The color scheme of my room freshman and sophomore years was black white, pink and red. You are wondering why you care. Well, when I moved into a new apartment this year, I decided to get new grown up bedding and change my color scheme. My room is now purple with black, white and silver accents. You care because this so does not go with my pink. And thus began my quest to find some inexpensive ways to spruce up my apartment, which I now bring to you.
My first accidental encounter with dressing up my new abode came when I decided I wanted some flowers to put in my apartment. When I went to the Farmerās Market, (located behind the Hilton Garden Inn on Maple every Saturday through mid-October) I had it in my mind that I would buy a bouquet to put in a vase and throw on the table or my desk. So, I bought my flowers and went on my way. When I got home I had to get a bit more creative, realizing that I didnāt actually have a vase big enough for all of my flowers. Just like that, my $7 flowers turned my freshly moved-into, somewhat naked apartment into a bright, fall colored home, housed in a jar, vase, bottle and glasses.
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) isnāt always what you plan it to be. Sometimes the things you do yourself are the product of a mistake or a happy coincidence, but the fact that you do it yourself makes it that much more creative and unique.
āFake it, ātil you make it,ā said Katie Reberg, a senior in the School of Education and Social Policy.
Reberg moved into her house this past week and needed to lift her bed above her radiator, higher than the lifts you buy at the store could go. Wanting to see what her room would look like with the bed raised above the radiator, Reberg says she went scavenging in and around her house for bricks. She improvised, or āfaked it.ā This DIY solution brought her to a crafty, less expensive way to lift her bed. She decided to go to Home Depot and buy pavers to put under the bed lifts she already had. For about $5, Reberg made her room look and feel bigger and added character. And she made it.
This was my solution too. I found anything in my house that could hold water and I stuck flowers in it. In the end, I felt so accomplished for having created something so unique.
Earlier in the week, I had begun putting some old scrapbooking stickers on a red mirror I had from last year. I hadnāt paid for the stickers (at least not in the last 5 years), so they were basically free. Not even half way through it I realized I didnāt have enough stickers. It seems many of my more creative DIY ideas stem from a lack of thorough thought.
At this point I had to figure out where I was going to go from there. I knew that I had a bulletin board that was pink and a desk organizer with some pink on it. I pondered for a couple of days how I could streamline their transformations. The answer? Spray paint. As long as you are eighteen years old, you can buy a can of spray paint for about $5. The paint goes on and dries super quickly, and can cover a lot of items.
Paint is a wonderful solution in general. Almost all materials except plastic can be painted. Walls, blank canvases, picture frames, tables. You name it you can change it. Fabric can be dyed. All you need is a washing machine to dye fabric (be cautious of the rules if itās an apartment or dorm).The transformations you can make by changing somethingās color are infinite.
The most important of DIY projects is trusting yourself. Mistakes happen most when you question your instincts. So, run with it. Let your plan play out and then you can adjust. If you donāt have an idea but you need a change, think about what you want. Ask, do you want a different color? A different shape? A pattern? Then, check out DIY project websites like DIY Network or DIY Life. They offer inexpensive solutions that you can adjust and turn into your own.