Before & After: A Brightened Hand-Me-Down & Handmade Bedroom

Written by

Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director at AT Media
Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director at AT Media
For more than 10 years, I've led Apartment Therapy's real home content, producing thousands of house tours from around the world. Currently, I live in my maximalist dream home in New Orleans, Louisiana, with my partner, a perfect dog, and a cute cat.
published Sep 28, 2014
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(Image credit: Chelsea)

It’s never easy trying to create a beautiful space that reflects your personality when you don’t have a big budget, but it’s even harder when you’ve got two people’s tastes in the mix. Chelsea and her boyfriend managed to style a bedroom using only DIY projects, hand-me-down furniture and vintage finds that is a combination of both their tastes.

(Image credit: Chelsea)

From Chelsea:

After a house fire at my parents’ home temporarily displaced us in 2012, my boyfriend and I made a quick decision to get our own place together. Being young students, we weren’t flush with cash and had to make do with whatever furniture we had or was given to us. The updates weren’t quick. A lamp here, some paint there, etc. over the course of the last year and a half, whatever our budget could allow for. Almost everything in our room now was handmade (the birch tree mural was my latest project), bought second hand, or from discount stores.

I love how bright our bedroom has become, especially considering it is very small and only has one window, and my boyfriend appreciates that I was able to keep things fairly gender-neutral.

Thank you Chelsea! See more on Chelsea’s blog.

– Re-edited from a post originally published 9.28.2014 – CM