seeking inspiration for decorating my room

[mrjamin]

Hey,

I recently moved house and my bedroom is reaaly nastily decorated, i have horrble grimey, dirty, stripey wallpaper (kind of a dirty cream and brown colour), and a thin brown carpet. everything above the picture rail used to be white, but is now kinda yellowy browny white, and a big brick chimney breast [sp?] (tehe, i said breast).

Seeing as i'm now working from home, i need to redecorate. Problem is, i'm on a tight budget (wallpaper is out of the question, as is changing the carpet). I'm looking to have a light, minimalistic room. I can't be too outrageous as its rented acomodation. Anybody got any suggestions? I'm pretty restricted for colours because of the brick chimney breast and brown carpet. None of my furnature matches (fully furnished rented space so i can't really ditch any of it, nor can i afford to replace it) . Anybody got any ideas? I'm reluctant to go with magnolia as its a little too boring, and i'm thinking a papyrus or terracota colour would be too dark for a working enviromnet.

Any tips or ideas for decorating on a budget would be hugely appreciated! Will try to get some pics asap.

Thanks in advance.

MrJ

[cb911]

i can't really help you out... but you should watch a couple of those makeover/renovation show that are on TV now. we've got a couple here in Aus, so i'm sure you'd have a heap more there in Strongbadia. :p :D

[mrjamin]

Originally posted by cb911
i can't really help you out... but you should watch a couple of those makeover/renovation show that are on TV now. we've got a couple here in Aus, so i'm sure you'd have a heap more there in Strongbadia. :p :D

all the ones here in strongbadia are a little too extravagent and assume you have a £500 budget to redecorate - i'm thinking maybe £50 tops

looks like mr magnolia is coming out to play (that was a very weird metaphor - its late)

[baby duck monge]

it would be a lot easier if you could post a pic. it might not be possible, but it would sure help things along.

[monkeydo_jb]

Paint the walls first and foremost. I've always been a fan of bedrooms either being mocha or sage in color.

After you pick a wall color you need to pick one or two complimentary colors and then another that adds "pop" as my fiance puts it.

For example, once we get married our bedroom walls will be sage, with black and silver as complimentary colors (on things like furniture, art, etc.) and maroon will be the "pop."


-jeff

[wdlove]

Here is a site that might help mrjamin. It is about decorating on a budget. Also some local stores will give free advice on decorating! I usually prefer one on one help!

http://www.inoutdecor.com/DecoratingBudget/DecoratingBudget.htm

[Roger1]

Hang a Red Green poster :D That's what I did. oop, don't see them in their store. Must have been a limited edition thing. But you can always hang a Red Green calendar
http://redgreen.com/merchandise.asp

[Mr. Anderson]

Paint one wall a different color. Very cool effect and it worked for me. Good luck and post some pics - before/after - if you get a chance.

D

[sonofslim]

talk to the landlord/building owner about painting, reflooring, etc. i had a nasty, nasty apartment once and i worked out a deal with the landlord where i stripped and painted the walls and put down a hardwood floor, and he paid for all of the materials.

i got a better, brighter, happier home, and the landlord got to improve the value of his property without paying for labor. i've had a few property-owning friends say that they love to get offers like that from tenants, especially younger ones, because it says "hey, i care about this property and i'm not going to trash it."

it was easier than you might think. i bribed a few friends with pizza & beer and it took us about a week to tear up the old floor, paint the walls, and put in the hardwood. and we weren't working at a breakneck speed.

[mrjamin]

ok, i've got some pictures of my room:

thoughts please

[wdlove]

mrjamin I happen to think that it is a very nice looking room. Have the brick look is great. Nice looking wallpaper. Added shelving is always helpful!

[Danger! Will]

I'd start off first with paint.
Then get a nice natural colour area rug. And for the love of god do something about that window treatment ASAP.

Where's the pic that shows the floor?

Another thing i've noticed is that you have no living things in that room. Well besides you.
I'd add some bamboo for good luck. It's really inexpensive and it's almost impossible to kill.

[mrjamin]

Originally posted by Danger! Will
Where's the pic that shows the floor?

here:

Originally posted by Danger! Will
do something about that window treatment ASAP

Window treatment? it's white uPVC! Not much i can do about that.

At the moment i'm thinking magnolia walls with a teracotta picture rail, then white above that and on the ceiling. My dad has a texturised roller so i'm thinking that if i mix a little bit of the teracotta with some magnolia and use the textured roller over the top of the magnolia walls to make things a little more interesting.

[Danger! Will]

I meant that flowery thing near the window. The floors don't look bad..


The way you decorate should be a reflection of you.

So what kinda leeway do you have with the landlord?

[mrjamin]

Originally posted by Danger! Will
So what kinda leeway do you have with the landlord?

it has to be neutral and can't affect any of the furnature in the room. I would replace the curtains but the fact of the matter is that i really can't afford to!

[medea]

what is that white apple thing?

[Phil Of Mac]

Paint the door.

That's all I can recommend, it looks great to me :)

[mrjamin]

Originally posted by medea
what is that white apple thing?

well, its not an apple product! It's what's called a Light Box and helps provide natural daylight when its gloomy/early morning - i suffer from SADs (seasonal affective disorder) so when winter approaches its supposed to make a difference. THe guy i'm borrowing it off just put an apple sticker on it when he got his 12"

[wdlove]

Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
Paint the door.

That's all I can recommend, it looks great to me :)

Please don't paint the door mrjamin. I think that the natural beauty of the wood should be preserved. The same thing goes for brick.

[mrjamin]

Originally posted by wdlove
Please don't paint the door mrjamin. I think that the natural beauty of the wood should be preserved. The same thing goes for brick.

yeah - i want to keep the door and the brick!

[wdlove]

Originally posted by mrjamin
yeah - i want to keep the door and the brick!

Thank you mrjamin you don't know how happy that make me feel. So what are you thoughts for redecoration? It seems that just some reorganization would do wonders.

[mrjamin]

Originally posted by wdlove
Thank you mrjamin you don't know how happy that make me feel. So what are you thoughts for redecoration? It seems that just some reorganization would do wonders.

well, reorganization is impossible unfortunately. Its a pretty small room! i have a double bed which can only go in one place as there's no room for it anywhere else. If i put my desk at the other end then i wouldn't be able to get past the door and the bed (plus i like to be near a window because of my SAD). That doesn't really leave anywhere else to put my chest of drawers, guitars and amplifier

[Phil Of Mac]

Originally posted by mrjamin
yeah - i want to keep the door and the brick!

You could still stain or lacquer it...Might be different sensibilities around there, but I grew up in the woods, and that door looks just a bit too rustic for a room where the walls are covered with burned CD's and with a Mac in the corner. Incongruous, you know? At least where I come from, we wouldn't let bare wood like that go untouched.

The brick is fine, but it looks a bit dirty. Might I recommend a good albeit careful pressure washing? Something to fix that staining would be a plus.

[wdlove]

Originally posted by mrjamin
well, reorganization is impossible unfortunately. Its a pretty small room! i have a double bed which can only go in one place as there's no room for it anywhere else. If i put my desk at the other end then i wouldn't be able to get past the door and the bed (plus i like to be near a window because of my SAD). That doesn't really leave anywhere else to put my chest of drawers, guitars and amplifier

I agree with cleaning the brick flooring, they do look dull. By organizing I didn't really mean that you had to move any furniture. Looks like you could use some additional shelves and organize some of the one's that you have. Try hiding some of the wires. I think that the organized look would give it a whole new appearance. You can make some shelves with cement blocks and partical board, its inexpensive. Then can be painted.

[Phil Of Mac]

I'm not sure about hiding wires. If your walls are already covered in burned CD's, you're halfway to a techno look already, so there's nothing wrong with exposed wires then.

[Phil Of Mac]

Another good redecorating tip: Get an iMac! :D

[mrjamin]

Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
Another good redecorating tip: Get an iMac! :D

got my eye on a G5 - iMac isn't very 'me' (c'mon - i look like a thug and the iMacs a re a little girly)

[sketchy]

I am a fan of Green Tea green (close to sage green)-- it is a greyish green color, we took the green and mixed it with a mid green and painted our downstairs with it. and don't be afraid to paint the ceiling.

many people are afraid to paint ceilings. It makes small rooms look bigger. It creates an illusion that the ceiling is higher then it is and opens the room up. Unless you pick a near black color or a vibrant light color (sky blue, neon, lime green, etc.)

If you are any good with wood you can make shoji screens -- they drastically alter the look of a room, and if you make them they can be done for 20 dollars(US) or less if you use pine. I have some maple and pine ones in my house. They are "window treatments"

Dave

[FlamDrag]

One idea - paint the walls one color up to that 'moulding' around the wall - then paint above that moulding a new color. Perhaps a deep red to add some warmth to your room. This may help with your SAD to an extent. It may also help give your room feel a bit taller.

If you were to use a cool (in temperature) color on the wall with a window, it would visually push the wall back in space and accentuate the sunlight (if any) which comes through the window. If you pick the color carefully, you might be able to paint the entire 'bottom' of your room a cool color and not adversely effect your mood. This would bring out the color of the brick and the door as well as ad some contrast to the red upper portion.

Paint the "bookshelves" (red or orange if going with a blue wall) and organize your CD/DVD collection quite a bit more - depending on how often you scan for movies, you might consider organizing by color to add some interest. Right now they're a mess! Maybe you can even put some sort of covering on your CD/DVD shelves to hide the clutter.

Or, paint the inside shelving area different colors and keep the facing edges and back 'wall' of the shelves or black. This would blend with the black cases of the DVD's and eliminate some visual clutter. You appear to have 4 shelving areas, so you can use 2 or 4 colors in any combination you wish for the top, left right and bottom of your book shelves. I suggest painting at least one of them the same color as the top of your room to tie it all together.

Could you build your shelves up to the moulding? This might also have the effect of drawing the eye upward in the room and help it feel larger.

Make a tablecloth for your computer table to add some color and hide the legs / underneath area.

I have to jump for now - happy decorating.