More Decorating on a Dime

This past weekend was a beautiful weekend here in the South, so I took the opportunity to get outside and do a project that really needed to be done. Our daughter has gotten way too big for her crib, so I needed to refinish the bed that I got her on Craig's List before we moved. When I bought it, I remember thinking how it was just going to sit around for a long time since she was still so little. I'm still not sure where the time went, but here she is almost two and a half and ready to move up in her little life! After two boys, I really wanted to go all out girly in her room so when we moved here she got light pink walls and a bedspread from Pottery Barn Kids that hung out in the closet. (The bedspread was a major splurge, but I really loved it!) After that I wanted to really watch what we spent in her room.

First off, the bed. I got it on Craig's List before we moved for $75. It is solid wood from Bassett furniture, and really good quality. Unfortunately they had painted it a bright white and it didn't match everything else in the room. I painted it and distressed it to match the rest of her furniture and she has a great bed that should last a long time. I found the Pottery Barn Kids bedskirt with a set of PBK sheets, matching pillow sham, (that will be used in a future post) and a mattress pad for $30 on CL. Not too bad considering that brand new I would have paid $30 for just the sham! I also refinished the nightstand, (which started off painted black) also from CL for $35.

The dresser was the inspiration for the rest of the furniture. It also came from CL. I loved the style, I loved the distressed look, and it worked perfectly in her room! The lamp came from PBK, we had a coupon for $15 off a purchase of $30 or more and the lamp base was on clearance so I got both pieces for around $20. The shelf is held up on brackets that were from my parents' first apartment! I can't believe they held onto them for that long, but it worked out for me! I just painted and distressed them with a scrap of wood for the shelf part and had a cute little shelf for her room.

These two prints and the two above the dresser were a great find. Ebay has lots of people who make prints to coordinate with kids bedding from well known companies, and I was able to get all four prints for around $15. I got four frames from Michael's for $5 apiece when they were on sale and had artwork that looked a lot more expensive than it actually was.

This little table and the tiny chest of drawers pictured below are probably one of my favorite possessions. My great great grandfather made these for my grandmother during the great depression. They were stored in a barn for decades until I got them. I had them refinished and found these two little chairs at Ikea to coordinate, and my daughter spends hours having tea parties with her dollies. The tea set was another CL purchase!

The little dresser. It comes in very handy to store doll clothes!

This room really came together for me and I love the end result. I love even more that I spent less than the cost of just a bed frame from PBK on the entire room. More importantly, Mistress Monstress loves the end result and squealed with delight at her 'big girwl bed.' Hopefully she'll stay put in bed tonight!