While She Was Out - Part Three

As I mentioned in  my last post, I tried to be as thrifty as possible with this room. I have a good sized stockpile of items I've picked up at GW and other thrift stores and this room made it possible for me to actually do something with some of them.  I also made and reused as many things as I could.  My thriftiness helped us be able to replace the floor in the room.  It REALLY needed to be replaced.  Once we ripped the carpet up, we piled it in the garage.  Let me explain that I live in the South and the temps have been in the upper 90's for most of the summer.  Do you know what happens to carpet that has been peed on by a cat when it's stored in a garage that has a temp of at least 100 degrees??  Ug...  I felt so bad that Han had been sleeping in a room with that gross carpet.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is for me to share some of the things I made or made-over.  I'll start with my favorite, the ribbon board.

The ribbon board is a PB knockoff.  Here is their version for $89:

I got the board for $5 at GW a few years ago and had already recovered it for Han's previous room.  I just took all of the old stuff off and recovered the original again.  I bought 2 yards of unbleached muslin for about $2.50 a yard, and did a double layer of that.  For the ribbons, I already had most of them and only had to buy a couple more.  This is my version which ended up costing me about $8 (for the muslin and ribbon):

Next up are the lamps.  I bought these ugly things back in Spring for $2 each.  I got the shades at Big Lots for $5 each.

I spray painted them white, leaving some of the grooves dark.  Then we recovered the shades using this method.  This was really tricky and it took both of us to do it.  Once we got the fabric on, I trimmed the shades with ribbon and pom poms.  The ribbon was tricky, the pom pom trim was easy peasy.  Here's a finished lamp.

I wanted the bed wall to be as symmetrical as possible so even though I already had two side tables, we made new ones.  The two I had looked nothing alike.  Charles made these using a few small pieces of scrap wood, one of these and three of these (stair balusters) for each table.  We had to cut the balusters down a little so that the tables ended up being just a little bit above the bed height.  I painted the table tops white with the same paint I used for the bed and then I lightly distressed the tops and the legs.  The cost for each table was around $17.

I bought the bed frame from a local thrift store a few months ago for $25 and had been waiting until we tackled the room before I painting it.  I primed it and painted it by brush and it took 5 or 6 coats to get it right.  Total pain, but it was worth it.  Here's the before:

 And here's the best after shot I could get:

For about a week, back in Spring, I bought any small mirrors I could find.  I'd planned on painting them white and hanging them over the bed in Han's green room, but I never got around to it.  The idea for that came from Jen over at Just for Rachel.  She has the most wonderful framed wall in her dining room.  I spray painted all of them white and really just didn't get the coverage I was after so I went back over with a brush, using the paint I used on the bed and side tables.  Before as a pile of gaudy mirrors.

After as a cloud of hovering beauty (ha ha).

I made the curtains using fabric and ribbon from Hobby Lobby.  They fabric was 30%, but I still paid around $55 for the fabric and the ribbon.  It seems like a lot, but it works out to $12.50 per panel which is awesome for custom curtains.

I made the pillows too and finally got up the nerve to try sewing in zippers.  I love how these turned out and I've got plans to make more.  

This striped pillow in the middle and the one with the felt flower were inspired by PB:

Here's a closer shot of my felt flower pillow.  You can find tutorials and patterns here.

The computer chair got a makeover too.  Charles removed the cushion pieces and I just stapled the fabric on, then he put it all back together.  I'm not sure exactly how he did it.  I tried to do it myself, but I couldn't figure it out.  People have tutorials out there, but I still couldn't do it myself.  Maybe one of you will get lucky and not need your hubbo to help.  :-)

Even the pulls on the closet door got in the action.  I've replaced all of the closet door pulls in the house with drawer pulls from Hobby Lobby.  These were $1.99 each.

OK, I think that's about it.  Hopefully someone got some good ideas from this post.  It sure was a monster to write.  Goodnight all!!

*** For anyone interested, the paint color is Mark Twain Gray Brick by Valspar. 


Linking to:
Get Your Craft on Tuesday @ Today's Creative Blog
Whatever Goes Weds @ Someday Crafts
Make it Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden  
Show & Tell @ Blue Cricket Design
Creative Therapy @ Life in the Pitts  
Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking
Creative Chick Parade - Day Five  
Upcycled Awesome @ The T-Shirt Diaries 
Sat Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors