Back to School: Room Makeover in a Flash
There’s nothing like that back to school time of year to remind college students and teenagers that their room isn’t as cool as it should be. Trendy stores are filled with unusual lamps, fuzzy pillows, accent tables, chairs, bedding and all kinds of accessories that would increase your cool factor tenfold if you only bought it all and filled a room with it. But all that coolness can cost a lot of cash, and in this economy, cash doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.
The good news is that all you need is a little creativity, a few colours of spray paint and some items you can repurpose – garage sale finds, thrift store bargains or inexpensive items from the hardware store. Look at those trendy stores for inspiration and think of ways you can make something similar yourself for less. You’ll be surprised how easy it can be – and how much you’ll save. Your project will be finished faster by using spray paint. Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Paint goes on more quickly than brush-on paint & dries in 10 minutes or less to a very durable finish.
You may want to start with a colour scheme that will be used throughout the room. If you need help creating one, browse through magazines and catalogs, or visit our colour combinations pages for 35 different colour combination ideas. You’ll find colour trend information in this section of the site too, so you’re sure to find something that inspires you.
Then walk through your local hardware store and take a fresh look at all the various pieces and parts of things and pretend you don’t know what they’re used for (okay, if you’re like me, you won’t be pretending most of the time, but that’s to your advantage right now). Think about what they could be used for – like segments of ductwork could be transformed into these very cool art supply storage bins. Three corner segments of ductwork are strung together with inexpensive ball chain that can easily be cut to different lengths depending on how closely you’d like the storage bins hanging together. Use a drill to make small holes at the top and bottom on each side of the ductwork segments for the chain to go through. Spray paint with your favourite colour, add the ball chain, and store your stuff.
Desks can be expensive, so what could you find to create one that is small on price but big on style? We used an old wooden shutter (half of a louvered door works just as well) and 4 table legs from a home improvement store, attached them together, painted everything black and added stripes of vibrant colour with Brights paint pens. To make the desk functional, we had the hardware store cut a piece of plexiglass to fit the top of the shutter for a smooth surface. The result is unique, colourful and just as cool as what you’d find in the trendy stores. Maybe even cooler because you didn’t spend a lot of money and you made it yourself. What will you create today?
