As of October 27th, I’m officially leaving the nest — hopefully for good this time! It’s both exciting and scary. Scary, because I’ll be living on my own for the very first time, and I’m not sure how I’ll handle it (who will kill spiders for me? who will remind me to take out the trash?!) But it’s also really exciting because I get to do things my way for once.
Since before high school, I had a plan for what my future home would look like. And now that I face an empty, blank canvas, I don’t have to worry about anybody else’s input but my own!
But living on one’s own also comes at a price. Considering I don’t have anybody to split the bills with, my dream apartment has to have some constraints. So, I turned to Pinterest to find some inexpensive, brilliant DIY projects that will make my new house box a home!
1. Easy wall color
Have you guys seen this genius picture yet? This type of “painting” is made for apartment-dwellers like myself. Most of the time, painting an apartment’s walls is off limits, and if not, it’s a hassle to have to repaint the walls white at the end of your lease. By stealing a handful of paint swatches, you can easily add (temporary) color to your walls!
2. Fake a headboard
I don’t even have a bed-frame, so this little trick would really make my sleeping nook into a real bedroom (and not just a room with a mattress). Take the fabric of your choice, iron it extremely well, and draw on the pattern of your headboard — making sure it’s as wide as your bed is. Once you cut your shape out, spray liberally with a fabric stiffener (like Stiffen Stuff) and let it sit for about 24 hours. Then all you have to do is iron it to the wall! It’s completely removable, super easy to do, and only costs around $10! Read more details here.
3. Put chalkboard paint on… everything
I love chalkboard paint. LOVE IT. But since painting the walls of my apartment is off limits, I need to find some other ways to incorporate it. I’m thinking of getting old mirrors from Goodwill and coating them in the stuff, and then hanging them around for my friends to draw on. Or painting an old wooden coffee table, or maybe even a dining table. Or the bottoms of cups, or cupboards, or place-mats. Constant sneezing from chalk dust is so worth it.
4. Drawer-knob coat rack
I used to live next to this big antique market, and they always sold the coolest little drawer handles. I bought so many, and never had anything to do with them. Until now. All you need for this is a piece of wood, some paint to make it pretty, a drill, and some mismatched knobs — you can find these most anywhere, but if you really feel like splurging, Anthropologie always has cute ones! Here’s a more detailed tutorial!
This is easy to do, even from a non-sewer’s point of view. Welcome to Heardmont’s Meredith Heard does a better job at explaining the process than I could, but all you really need is a pair of old bedsheets and a sewing kit. You sew a hem into the sheets to make the edges look more professional, and then you can use leftover fabric to create loops for the rod to go through. I know I have a couple sets of sheets that are light enough to make nice curtains (sorry, mom!), and I’m delighted that I won’t have to spend $30 on curtains.
This is just a few of the ideas I’m stashing away until my move-in date arrives.
Do you Lovelies have any other home DIY projects? Or advice for living on your own? Please share!
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daisy / 626 posts
Congrats on getting your own place! I hope the move goes well and you have a good time setting your place up. These ideas are soooo cute! I want to try the fabric headboard.
hydrangea / 59 posts
@eugenia@xanga - aw thanks!!!!! I’m pretty excited! I know, that headboard looks so easy and cute (& cheap!)
sunflower / 300 posts
Honestly, moving away from home and decorating my own place for the first time was one of the most
exciting
things ever (although my taste at 19 was…really, really tacky). BUT you will clearly not fail like I initially did, haha, because obviously you have some pretty incredible ideas. I think at my next apartment, I’m definitely gonna use the paint chips idea. I always love those and want to figure out something to do with them, but I end up just storing ‘em away
This is perfect!
guest
I don’t technically live on my own, I live with my fiance, but let me just tell you that it’s awesome. He works two jobs, so I’m pretty much on my own. I stress about bills at times, and I’ve been in this apartment since May and I’m just now getting my decorating finished.
While my apartment allows us to paint, we didn’t. Instead, I broke down and bought some movie theatre posters from movies I liked and framed them with $9 frames from Meijer. In our living room, I’ve got this done on one wall. Several film posters put up over our furniture looks awesome! One the other wall is our television [graciously gifted to me for my birthday as a $400 present that made me scared to even touch!] and then our other [one wall is stone and we can't do anything with it] is filled with our family photos, silly pictures we’ve drawn and other random things like that. We’ve made it a collage and if you do it right, it can look great and feel homey!
In our kitchen we spent a grand total of $31.87 at Lowe’s buying plywood and nails and white semi-gloss spray paint, and made a pantry in less than a week. It was simple, and it covers the wall of our kitchen plus adds an amazing 6 shelves that we desperately needed in a one bedroom apartment. It’s also customizable. In a year when we move to a different place, or a bigger place, we can add to it. I can put on doors for less than $15, and repaint for less than $10, or stain for even less than that. It’s simple and gives you a sense of pride when people ask who made it and you say, Oh, nobody but myself and my two pretty little hands!
The paint swatch idea… that’s a little iffy. I know our complex doesn’t let us put sticky tack or thumb tacks into the wall, but we can have as many nails in the wall as we want as long as we put a layer of spackle down before we move out. Check your leasing agreement or contact your leasing office to tell you exactly how to hang up any form of art to your apartment, to avoid the unneccesary expenses it may brng later!
guest
I’m gonna do the wall one. My apartment is so fucking boring.
guest
I have a chalkboard wall, i wish i went with a whiteboard instead however. hate cleaning the chalk dust up.