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today i’ll give some ideas that i’ve used in my girls’ room.  i posted on their room not too long ago, but we were recently give a set of bunk beds (THANK YOU JESS!) so things have been adjusted a bit.

when i took the wood-that-used-to-be-a-desk out of the neighbor’s yard, i grabbed one of the drawers.  it sat in the shed for 6 months, just like his buddy.  when i rearranged the girls’ room and there was no longer a nightstand, i wanted to figure out some sort of shelf or shelves for them to be able to display all their CRAP treasures and some photos.  i was in the shed looking to see if maybe we had a shelf in there i’d forgotten about and i saw the old desk drawer.  i first decided to paint it, and then thought i’d go for something a little more crazy-looking.  { remember in part 1 how i said i’m not a decorator and this is not a decorating blog?  i know the stuff on the shelves is random and not styled, but if i had the time to style my kids’ junk shelves…um…i wouldn’t spend it styling their junk shelves.  plus, even if you have the time, why “style” something that’s gonna be totally rearranged when the owners get home 3 hrs later?!}

it isn’t perfect…it’s definitely crafty-ish, but i think that’s fine for a kid’s room!

here’s how i turned the drawer into these little shelves:

• removed the pull
• sanded all surfaces
• painted it pink
• found some vintage wrapping paper and when i knew it wouldn’t be enough, i mixed in some new (the polka-dots)
• used mod podge like glue and let dry
• sanded all the edges
• replaced the pull (i also painted it pink but it would’ve been fine either way)
• attached two teeth hanging thingies on the back (i nailed them in exactly where the middle shelf is, so that the nails would go into the wood of the shelf and not be exposed.  i guess you could probably glue your hangy-thingies on if you needed to…)
• put 2 dry-wall screws into the wall
• hung it!
• let the girls put all their stuff where they wanted it

unfortunately, the stickers came with the bed…they weren’t really part of my design plan, but they go nicely with the eclectic vibe.  :)  i see a large bottle of Goo Gone in my future…

i am so excited i have actually posted more than one part of a multi-part “series”.  i posted a part 1 about sewing back in the fall and have yet to post part 2.

today is about something new in my room.  i am only posting pictures of a small portion of my room because, keepin it real, the rest of my room is a total disaster.  all the time.  ANYWAY.

this dresser was at my grandparents’ house.  when things began to be doled (?) out, i couldn’t believe that this gem wasn’t one of the first things to go.  it is sentimental and it is gorgeous.  i am so very excited that it’s now in our home (and hopefully will be for a long time).  so, not that any of us want someone to die or go into assisted living just so you can get free stuff, but it is definitely one good thing about time marching on the way it does.   i was honored to get to take this piece home.  when i put this piece in our room, i knew i’d need to figure something else out for the wall space around it.  the dresser that was here before (in maitland’s room now) has a mirror attached above it so i only had a small picture above that.

i remembered that last summer, a good friend of my in-laws had given me some amazingly cool press-printed posters (thank you Barb!  i love them all SO much!).  this botany beauty was one of them.  when i pulled it out again and realized how big it was, i knew we didn’t have a frame large enough for it.  i was disappointed (remember i wasn’t gonna spend money) and rolled it back up at first, but then had an idea.  i got out my grommet kit and put a grommet at each corner.  i think it turned out great and it has a really modern, almost industrial feel with the grommets in the corners.  (and i know it has a crease at the top, but, after the piece spent 9 months under the futon, let’s just say i’m excited there’s only one.)

when there’s not clean laundry waiting on the dresser, the poster makes me really happy.  it feels fresh and gender neutral.  AND IT WAS FREE!!

after the sign was up in maitland’s room, it got me really motivated to do a few other things.  BUT, as the title of this post states, i didn’t wanna spend any money.

when we moved him into his big boy bed { pause: i cannot post pictures of this bed and talk about how my 3 year old now takes up half of it while he sleeps without failing to mention that MY HUSBAND AND I SLEPT TOGETHER IN THIS BED FOR NINE YEARS.  the fact that i am someone that hates to touch anyone else while asleep means that the fact that we are still married is a divine miracle.  i literally became a new woman when we finally upgraded to a queen 2 years ago.  also…love you honey!! } , we took the wood slats out so that the box spring could sit on the floor.  it’s the perfect height for him, but seeing the box spring always bothered me.  i thought about buying a bed skirt, but again, i didn’t want to spend money.  i had some blue burlap that i’d bought a while ago for i-can’t-remember-what, so i decided to make a skirt out of that.  and then i got lazy and decided that i didn’t feel like sewing.  so, i cut the burlap into strips and basically just jammed it up between the side rail and the box spring.  i sort-of secured it with safety pins and straight pins when i ran out of safety pins, but mostly it’s just shoved up in there and when it has come loose, i just tuck it back up in there.  ghetto, but it’s workin out ok so far.  if i had to estimate how much burlap i used…maaaybe a yard.  SO CHEAP (free, really, since we already had it and i can’t remember when i bought it).  i do realize that there are still fold lines in the burlap.  doesn’t bother me a bit.  sorry if it bothers you.

next, i decided that i really needed something on the big empty wall and possibly above the bed…the headboard goes pretty high, so i wasn’t sure if i’d end up using that space or not.  i decided to do some bunting, but was trying to think of a project that would be fast (i.e. no getting out the sewing machine) and, again, free.  i hopped on Pinterest and i think i did a search for “boy’s room bunting”. i found this one and really liked it, but knew i didn’t have enough map to do it (and it wasn’t really the look i wanted anyway).  i have a box of paper that is go-to for many different types of projects…it’s sort-of a paper catch-all…scraps and also pages from books or calendars that i couldn’t bring myself to throw away.  i remembered that there was a an old-ish nursery rhyme book in there that i’d used pages out of a few times.  i got so excited when i pulled it out, knowing that the flags on the bunting could be pretty big and the colors were just what i was after.

(the dresser is one that was in our room before…we have a “new” one, which i think i’ll post a picture of later this week.  the lamp was one we already had and weren’t using anywhere else.  no money spent there!)

this project was so easy and i think it makes a big impact.  AND, icing on the cake is that, so far, my kids have obeyed my rule that they can’t touch the “pages”. ever.  this isn’t a new idea, and it’s pretty easy to figure out, but here are some “instructions” anyway…

1. find some type of fun paper that you’d like to see repeated (scrapbook paper or old books or a hymnal or some maps or i could go on and on)
2. cut it in a triangle shape (measure from the center of one end, to the corners at the other).  i used a paper cutter and it was so quick and easy.
3. punch holes in the corners.
4. thread jute or twine or string throught the holes…be consistent with the way you thread if you want a uniform look.
5. hang it!  you can tie the ends to an object or put nails in the wall or ceiling.