apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

where did you get that blue rug? i've been looking for something just like that.

i hear ya. it's been almost a year since i've moved into our new apartment and it still looks like we moved in last month.

but these pics look great and quite pulled together already, actually! (also would love to know the source of the rug. it makes the whole room!)

I'm very impressed at what you accomplished so quickly. I love that rug too!

Lovely as is! Where's the blue coverlet from?

Yes, please tell where the blue rug is from!

Sometimes speed decorating and buying all the furniture you need at one time is really helpful. I bought my bedside tables over a year ago and I love them. But I bought a dresser only now, and I love the dresser but it doesn't look too great with the bedside tables. Trying to find a dresser within budget, that looked good by itself and with the bedside tables was nothing short of impossible for me. :(

Thanks for the comments, folks. It makes me feel a little better about not getting everything done. The blue rug is from Urban Outfitters. The bedspread is from Target - it's actually meant for a kid's room.

I think you need at least a few months to decorate a room, especially if you are on a budget or want to find vintage things.

We just redid our guest bedroom within a week, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. My brother's family is coming to visit. I think having a deadline is the only way I would have finished it (minus a few small details). Also, I got lucky on a few finds.

my favorite spaces are clearly done over time, with blank spaces waiting for the right piece, and color mistakes along the way.

speed decorating inevitably is less personal and more merchandised then i'm happy with. and it is as hard to stop when decorating (before you overdo it) as it is to avoid highway accidents at rush hour. slow and cautious is fine by me.

as i rarely buy anything truely new (other then linens), it is likely to be either too expensive or too much of a compromise.

love what you've done and enjoy the hunt.

I'm having guest room woes. My mother calls our guestroom her bedroom - it's her little joke. Anyway, she bought new linens for the bed and they're horrible. She thinks they're just beautiful and I don't have the heart to tell her that I hate them. I'll use the linens but I'm happy that I don't go in that room very often.

Swan, can you cover them up when she's not there? Otherwise, if she's like my Mom (who I love dearly, and she does sound kind of like your Mom) sometimes you just need to put a stop to it before she shows up with a bedside table and lamp to go with the linens. It's your house, not hers. I know my Mom gets a kick out of trying to find little things for my place and I don't want to take that away from her completely, but she's learned to keep track of the receipt in case it doesn't work out.

it looks great so far and especially since you've had such little time to do it in.

it's so much easier (though much more expensive) to buy new things in toronto than to get vintage items (not too many stores selling much) and then furnishing something in a few days because easy though costly.

just putting up new shelves took me weeks. between the sizing down, sanding, staining, getting brackets, having to find new brackets and drilling holes.... i couldn't imagine pulling something together in 4 days.

Looks great!

For temporary bolster reupolstery, try folding the fabric around the bolster and attaching with safety pins. You can discretely use the safety pins on the inside whereever possible, and then use larger ones purposely where you have to on the outside- if you manage it right you can make the larger outside safety pins look like a design accent! :) If it is a cylinder bolster you can tie the ends with ribbon, or for a cleaner look, tie or even rubber band the ends on the inside. If you have the matching pillowcases to that cover you could probably even use those to cover the bolsters!

I like designing rooms over time, but sometimes the speed decorating does help to break the inerta that builds up! (And you can get really tired of having a lot of rooms "in progress"!)

bumblebee - that's brilliant! She only visits a couple of times a year so I'll just put her linens on the bed (and shams and bedskirt and curtains.. blech) when she visits! The rest of the time I'll keep my stuff on the bed.

I love her to pieces but she and I are very different. I don't know what I'll do if she tries to furnish the rest of the (already furnished) room.

You have learned much, grasshopper....

I could never speed decorate... I'm a ruminator. I have to live in a room for a while before deciding to do with it. Oh, you know a beside table would be handy here, and it should have a shelf to hold my books... I guess a guest room could be different... still... I like vintage stuff and so it would probably be pretty stark for a while.