Small Cost Big Change

You know you're in for a trip down memory lane when you link to one of the first ever posts on the blog.

We inherited the burgundy in our guest bedroom from the decor in our old apartment, picture here, and even before that to our first apartment over 10 years ago, when we shopped exclusively the line of "What is the cheapest thing that will cover our windows/keep us warm/etc." It wasn't bad, and we made it work - the comforter cover, lamp shades, and curtains were a little worn and faded by now, but they were tolerable.

Still, we never particularly loved them. And when we finally re-installed the cordless blinds one year after taking them down to have new windows installed, I left the red curtains down and wondered whether it wasn't time to replace the outdated burgundy.

D and I decided on blue, to match so much of our house color scheme, and purple (since the accent wall already was) and I went to work. I found a really lovely organic cotton duvet cover that was so much better than the ripped-then-stitch-witchery sealed and stained burgundy cover. In perfect coincidence, they have pillow shams in a silk/cotton blend (remember, I'm weird - these things matter to me) that seemed like the perfect matched shade of blue despite being from a separate set. They have a cute tie-on look, too.

That sort of ate up our budget though, because we didn't really want to put too much money into room that we use so rarely. We tried buying a set of cheap curtains from Target but the color wasn't a good match and they looked cheap, which was exactly what we were trying to avoid, so those went right back to the store. But to our surprise, we still had some purple sheers my mom gave us as temporary window covers from back when we moved. They might not be our "forever" curtains, but they were free, which is infinitely better than cheap. We also had some lamps in the basement that hadn't quite made it to the donation bin from our first apartment that worked in a pinch, after we saw how expensive lamps are.

Finally, we removed the sad, faded 2' x 4' rug that wasn't much better than a front door mat, and dug out the second flokati rug we bought after realizing how much we loved our first one and how much we feared it would wear out quickly (5 years later, still going strong).

So besides the bed linens, this was an upgrade from random stuff we had laying around the house. Though they still had their costs.

Cost the first - apparently cheap lamps with cheap bases disintegrate into a pile of concrete, sand , plastic, and...I don't even know what else when picked up for the first time in a long time. That was a fun clean-up. Without a base, the big stand-up lamp is very unstable, but it works wedged into the corner.

Cost the second - to make room for the big and cozy rug, I had to push the bed to the left, meaning that the frames are no longer centered. It bugs me. But not so much that I want to fix it. These frames are the kind that require a nail at both ends instead of the middle, so shifting them will leave me with a visible hole to fill AND the pain of having to recenter them and re-level them. It can only be seen from inside the room, so my plan is to ignore.

My view from the hallway is nothing but cozy:

Have you had any cheap decor upgrades lately?