Bedroom Mini Makeover

It's been awhile since I've done a house post! Our master bedroom is...well, it's quirky. It has this neat little nook on one side, which I think the former inhabitants used as a closet (how, I'll never know). When we first moved in, I put a dresser in there, and kept all of our bedroom linens in it, and our clothes closet was next door, in what is now the nursery. Shortly before Sweetie Pea was born, I (and by I, I mean my dad ;) transformed it into a mini closet with some wire racking, which was ok for storage, but it ended up being a disaster all the time. It was that space in our house where we put stuff when we didn't know where else to put it. Recently, I got kind of obsessed with transforming it yet again into a little home office. We really needed a way to tame the beast that is mail, bills, and paperwork, since most of that crap ends up on my kitchen table. Enter Pinterest! This became my inspiration:

 Here are some before pics:

I didn't change anything about our sleeping space, because I love it just the way it is. I find it soothing and relaxing. 

Now. You'll notice that I have the curtains drawn over that little nook. That's because hiding behind them is the closet apocalypse.

And this is the view when you walk in the door.

I love books. LOVE. I love to keep my books. But I had to face the cold, hard reality that a bookshelf full of books is wasted space in a small house :( That, and I wasn't digging the teeth marks from where Bighead chewed the bottom of the shelf (causing me a massive 8-and-a-half-months-pregnant meltdown, by the way).

The work begins. Isn't it weird how my dad is always around when I start a home improvement project? What a coincidence ;)

Moving the shelves and patching the walls.

The finished product! I'm so happy with how it turned out.

Close up of the work space.

Overhead organization.

Printer storage and a mail sorter.

Good bye bookshelf (sniff). In its place is a bureau that holds our linens and some other odds and ends.

I miss my books, but I do think this arrangement opens up that corner of the room.

My budget for this project was like zero dollars. Sweet. But I didn't end up doing too bad at all! Here's the breakdown:

New (old) dresser: already had! $0

Desk: thrifted from mom and dad. Thanks mom and dad! $0

Chair: Craigslist $20 + $6 in spraypaint to make it green = $26

Paint for the desk: already had! $0

Wire shelving: already had! $0

Printer storage unit: already had! $0

Corkboard: thrifted from my dad's office (and covered in scrap fabric) $0

Decorative odds and ends (chair cushion, picture frames, mail sorter, storage bins, striped curtain): approximately $30 from the Christmas Tree Shop

Total for this project: $56! It's not zero, but if you think about it, it's only $56 over my budget. Watch one of those shows on HGTV, they're like $5600 over budget. Hopefully that's the end of renovating that space for awhile!