Hi gang, welcome to Bedroom Decorating Ideas. You're a teen who wants to re-do your room, but your parents won't pay? Here's some good ways to get started.
Bedroom Decorating Ideas - 13 Steps to Redecorate Your Bedroom Cheaply
Steps
- Make a plan and decide on a theme. How do you want it to look? Look through magazines or websites such as 'Pottery Barn Teen' or 'Delias' for ideas, since they often have pictures of rooms. Decide on things you like and things you don't, colors you like and design details. You should have a rough idea of how you want your room to look.
- Measure and list. Did you ever wonder how big your room is? How much stuff do you have in it? Take a tape measure and find out how long the walls are. Make sure to write this down or you will forget it. Your room might be a lot bigger than you thought. Now, list every piece of furniture that you have in there. You might have a lot, but be patient. If you want to, measure your bed, dresser, and some of the larger pieces of furniture.
- Before you move anything, design your room. You need to know what you want your room to look like, but don't get too set on one idea. If you are copying a room from a catalog, look at the furniture. Ask yourself, "Well, they have a cast-iron bed, and mine's wooden. How would the room change if the bed was like mine?" How would your white desk look if you painted it blue? You can give furniture a completely new look by painting it.
- Remember if your parents aren't too enthusiastic about the idea, now is your time to show them. If you have time, make a design board. Cut out pictures of things you liked from the rooms you looked at, and draw a floor plan and maybe a sketch of how you think it will look when it's done. Once they see how much work you put into this, they will probably be more willing to let you. Make sure you point out things like, "See this? That's just like my bed right now." If they don't like something, be willing to listen to their opinion. If they say no, don't complain, say that they aren't being fair, or tell them that you hate their guts. Accept their decision maturely, and they might change their minds. If they don't, you got plenty of practice for when you become an interior designer, and you'll have a plan when they finally decide that you can redecorate your room.
- Ransack the attic. A lot of time there'll be things up there that have been forgotten but would go great in your room. Before you move anything down there, though, get permission. A good way to ask would be, "Mom, I know you're busy, but I saw some things in the shed that would look good in my room. When you have time, can you come with me and tell me if I can move them into my room?"
- Look at yard sales within walking distance. It's a long shot, but you might find the perfect chair, lamp, or picture frames there. Don't drive, since you'll probably spend more money on gas than you would going to the store and buying it new (especially if you have a diesel car).
- Go to the store. Start by making a list of everything you still need, and take pictures of things you liked if you can. Now, go to Target, WalMart, or someplace that sells everything from paint to rugs to lamps, and sells it cheap. Make sure that you have plenty of time, as WalMart at least is the most confusing store ever.
- Find the paint you want. Make sure that you buy enough, but not too much. But, since you measured your walls earlier, you know exactly how many square feet of wall you have to cover. Also, get rollers and brushes if you don't have them, along with masking tape and anything else you'll need. If you're doing a interesting finish, like painted-on marble, ask the people how you would do that. If you aren't sure, stick with solid colors.
- While the paint is being mixed, browse the other accessories. Rugs, lamps, and translucent plastic boxes are always useful. If you're at WalMart, these are probably at opposite ends of the store, so be prepared to do a lot of walking. You're probably going to need a cart. Keep a mental tally of how much this will cost you (just round up each item to the next dollar, you probably won't pay that much but it's always better to over-estimate it). You'll probably find some furnishings that are almost identical to what you picked out of the catalog. They might not be identical, but they have the same idea. Keep your eye out for these.
- Pick up your paint and head on to the bedding section. Start with the bedding. Do you see curtains or sheets or a comforter that you just love? Keep these in mind while you head off to sewing.
- Look at fabric. If you can sew, see if there's any fabric that would compliment your sheets or curtains. Make throw pillows out of it (You won't need more than a yard, probably). Now go over to the trim. Would that pom-pom trim look good on the bottom of your curtains? How would that gold braid look as a tieback?
- Start redecorating! Take all the furniture out, and get to painting the walls. While you wait for them to dry, paint the furniture. Then set it up like you had planned. Put all the accessories up, make up your bed with your new bedding, and you're done!
- Know that if you have old things that don't really fit your new room, don't throw them away! Keep them in boxes in your closet, or buy colored plastic boxes that coordinate and put it in there. The boxes can be left in your room and will look great.
Tips
- If you haven't got a good idea of how you want your room to look, start making lists of things you like. Have a separate list for colors. If you surround yourself with things you love, your room will come together.
- Try painting your walls different colors, or two pink and two green, or each one a different color. Leave your ceiling white, or your room will be really dark, and even if you like that, the parents probably aren't going to be too enthusiastic.
- Don't buy new furniture, or you'll soon find yourself draining your bank account. If you have all the furniture you need (bed, dresser, desk), why spend money on new ones? Furniture is designed so that it will look good in pretty much any room, so don't worry.
- When buying lamps, the bases are sold separately from the shades. Take advantage of this. When you see a shade that you like, ask yourself how it would look on your lamp base, and stop to see how your current shade would look on that base you just love.
- If you know how to sew (probably with a machine), it's almost always cheaper to buy discounted fabric/flat sheets and make your own curtains than to buy curtain panels. Curtains aren't hard.
- If you see the last in a pattern you like (the only set of polka-dot sheets) put them in your cart, or it'll get taken before you can go back to it. You can always put it back later.
- When you're in the Sewing department, check the Dollar-a-yard bin. You might have to fight with the crazy grannies to get that fabric you like, but there's good fabric there a lot of time.
- Tulle or sheer makes good tiebacks. Tie in big bows or let it hang long for a dramatic look.
- Before you decide that you hate it, give your new room a little time for you to get used to it. You'll find you love it.
Warnings
- Make sure you get your parent's permission before moving or painting walls or furniture.
- Don't go to the mall. You'll spend way more than you need to.
- Paint gets darker when there's a lot of it on a wall. That pretty pale blue you liked becomes eye-smarting when it's covering 20 square feet.
- Only paint on walls.! Parents will get really mad if you get wall paint on the window or the carpet.
- Paint furniture outside, and get permission first!
- If you will ever have small children in your room, make sure that you don't get things that they will break/choke on/suck the Chinese lead-based paint off of within their reach.
- If you have white walls, they are probably be off-white.
- If your walls have color, you'll either need to prime them or get some of the 1-coat paint. Check to see which way turns out cheaper.
- Do a good job, so you'll love spending time in your room.
Bedroom Decorating Ideas, By Rick Ostler
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