me from my besties.
I bought this little end table at the Salvation Army. It was green. I painted it heather gray and let some of the green peak through. It cost $40. I left the original handles on it.
This winged heart mirror I bought at Art for the Soul on Balboa Island when I was shopping with my mom on one of her visits. It reminds me of her. She bought some awesome stuff for their house in Texas too. The painting is seriously so awesome. My little Laurel and good friend Angela painted it for me. She sketched it out one day and showed me her idea. I told her how much I loved it and before she left for college (I guess her Sophmore year of college), she painted it for me. It is seriously to die for DARLING.
This red dresser was a find that I got at the GW swap meet. It used to be white-ish. I think it cost like $50. With the help of my dear sweet friend Holly, we painted it red (in the middle of a rainstorm) a year or so ago. I bought the knobs at Anthropologie. I love everything about this dresser and it's matching hutch. But, it's SO SO SO heavy.
All those flowers are hair pins. I had so many of them I made a bouquet with them. The yellow box came from my mom as a birthday gift. The stationary came from various friends of mine. And, I would use them as actually stationary, if I ever gave anyone a card. I am the girl at bridal showers and baby showers that has to say "oh that's mine, I don't do cards." Maybe, I will work on that.
Here's a close up of the papered part of my hutch. All of the pictures are pictures of my family. I just tacked twine and used little baby blue clothes pin clips that Jackie gave me.
Almost all of the furniture in my room has been re-furbished and comes from the swap meet or thrift stores.
I would also like to add that this is ACTUALLY how my room looks. Everything has a spot. And, it feels so nice to be in there these days.
