One thing no one tells you about moving back home is that you almost always move back into a room filled with memories of angsty middle school years, emotional high school memories, and cute but slightly embarrassing elementary school memorabilia.
Granted some families jump on the chance to repurpose your room the second they drop you off at college or your own apartment, but some families, like mine, leave your room relatively untouched. So, when I moved back home I was greeted with boxes filled with memories from childhood and a room that brought me right back to 2006 where I could be found dancing around to Taylor Swift's first album or a wide range of Hannah Montana bops.
Over the years of returning home from college on breaks, I never minded spending time in my childhood bedroom. Sometimes, it was fun to look back on all the things I thought I just had to keep and reminisce about the days before student loans and other bills. But, now that I'm here for a while, it's time to throw away the old Disney Princess curtains and turn my room into a more modern, age-appropriate space.
But, when I decided to move back, it was time to switch up the old decorations and make my bedroom feel a little more like that of a 23-year-old instead of a 10-year-old. Thankfully, I wasn't starting from scratch and my family had done a little bit of work on it while I was away but it still needed some extra attention.
Since I'm not planning on staying in this room forever I didn't want to spend a ton of money on it. So, I decided to use what I'd already purchased over the years and what my family already had to make the space feel grown-up without the grown-up price tag.
My parents took a few pictures of my room for me over the years and as you can see, it needed a bit of an upgrade.
I told you it needed some work, so here's what we did...
Paint
Originally, this was supposed to become the guest room so my parents decided on a pastel green for the walls. I actually love the color so it worked out well for me! It's very calm and relaxing, plus it went well with the furniture and bedding I already had! We decided on the color, Lazy Days by Valspar and I love it! I have 3 windows in my bedroom so between the natural light and this paint color my whole room feels so much brighter! My dad also decided to paint the trim in my room and my bedroom door white to brighten it up as well. We left the closet doors and the windows natural since they are kind of a pain to take off but I don't mind it at all!
Blinds
The original blinds in my room were easily over 15 years old so it was time to replace those. My mom found these white roman shades and they were pretty easy to install (well for me they were super easy since I had my dad install them for me). I couldn't find the exact ones we purchased but these are the closest style to the ones we picked!
Furniture
I didn't buy any new furniture for my room. I still had a dresser, a nightstand, a bookshelf, a mirror, and my mom's hope chest in my room and I brought my bed with me on the move from Lexington so I combined everything instead of buying all new stuff. My brother needed a new bed, so we just moved my old bed into his room and moved my bed into my room. I didn't want to purchase all new furniture right now since I don't know what the living situation will be after I move out of here. I purchased the bed frame from Wayfair and the mattress from Big Lots and together they cost me under $700 - which was great considering most queen-size sets were well above that when I was buying furniture last year! The rest of the furniture is over 20 years old but it's all held up great so there's no reason I shouldn't use it!
Since I have this little cut-out section in my room my mom and I decided it could be a cute little reading/sitting space. So we just added a cushion to the top of her hope chest and there you have it! Super easy and it's a great spot for me to sit and do work, read a book, or just relax.
Decorating and Other Pieces
Since I didn't want to spend a ton of money decorating this space I used a large portion of my old decor, with a few exceptions, to really tie everything together.
First up was my TV. I've gone back and forth over the years between having a TV in my bedroom and not having one, but I really love working from my bed (I know, bad habit), and having the TV on in the background is nice too. Plus, it fits perfectly on the top of my dresser so I didn't even need to drill into the wall to use the wall mount! I have this 43" TCL - Roku TV and it's been incredible!
The rest of my room I kept really simple. I picked up a new lamp for my nightstand table and went with the gold option to tie into the gold accents on my headboard, then I just used a bunch of my family photos and wall decor to make it feel like my space again.
As far as bedding goes, I decided on white sheets and reused the light grey comforter that I picked up at Target a while back and a few throw pillows from At Home!
I'm sure I'll end up rearranging this room and adding to it as the months go on but for now, it's pretty much completed! At the moment my only real plan is to decorate it for Christmas (along with the rest of the house!)
