Reveal: $350 Chelsea Apt

Hi All,

 

Sorry this reveal is a bit delayed. I swear I wasn’t doing it for dramatic effect. My laptop is still on black out mood so this little lady went to her Mom and Dad’s and snagged their laptop.

 

This project was a bit different than most. First off I was dealing with 3 clients not just one and one of them was my sister.

 

The girls have already been living in the apt for over a year and finally decided to reach out for help to take it from college dorm to ladies in the city.

 

Since they are all still relativity new in their careers living in a very expensive city my budget was small, which meant I had to be creative and use many DIY projects to get my look accomplished.

 

I hope you all enjoy it. I had a great time putting it all together. Granted I’m not going to lie that it wasn't all happy, happy, joy, joy. Sunday while I was at their apt doing the install I almost broke down in tears. Everything was taking longer than expected, we forget key ingredients like nails for the artwork and had to make a mad dash to Home Depot.

 

Before shot of living area:

 

After shot of living area:

 

Due to our budget the furniture had to stay. The ottoman got a whole new look with my little touch of animal. This time around I went with leopard!

 

With the help of my mom I also decided to make the curtains myself to keep costs down.

The fabric was my steal from a designer warehouse sale. Only $5 for all that fabric. The bird print on it was a big hit! Plus it had a little touch of pink in one of the birds that I carried throughout the rest of the room.

 

The living area is on the small size so we went with a simple gallery wall with a large mirror to keep the wall uncluttered.

Everything on the gallery wall was a thrift store find. The biggest hit had to be the mirror and my vintage scrabble letters that got framed with the girls names and Chelsea, New York.

 

Originally I was going to get vintage postcards for artwork, but due to time constraints I went a different route and mounted vintage subway maps instead. It was super inexpensive projects! * I will be posting steps later!

 

The french doors also got a dose of burlap for added texture and cover up the lining of the existing curtains.

 

Before shot of opposite wall:

I swear the busted chair was just like that. I did not stage it!

 

After shot:

This has to one of my favorite parts of the room. We added chalkboard paint to the fronts of storage cabinets. This made a huge difference! The girls are excited to start jotting notes down on it plus the black just helps everything pop!

 

Flanking the cabinets were stools that I found curbside on trash day. The striped fabric added another dose of pattern and extra seating for the small area.

 

Before shot of stools:

The artwork on the walls along with the mirrors are all thrift store finds!

Since I already had my dose of animal print and stripes I knew I needed to add another favorite of mine and give these girls some pets with some foo dogs!

 

 

Before shot of dining area:

My biggest design challenge was the dining area. Dining sets are expensive and craigslist was not my friend this time around. I couldn’t find a thing. All of the dining room chairs were already on the way out so they headed for the trash. The matching table (not pictured above) was still in good shape just not appealing to the eye.

 

Enter some amazingly chic fabric with another dose of pattern and some Oops paint that was a dream come true and we have a dining area that I am completely jealous of.

 

 

 

Ah I just love the dose of girly glam with my pink table! While it came out looking great it was my biggest problem. The poly top coat didn’t feel like drying. Sunday morning the day of the install it was still tacky. We had to run out and get heaters and put it in a room with a humidifier. A tip we read online to speed up the process. Talk about stress.

 

The chairs were also hard to find, but I came up with a fab DIY project that took my $6 chairs from blah to stylishly chic! More details on that to follow.

 

 

The girls needed storage below the TV. The old piece they had completely screamed college! I didn’t have much left in the budget, but lucky for me that IKEA was having a massive Columbus Day sale so my $100 table was on sale for $29.

It was too wide and tall so Jon came to the rescue and cut it size. We painted the top and skirted the bottom to hide all the cables. Voila they now have a server and I was even able to prop it with an original piece of artwork from one of the girls mom and some stylish books as well.

 

These lovely ladies also have a very long and narrow hallway. I used a little bit of my budget to spruce it up!

 

Since I was running low on pennies I used a mirror from another project that never got used and decided to fill the wall with some memories.

 

I have a fun DIY project for the frames as well. I will be posting it later on as well.

 

I hope you all enjoyed the new look! My clients loved it. I was met with excitement, shock and even tears of happiness.

 

The space looks larger, more adult and let’s not forget PRETTY!

 

I will be following with posts on all of my DIY projects so that I can share the wealth.

 

Remember if you are in the NY tri-state area or would like help via E-decorating I’m your gal. Please email for rates! I love a good challenge!

Check out other before and after's at Metamorphosis Monday