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I would never presume to call myself any kind of interior designer, but I do pride myself on having good taste. I certainly have better taste than some of those home shows on HGTV. Anyway, I was in middle school when I started to take an interest in making a room, and indeed a whole house, work. My aunt bought me some new sheets, bath mats, and towels. Regrettably, there was a lot of pink, lace, and floral accents in everything she gave me, which somewhat canceled out the pleasantness of the gift. Still, I noted that everything she gave me matched without being dull. Years later, when my dad and I moved to Austin and everything my aunt had given me had worn out, we purchased new sheets and towels. Thoroughly bored with pink and floral decor, I selected plain ivory sheets and towels and a brown wicker basket to use as a wastebasket in the bathroom. I felt that my new stuff was more in tune with the greens and browns of the furniture in the rest of the house anyway. When those towels wore out, I brought some blue ones back from my grandfather's house after moving out of his place and back in with my dad. Moving back in with my dad triggered a desire to make the most of my space. My grandfather's house was a disaster area, always filthy, with old and mismatched furniture. Back at my dad's, I naturally wanted to be as far removed from my previous circumstances as possible, and I made a point of keeping my bedroom and bathroom tidy at all times. I made sure my towels were folded in the linen closet or hung on the towel rack, and I made a habit of always making my bed. I bought a down comforter with a black duvet cover, which made sense because I had black cats who slept on the bed with me, but I decided it was too morbid and replaced it with a sage green one. I would have preferred dark green, but I couldn't find one. Around this time, my blue towels wore thin, so I relegated the rattier ones to cleaning towels, and the nicer ones I set aside in the linen closet as guest towels. All my life I had wanted dark green towels but had never been able to find any, and I finally found some and bought them. I also bought matching dark green bathmats, and I found a dark green comforter as well. I was sick of dealing with the duvet cover (it took time to put back on the comforter), so I relegated it and the comforter to the linen closet. Then I replaced the hideous heart-and-flower shower curtain my dad had moved into my bathroom with an ivory sateen one, held in place with S-shaped bronze hooks. Finally, I attached two bronze shelves (built as one piece) to the wall with a double towel rack on the bottom. I put my own towel on one towel rack and left the other empty for guest towels. On the bottom shelf, I placed a few decorative seashells, perfume bottles, and a glass apothecary jar full of cotton balls; on the top shelf, I placed a second glass apothecary jar full of Epsom salts, a glass cruet full of bubble bath, and a few more decorative shells. I bought some small metal stacking shelves to keep under the sink, and I spray painted them red. Really, ivory or dark green would have been better, but there's something about little bright red baskets I find very cute. With my bathroom finally the way I wanted it, I decided to do something with my computer room as well, and I purchased some stacking wire baskets with which to organize my yarn stash. I organized my book collection in boxes in my closet, got rid of some decorative items I wasn't particularly attached to, and bought a couple of faux sheepskin rugs, one to put under my computer desk and the other to put by my bed. Finally, I hung my small clock in the shape of a ship's wheel about three feet off the floor since that's where my eye falls when I'm sitting at my desk. My efforts at redecorating didn't end there. I wanted to make my bedroom feel a bit less basic, which is something of a challenge in a room with little room for anything besides the bed in it. Therefore, I decided to make the most of the bed itself. I wanted a few more pillows, partly for decorative purposes, but mainly because I sometimes read in bed, and I wanted the extra pillows to lean against. I recalled the popularity of Euro pillows from when I worked at Linens ' N Things, and I bought two Euro pillows and got ivory shams for them. Then I bought two neckrolls and ivory shams for them. Granted, they have to be stored on the floor when I'm using the bed, but no matter. I'm asleep then and don't have to look at them. Overall, I'm quite happy with my updated rooms. With careful bargain hunting and creativity, or even a little reorganization and cleaning, it's easy to redo a room without breaking the bank. Just keeping it tidy makes a world of difference; you only have to look at a Google cache of before and after photos of messy rooms to see that. Below is a link to a page of tips on home decor, and below that are links to pages for individual rooms. |