Budget-Friendly Room Transformation/Dark Academia Decor Ideas

Get ready for an incredible

transformation

in today's video. I'll take a dull, boring

room

in my house and give it a complete makeover using just a couple cans of paint, some thrift store finds, and some creative

decor

ating. I have many economical options. Tips and tricks for sharing an idea can change the way you

decor

ate forever. I'm really excited about today's video, so let's get started. Any good

room

transformation

should start with before photos, so this is what my library shelves looked like, just a couple. A few weeks ago, although they are built from solid maple wood, I always found the middle tone of the wood to be quite soft, so I asked if I should paint them

dark

navy blue or off-white and the vast majority of you voted for blue

dark

navy.

Here is Another view of the cabinets once I removed all the books, decor and wooden shelves, okay and now to reveal the paint color, will it be white or will it be navy blue? Even if you were expecting white, you have to admit that this is an amazing transformation. At this point I was so excited to redecorate the shelves that I could barely let the paint dry. I went shopping for inspiration and some raw materials and it turns out I found some things that I can use as is and that I think will fit. It fits perfectly with the aesthetic of the library as it is, so I wanted to share those items with you first.

I picked up a couple of small books. I don't really need more books in my library, but I can't resist small books because they are so perfect for staging in different vignettes that you can't have an antique looking library without a few candles, so I bought this wooden candle holder for a dollar and look, this little candle holder isn't that adorable and it only cost 50 cents and yes, it's brass and I bought these unopened ivory candles for 25 cents and then I bought this little brass handled candle holder for a dollar fourteen, like this which I think are all really cool finds, very inexpensive and I bought this little statue, not really sure what it's for, it looks like a miniature birdbath, you might not think it would be a typical library decoration, but actually the Statues and buses are commonly found in the Academy's dark aesthetic.

I'm probably going to paint it because it has this kind of greenish gold highlight that I don't care if you watched my hallway makeover video then you know I love glass closures but they're getting harder and harder to find apparently I'm not the only one who loves them, but I did buy some. Interesting items that I thought could be used as a bell jar. I bought this, which I'm not really sure what it was originally, but I think it would look adorable with something in it and it was only a couple of dollars and then I bought this.

I think this was a buck and I'm probably going to remove this votive holder hanging in the middle so I can place it on some small object like a clock, won't that look nice? One of the main things I was looking for when I went out was vintage art, but clear glass clasps, which is something that is getting harder to find, but I came across this oval frame with vintage flowers and although I love the flowers, I can open the back and put a different print in there because I mostly love the oval frame and I don't know if these colors will work in my library or not, I will try it first and then if I don't like it.

Then I'll probably print a different old image, but I won't destroy this one. I'll keep it there so I can always change it at a later date and then now the piece, the resistance, look at these drawers. I guess they probably came out of an antique dresser. This one has some water damage on the top and this one has a crack, but I don't care. I think they are amazing and I'm not sure how I'm going. I don't want to use them, but you know I'll find a place for them somewhere in my library and the orange sticker is the highest priced item at this particular thrift store and that means they were six dollars, so for twelve dollars, Twelve dollars I bought these amazing ones. drawers, oh, and I got one more thing, but it doesn't go in my library.

I have this adorable blue and white vase. Look at it, with the windmill on that side and then the flowers on that side. Isn't it so cute? This will fit. Perfectly in my dining room and this only cost a dollar and is stamped with a number on the bottom so I think it might have some value. I'll look it up and let you know while I was thrift shopping. I was hoping to come. I came across a desk that I could add to the library area and found this antique roll-top desk at Habitat Restore and was able to purchase it for only a hundred dollars.

Once I had the desk set up in the room, I realized that I was only going to have room for an extra chair in front of the couch, so I used a little decorating trick that I'm going to share with you now to determine which chair I wanted. use in this room instead of moving a bunch of furniture to see. what would fit and look good in the space. I took a photo of the room and then opened the Canva app on my iPad. I uploaded the photo of the room and then took photos of the chairs in my house that I wanted to try.

In the space I used the background remover on the photos of the chairs so I could see it better while sizing it and moving it around in the image of the space. I tried a red leather chair from my front living room and a blue velvet chair from my dining room. I even tried a brown leather chair that I was considering purchasing from an online store. I'm so glad I tried it on canva first because I like the red leather against the blue shelves much better than the brown. I was also thinking about changing the drawer handles on the base of the shelves and by testing them on canva I could see almost exactly how they would see each other.

I haven't ordered any yet, so let me know which ones you like. the best thing once I had the red chair, a side table and a lamp all for my living room located in the library area, it became apparent that I was going to need a smaller coffee table once again. I tried a couple different options on canva and decided on this recent thrift store purchase I found for thirty dollars at Goodwill, I plan to tear it down and refinish it, but I'll have to wait until the weather is warmer and I can work on the garage once I have placed the furniture I was ready to start unpacking my books and putting them back on the shelves.

You can organize them however you want. I know some people like to sort them by color, but I've always sorted mine by genre so that when looking for a specific book. I can find it easily, so I returned the books exactly as they were before, with all the poetry books on a shelf, all the biographies on a shelf, all the Shakespeares on a shelf and so on, once all the books were in their place. place, my next The first step was to consider which of my previous decor elements fit with the dark Academia aesthetic I wanted to achieve and which elements I needed to replace.

I kept the figure of the Raven which, of course, I put next to the complete Tales of Edgar Allan Poe. I returned a school-themed cartoon to one of the Cubbies. The inspiration for this vignette was an old photo of my grandmother as a teacher and her classroom with students over the years. I have acquired some old textbooks and other school related items to add. to this vignette and use a toddler chair to add interest by creating some height so everything is not at the same level. In fact, I'm lucky enough to have a couple of real butterfly displays that I bought on a recent vacation.

They are from a butterfly. sanctuary and butterflies are only collected after they die naturally. I bought a metal and glass frame at Hobby Lobby on clearance. I ripped off the edges of a butterfly drawing from a thrift store to give it a vintage look and to make it fit inside this frame. One of the chain locks is missing so there's no way to hang it on the wall, but it's perfect for leaning inside a bookshelf after adding some of my old decorations to the shelves. Now I was ready to start adding some of my new thrift stores.

It is found that I painted the small statue with Waverly mineral colored chalk paint and when the paint was dry I lightly sanded it with some sandpaper and then applied a coat of white wax carefully rubbing off the excess wax with a cloth, although this statue would be perfect. container for a small fallen plant. I wanted to do something a little less expected, so I just stacked a couple of small books on top for the glass and metal cloche. I found a round piece of scrap wood to use as a base and after searching around my house I found a small piece of coral that was the perfect size to display on the wooden round.

I love how these three separate items of trash when used together look like something really special and expensive when looking at the bell which looks a bit like a metal cage, the internal candle holder came out immediately so I decided to add some small faux plants and use them as hanging decoration in my library. I love it when I get multiple DIY projects from one thrift store purchase and how cute does that look hanging from a knob in my card catalog cabinet I found a block of wood intended for a candle to use as a base for the bell from the metal cage and decided to use it to display a collection of small owls.

I haven't decided if I like this or not, but one thing is for sure no one else will have something like this once the shelves are decorated. I moved my attention to the top of the shelves, although I love my collection of vintage thermoses and red plaid accessories. I was ready for a change and wanted to create. a more academic aesthetic even in these areas I played with the suitcases and added my vintage bird cage and a random spindle on the top left on the top right again I removed the red checkered accessories and played with the arrangement of three different suitcases, including one I had turned into a clock in a previous video, then I added a faux drooping plant to a brass bowl to add some texture and a pop of color.

Once I was happy with the shelves, I moved on to decorating my new scroll. On the top desk I first added my vintage typewriter that had previously been sitting on the shelves and then simply put together some antique looking desk accessories I found around the house, although I loved the Jane Austen quote I had previously applied to the wall in which I was. I was ready for a change so I used a razor blade as a scraper to remove the vital lettering and the vinyl removed some of the paint from the wall so I needed to touch up the paint before creating a new wall.

First, I hung a piece of Salvage taken from an old church organ and then I hung this vintage framed presidential print that I bought at an antique store for $38 because I grew up in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln has always been one of my heroes. I have two really unique wood sconces that once hung in my dining room, but they had recently been stored in my basement and I wanted to see if I could use some of the library space. I decided the best place was at the two ends of the shelves and now just a few finishing touches I moved a vintage piece of furniture. clock from my living room to the desk and added some small pieces of antique art to the center of each of the large bookshelves and now for the final reveal, but first one more look at the before photos foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign thank you Too much to watch it and make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss my kitchen makeover video coming soon.