Taa Daa: Anna's Room

I am so pumped to have FINALLY finished Anna's room.  And I mean, finished.  There are no more embellishments to shop for.  No more finishing touches needed. Nothing waiting for Josh to nail it into the wall.  No more paint cans sitting nearby in case I need to touch up a spot.  Now, if you catch me standing in her doorway staring at her space, it's not because I am deciding whether or not something is enough, is centered, is missing.  It's because I am admiring the finished product.  I love how Anna's room turned out.  And I love how HGTV I went on all the details.  (Except for that bedspread.  That cost too much and then I saw it a week later on Ebay for $100 cheaper.  It's hard, but I try not to dwell on the deal that could have been.  You win some, you lose some.)  A tour of ways I decorated on a dime...

This is the view from the door.  The first update I did was the paint job.  The orange and cream colors were already there from her baby days, but I added the blue and green stripe and the polka dots that I gave you a sneak peak of a month or so ago.  While that bedspread was not cheap, I did save by not purchasing the bedskirt that went with it.  Instead, I used what I had from the previous guest bedroom set.  The bed was free, a trade with Emily.  I used to have her similar looking daybed set that Emily slept on growing up.  I traded that for this simple twin bed (that used to belong to her mother-in-law) so she could have the trundle set for Brooklyn.  Point is, it didn't cost us a dime.  Paint, cheap. Bed, hand-me-down free.  Bedskirt, repurposed free.

Rather than buy letters, Josh got the wood and cut these out when Anna was born. While it hurt a little to cover the beautiful wood grain,  I revamped them by painting them white and adding the two little bows to dress it up. Letters, homemade free.  Paint, cheap. Ribbon, cheap.

 
We found this shelf for $5 at a yard sale several weeks back.  It was dusty and dirty from its stay in a garage and it was a deep red color.  I fought back the cobwebs that came for free with the shelf and then painted it the same blue as the stripe in her room.  Fits perfect.  And as I mentioned before in another post, that tree decal I won on a blog giveaway a short while back.  Shelf, so cheap it might as well be free.  Paint, already had free.  Tree decal, free.

I got this quartet of prints off Ebay for $20.  I originally planned to frame them separately, but in the end Josh and I liked the simplicity of putting them together.  I got the frame on sale (50% off) and with a 30% off coupon at Kohl's. Although I can't remember the exact total, I know it was a good deal - I remember that much. $8 maybe? For a big quality frame, that's a good deal.  I spray painted it white to suit her color scheme.  Prints, not too costly.  Frame, inexpensive. Spray paint, cheap.

I hunted a lot and pondered how to get a mirror in her room.  A vanity? No, more money needed for that.  A tall, door mirror?  Eh, not decorative enough.  I have a pretty trio of mirrors that used to hang in our guest bathroom in AL, but they are too breakable to put on her level.  I just plain got lucky when I accidentally spotted these stick-on mirrors at Kohl's for $9.99 before my 30% off coupon.  So simple.  And so safe.  And hello?  So polka dotted and perfectly adorable!  Mirror solution, cheap.

My sister made this memo board for Anna's birthday and I LUV it.  The colors match perfect without being a matchy, matchy set with the bedspread.  It's just a great complementing pattern for her room.  Wall decor, free.  Homemade present from talented sister, priceless.  Even better, I hung this (and the Anna letters) up myself using 3M picture hanging strips.  They work kind of like velcro, don't leave holes in the wall, and are repositionable. 

I loved the colors and pattern so much, I grabbed some of that same fabric at Hobby Lobby and stitch witched some curtains. They are very, very simple as I am not so sewing and fabric inclined.  But they are made with love ... and only a little profanity (I still contend that the word I like to use is not technically a cuss word, but Josh does not agree).  You would be surprised how this girl with a master's degree can be so confounded by measuring and cutting straight lines with fabric and using iron-on hemming tape.  In the end, it's still uneven across the bottom because I can't even tape in a straight line, but I tell myself no one will study it and critique that minor detail like I will.  So it's all good.  Fabric, cheap. Hemming tape, cheap. Not needing a sewing machine, priceless.

What you don't see in this pic is the roman shades we upgraded to from her bulky blackout curtains.  It works better, leaves more walk space in her already small room, and lends a neater and cleaner line than bunching panels on either side of the window.  Roman shades, not cheap.  I think they were about $70.  Money well spent, though.

The progression from nursery to bedroom!  Taa daa!