Thrifted Vintage Master Bedroom Makeover

For those who have followed my blog over the years, many of you have seen my sporadically different bedroom changes, in three different homes. The first was the diy painting of the garage sale headboard here. Then the vintage linen room, then the plate wall  and total bedroom makeover (my favorite), and now in this yucky rental (with the nausea inducing mustard orange accent wall.) Well, it's the end of an era, because I just sold my pretty white headboard and my adorable vintage french provincial dresser last weekend. A bit is due to earning some cashola to get new baby girl gear, but I'm also going through a mega purging phase right now. I have boxes and boxes of clothes/decor/craft supplies/linens and stuff just waiting to get out of here. My room feels naked now without a headboard, so any free/cheap/diy ideas for that would be awesome.

But, I did find these two amazing vintage lamps the other day for only $12. I have been looking for lamps because all of ours have broken. I never find quirky/cool lamps in a pair that actually work at a thrift store.... and these lamps are definitely pretty quirky. A woman at Goodwill commented that she liked the lamps... if the shades were different, but I happened to love the silky drum shade and the pretty pale robins egg blue color, even though it does clash a bit with the interesting pink and green glass/acrylic (?).

The wall sconces were another find for $2 and the vintage crewel embroidery art was $3. I am not usually a big symmetry decorator, like my blessed grandmother, but I love the simplicity it brings to the space.

 I have a beautiful vintage crewel embroidery on a down stuffed wool pillow that accented this art beautifully, (as seen on a chair that I also sold, *sniff*)... but I RUINED it! I wasn't thinking and washed the thing... now it is all moldy and the embroidery colors ran. I am so upset with myself. I may just cut the front part off and try to frame it?

My little boys love picking me little flowers they find. I put one in my hair the other day and they thought I had magically transformed into a princess.

Of course, the end tables usually have medicine bottles, glasses of ice water, cell phone chargers and a way huge ugly alarm clock. But you know, gotta look a little gussied up for pics right? Since the thrifted tables are pretty banged up, and I still haven't sanded and painted them, I cut this vintage thrifted lace panel in half and now we don't get splinters on our end tables at night.

 

 My hubs' Far Side looking elephant piggy bank. And his studly glasses. He looks so cute in those glasses.

 A few slip covered pillowcases my aunt, the professional seamstress made for me. I stuff them with cheap (and washed) thrifted pillows. I love how she made me so many covers, I can change them throughout the seasons and always have a fresh update. That is the beauty of slip covered pillows people. I really need to get over my fear of sewing machines and just do it. Rae Gun has a great envelope pillow case tutorial here.

So, I got me a little mini makeover for now. I have a challenge on my hands on how to make this space a little more comfortable while spending zero money on a headboard alternative. I have found a few cute ideas out there, that I will likely be posting soon, do you have any free/diy headboard ideas?

Linked to:
Thrifters Anonymous 
Her Library Adventures Flea Market Finds 
Nester's It's Not Perfect But It's Beautiful 
Between Naps on the Porch 
Chic on a Shoestring Budget 
Remodelaholic

Lamps Need Jewels Too

For Nester's Lampapalooza linky party, I decided to compile my lamp pics and add some new ones. I love chandaliers, but living in an apartment limits that love of mine...

I love dressing up my lamps. They need love and I need to give it, so we make a great team. As my readers may know, I decorate on a sheer whim. So, due to my lack of planning I do not like to do things that cannot be easily undone. So, for my projects, they are just simple little alterations that can be taken down and reused again later.

My fabric covered lampshade (complete with Nester tassel), tutorial HERE:



Vintage Brooch Spring Shade:



Vintage Beaded Collar and Brooch Shade sitting in a painted drawer:



Hanging Lamp (my newest):



For this, I used to have an adorable star paper lantern here (shown below), the kind you can buy with the hanging bulb. But over the years, it got destroyed (so sad) and so I had to do a quick redo. I found a Goodwill shade for $2. Cleaned it up, jimmied it to the hanging cord, pinned a red and white polka dotted ribbon around it and added a silver plastic Sherriff's Star. I think my son will love it when he gets home from his playdate with Daddy. (pics of the boys room redo will be coming soon)

Star Paper Lamp (his nursery used to be so cute!)

Damask Lampshade Slipcover How To

The Shabby Nest inspired me to post this project I did the other day for her Frugal Friday Linky Party.

I wanted a new look for my lamp, but I really love the shade. Every other lamp covering tutorial required sewing a slipcover (I don't sew), or required desecrating the shade with copious amounts of glue. I love glue, but like I said, I wanted a cheap and easy way to update my shade without altering it.

Above is a quick before shot from my Spring Decorating post

I got a yard of fabric and used iron on hem tape on the very bottom (ignore the top). To know how much material you need, measure the bottom circumference of the lampshade. You will need the same amount, maybe an inch or so more just to be safe.

I flipped over my lampshade and used small pins to attach the hem-taped part to the rim of the lamp. NOTE- if you are wanting to use fringe, sandwich it between the fabric and lampshade during this part.

 Next, I pulled up the fabric and cut it a couple of inches above the top of the lamp. I just pulled and softly pleated the fabric, folded it over the edge of the top of the lamp and pinned away until all was in place.























Ta da! Now, I have a lovely damask shade with a bold pattern and soft pleats that only cost me a few dollars.

I took a .50 cent garage sale mirror, splashed on a fresh coat a paint and gave my new lamp of reflection window. I take a matching fabric (that I found for sale in the remnants section at Joanns), and tape it to the inside windows of my television cabinet to tie my new fabric in the room. Photos of that coming soon!

 

While on my hunt for lampshade ideas, I happened upon this gorgeous shade project from Alchemy Fine Living. The creator has an Etsy shop, BrickBasement. Bedazzle your shade frame with fabric and ribbon shards, photos and other baubles for a truly smashing look.

Now, because I want to infuse more art into my home, I am going to print off a couple of *free* (personal use only) prints from A Print A Day! Go check Yasmine's site out, tons of cute stuff.
 

 

ps. ways to keep your toddler entertained while you do this quick project: