In the blog world it is so easy to look at a picture and instantly say “I can’t afford to do that”  I have to admit I have been guilty of doing the same thing.    Today I want to share with you a few tips and tricks on how we complete our daughter’s room for under $1000.

This is how her room looks today .. but… before we get too far ahead of ourselves…let’s rewind for a bit here.

This is the before of the same corner as the picture above…. crazy right?

Here are a few tips and tricks I have learned a long the way to make remodeling and decorating our daughter’s room more affordable.

1. Do it yourself
2. Use things you already have
3. Upcycle old items
4. Trade/Barter
5. Shop around

This room was our toy room for years and the previous owners of this home left us a few rather large holes in the wall.  My husband and I talked about hiring someone to come in and mud and tape everything again and fix the holes.  However to have someone do that is NOT cheap at all.  Which brings us to my first point

1-Do it yourself

After pricing everything out we decided instead to patch the holes and then cover them up with shiplap.  To shiplap this room was only $100…what a deal!  You can see the full tutorial here.

Painting a room yourself can also save you A LOT of money.  Since I refinish furniture I have a paint sprayer and lots of left over paint I decided to do paint it myself.  Which brings us to my second point:

2-Use what you already have

I bought a can of primer for the first coat and for the wall color I used 2 colors I had from another project, mixed them together and they gave me the perfect color for her room.  Huge money saver!!!  You can view the full tutorial here

Buying all new decorations for every project can get pricy really fast so we tried really hard to use things we already had.  My husband and I built these shelves with some reclaimed wood my grandpa gave to me and all of these items on her shelves were either used in her pervious room of they were in my storage room.  I made her the framed love, scrabble art and dream sign.  Similar items can be found in my Etsy shop here.  I also made the pom pom wreath, you can find the complete tutorial here.

3-Upcycle old items

I found this dresser at a garage sale for $75, I spruced it up with some white paint I already had and cleaned up the old hardware since it was so cute.  I have a solid wood dresser for only $75!!

4-Trade/barter

Now I hope this point comes across as I am hoping it will in my head.  As a blogger I sometimes have the opportunity to work with brands, I review their items and blog about them in exchange for free products.  If it is a product that I am interested in I will usually jump on the opportunity.  But I don’t always trade through blogging, I used to be a family photographer so I have traded photography for a few of my bathroom vanities, haircuts for my kids, massages…and I am sure there are more thing then that.  I have had people clean my house or watch my kids in exchange for the signs I make.

For this project I traded for Beddy’s bedding.  This is one product I really can’t say enough good things about.  The bedding has now been on my daughters bed since Christmas and I am still in love with it.  The bedding has zippers on both side so when it is time for bed we zip it down and my daughter climbs in.  Then in the morning to make her bed all she has to do is zip it up…..talk about awesome right?  I was a little worried about how this bedding would handle being washed once a week, but so far it isn’t showing any wear.

The other item I traded for was this beautiful white and pink rug from Rugs USA.  It is so fluffy I often find my daughter playing on her floor.  It has also held up really well against being vacuumed.  So far it looks as good as the day it arrived.

5. Shop around

When I find an item I really like I always make sure I shop around before I purchase it.  See that light fixture in the mirror, I found a similar one that was around $200 and then after searching I found this one on Amazon for less then half the cost and I love the style of it.  Affiliate link here

You can find the rest of the items in her room here:

• Pink Chair
• Bed
• Desk- Home Goods
• Metal Cart – Home Goods

I hope this can help you to dive into that project you are wanting to start.  Start small and build, you will be amazed at how it will all come together in the end!

TTFN

Brooke