Sitting Room on a Shoestring

My youngest daughter, who has been living at home to save money during college, will be graduating this December. During her last semester I wanted her to have more room to stretch out and work on her senior project, so we moved her into a guest room and remade her old bedroom into a private sitting room just for her. 

We love to work on projects like this together, and our challenge was to create a young fun comfortable space on a shoestring by repurposing a few things we already had, shopping at thrift stores and sales, and making what we could by ourselves. 

It was a blast! Here's what we came up with...

 The walls were already painted a gray color my daughter chose for her old room and still liked, so we left them as is. (The streaks on the wall are caused by light from the window.) We borrowed the $15 vintage yard sale sofa from her sister's storage unit. My daughters absolutely love that strange unusual color!

We wanted a pouf but even making one was too expensive, so I was pretty excited when I found these two footstools for $3 each at yard sales. One is for feet, and one is for piling school books on. We borrowed the snugly shag rug from another room. New carpet and new closet doors weren't within our budget, so please try to squint around them like we do!

 

This chair was free from my husband's family and was completely repainted, including the upholstery. You can see the before and after here.   

The bookshelf was $10 at a yard sale. Originally blue, it was repainted with homemade white chalk paint and then waxed with finishing wax.

We installed the high shelves when my daughter was a child to hold all her collections, and they still work great for that. We also added lots of hooks on the back of the door for the book bags and backpacks she uses when riding her bicycle to class.   

The desk chair was recovered in fabric from Jo-Ann's, and the edges of the desk drawers and the knobs were painted with bright yellow craft paint. 

My daughter sits at this $5 yard sale vanity each morning to do her hair and makeup. It was originally shiny brass like the closet doors. (Yikes!) We spray painted it in a color called Lagoon, then recovered the seat with more Jo-Ann's fabric. Zip ties attach hooks on the side to hold a hair dryer, curling iron, and straightener. 

Needless to say, my daughter loves to paint her nails every color of the rainbow, and her nail polish collection makes a colorful display hanging beside her vanity. Another $3 yard sale find, this once dark wood shelf was also painted with homemade white chalk paint.    

The $7 yellow lamp from a yard sale is paired with an $8 Target lamp shade.  The bright round folk art tray is a favorite of my daughter from her grandmother, and the cups in front of it were made in her ceramics class last semester. The $3 yard sale footstool was originally light rattan with a misshapen beige corduroy pillow.  I spray painted it orange, remade the pillow to fit correctly, and then recovered it with Jo-Ann fabric. It's my favorite thing in the room.

The pillows on the top left were found at Target on sale for $12 each, and the one on the right is homemade. All the fabrics were chosen by my daughter and purchased with 40% - 60% off coupons at Jo-Ann's. My daughter is fearless at mixing and matching colors and patterns.

The $19 Lucite lamp above was purchased from Target a couple of years ago. My daughter loves bulldogs, and she framed this photo from a magazine. I love how her contemporary iPod and iPod speakers on the side table contrast with her vintage typewriter on the shelf below.

I also love that my college student daughter still has her old Lego Castle, Hello Kitty, and Gumby on display. My vintage letter press tray hangs on the wall next to the window and holds other small collectibles from family vacations. 
 

Evidence that my little girl is not a child anymore, though, are her penguin cocktail shaker and polka dot martini glasses, gifts from her twenty-first birthday. The Danny Kaye quote is a framed card from her big sister. 
 

Colored bottles on the sill and crystals hanging from the latch add sparkle and shine at the window. 

We managed to bring this little sitting room together for just over $125, and I was reminded of my own happy college days of living on a shoestring. (Remember using wood boards across stacked up bricks for bookshelves? Yes, I'm that old!)  

It was so much fun to work on this with my daughter, and she assures me it's a very contemporary hipster college girl kind of look. Of course, I wanted to distress everything in sight and put a white slipcover on the sofa, but I restrained myself. We finished it just in time, the weekend before school started. I've also been working on some projects in her bedroom across the hall and will hopefully share them soon. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you come again soon! 

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