Budget and Renter Friendly Spaces from the One Room Challenge

Participating in the One Room Challenge was hard for me as it took a lot for me not to compare myself to other participants. As a renter, I was not able to renovate, add millwork, change carpeting, etc., to my space. That left me with the 4 walls, ugly carpet and a window. Working with what I had, a few thrifty finds, fresh wall paint, fabric and artwork, I managed to create a space for me that was not only budget friendly but rental friendly as well!

What I did find is, you don't have to spend a lot or own your home to have a beautiful space. Scouring the MANY participants on the One Room Challenge, I have rounded up some of my favourite spaces that are budget and/or renter friendly!

1. Sarah Gunn's Master Bedroom

Sarah Gunn, a fellow Canadian and renter, created a gorgeous space for herself and her partner. Using drapery, new furniture, accesssories she created a cohesive and inviting bedroom. The icing on the cake is the "custom" closet she created using Pax wardrobe units from Ikea. Painted in a serene blue she gave the unit a custom look. She can take apart the wardrobe units and take it with her to her next house if she chooses! She didn't shy away from custom drapery, new lighting and adding her personal touch to the closet. Other than the door, she can take everything with her.

2. Design Confetti's Water Closet

What a beautiful little space! Simple touches like the high impact wallpaper, chic Roman shade, cool leather straps and live edge shelf elevate this room to a throne fit for a queen or king. The BEST part is, it's budget friendly. Her total cost was: $170

3. Steve Storck's Baby Nursery

Taking cues from her nursery design, you can see how thrifted furniture and a wall mural creates such a chic space! If you were renting you could take a mural, mount it on large plywood with a frame and hang it up! Stevie used what she had, mixed with vintage pieces and show stopping mural to stop you in your tracks!

4. Grit and Polish Girl's Bedroom

What caught my eye was the FREE bed they scored on Craiglist. You read that right, free. What a drool worthy find! They DIY'd the drapery, made the table from bits they had laying about, used what they had mixed with that fabulous bed and used up scrap wallpaper, they created a space easy on the pocket book, all for under $500.

5. The Interior DIYer Dining Room

Alex and her husband recently moved to Canada and are renting an apartment in Ottawa. LOVE how she used paint, fabric and thrifted pieces to create this fabulous dining room! Love the chandelier, the mirror and the dining table mixed in with Ikea! Even the high chair looks so chic! 

6. Bean In Love $160 Kitchen Makeover!

This kitchen is a true testament to the power of paint! A fresh coat of paint and wallpaper. yes, those are not tiles but wallpaper, takes this space from the glossy 70's to a modern fresh space. I LOVE when people re-use and re-imagine their spaces with a little DIY and elbow grease. 

One Room Challenge: Sewing Studio on a Budget | The Reveal!

Finally we are at week 6, the reveal! Welcome to my little part in the internet world, if you are new here, I am a kindergarten teacher by day and dabble in DIY/design and blogging at night. We are renting our current home and I have been adding my personal touches to the house to turn it into a home. No renovations are happening here but instead I used thrifted finds, fabric and paint to give our home my personal touch.

This past week I was deeply regretting my decision to hop on the One Room Challenge bandwagon, the cursing was in full force as I was in the midst of sewing.  My goal was to redo our son's old room and turn it into a sewing room for myself on a tight budget and be renter friendly. The total cost of the room was about $500! Most items are thrifted, handmade or found in my home. A few fabulous sponsors came aboard as well! Photography and I are still not friends so bear with my photos. If you want to read from the beginning you can start at week 1, move onto week 2, week 3, week 4 and then week 5!

Here is the before, boring green grey room.

 

My favourite piece in this space is the cabinet I scored for $100 on Facebook Marketplace. It weighed a ton, just about didn't make it up the stairs!  My vision was to have a matte black cabinet with a natural wood interior.  It received a beautiful chalk paint treatment with FAT Paint, who sponsored this project. The cabinet was painted in Raven and then received a black beeswax treatment. I used Rub'n'buff to update the hardware.

The walls went from boring to gorgeous with decals from Urbanwalls another amazing sponsor of this room redo. I chose the black and white floral decals. The decals were so easy to apply and the best part is they are renter friendly, they can be removed when we move out. They look stunning on the walls painted in Savana Oaks by Cloverdale Paint.

 Shopping the house I grabbed this wicker chair and threw on a sheepskin rug, hung a thrifted mirror I painted, and used the bed that was in the room to create a daybed, as I couldn't find a daybed to arrive in time for the reveal.

Love how the pillows and fabric came together using fabric from Tonic Living.

 In addition to whipping up some pillows for the space, I sewed a relaxed Roman shade using fabric from Tonic Living, following this tutorial.

This piece by Alanna Cavanagh, another fabulous sponsor has been on my wishlist for years. It inspired the rest of the art for this space. So excited to finally have it!

The scissor blueprint was a download I bought on Etsy.

I had a vision to create a typography piece for the room and almost gave up until the fabulous Nicole from Visual Heart took my vision and brought it to reality!

This caffeine molecule print from Brick and Bone, on Etsy is perfect addition to the space since most of my projects are caffeine fuelled.

 So glad to be finally done!! Now onto getting more pillows sewn and to open my Etsy shop!

 Many thanks to my fabulous sponsors, The FAT Paint Company, Urbanwalls, Alanna Cavanagh and Visual Heart.

Thanks to Linda for creating The One Room Challenge, it was a wild ride! Be sure to visit the One Room Challenge website to see reveals of the 20 featured designers and the guest participants. So much design goodness all in one spot. Make sure to get cozy, grab a coffee or a wine and get ready to get lost in piles of inspiration.

Sources: 

Cabinet, table and mirror  from Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace | Artwork: orange scissors print by Alanna Cavanagh, scissors blueprint  from Etsy | caffeine print by Etsy | typography print  by Visual Heart | wall decals from Urbanwalls | wall paint:  Savana Oaks by Cloveradale Paint | fabrics for pillows and blinds from Tonic Living | belly baskets, lamp, and frame from Ikea | frames from Homesense and Michaels