Sarah @ Savvy Young Something's Profile

My current house is definitely my best rental. Although it's just a regular townhouse that hasn't been updated since it was a weird model home in the 1970s, our landlord lives out of the area and never bothers us. It has a spacious living room, dining room, and kitchen, and 3.5 baths for 4 girls. It has a big basement with its own laundry room and a good sized fenced back patio. I have the master bedroom with a walk in closet and my own bathroom for just over $600 a month, which is unheard of in the DC area. I'm looking forward to eventually living without roommates, but I know it's going to be a long time before I can afford a place this size with space to take on furniture projects and other things that require outside/workshop space.

Sometimes I wonder if the reason we see a lot of vignettes on AT and fewer full rooms is because the rooms aren't actually perfectly styled (which is not a big deal). The notable pictures are of the moments that are perfectly styled. Otherwise there are people leaving comments saying, "I like the left bookshelf but that right bookshelf is looking very sparse."

And I don't think it's so wrong to have an animal trophy or a bar cart. Maybe you don't hunt but you kind of have a rugged side, or maybe part of you likes to lay down on the couch and imagine hosting glamorous cocktail party. If you put it there because you thought it was cool, then it still reflects who you are even if it doesn't perfectly reflect the lifestyle you live. We were allowed to have race car beds and dress up like princesses as kids, and no one called us self-conscious then. Why can't we have a home that lives a little, even when we're aware that we don't?

My grandparents had at least five drop leaf tables in their house when I was growing up. Most of the time they were just used as sofa tables, or in big bedrooms as accent furniture. They came in very handy on Thanksgiving and other big family holidays when we could set a few of them up in the great room and have plenty of seating for everyone.

Never seen these before! They're pretty cool. I'll have to keep an eye out for them!

My grandpa was a telephone repair man for years and years. When they started phasing out the use of glass insulators he started collecting them, and accumulated quite a few over the years. Now that he's gone all the kids and grandkids have their own piece of the collection. They are so fun to scatter throughout a house, and look especially cool if you have them scattered throughout a styled bookshelf. They make me happy whenever I see them :)

You could paint legs of the headboard white and upholster it, either with a cheap comfortor or with a number of the really cute upholstery fabrics on fabric.com -- I've snagged some for about $6/yard. You could also probably change out the bedding to something solid and play with cute throw pillows.

For the nightstands, you could go solid on the fabric and then stencil a design onto the nightsands, or use a decal on them to provide a little interest. When it comes to accessorizing them, you could find matching lamps at Target or Homegoods and maybe layer the look by learning a framed print or photo against the wall with a few more accessories or even a cute tray.

A few people have mentioned hardware. Anthropologie is having a sale on some of their decorative stuff, so you might be able to find some cute hardware there (normally it's pretty pricey).

No matter what you do, your stuff definitely has potential! Good luck!

Paint the backing of the bookshelves a color and incorporate the color in accessories/lamps on your dresser and the bedding. It'll give all the different pieces a common element.

I'm searching for floral fabric that has this color, some turquoise, and greens/yellows browns. Any recommendations?

If you were trying to go for something that isn't exactly like the C&B bed, you could take a circular saw to the footboard so that it's much lower and sand down the panelling detail. You could do the same thing with the ledges on the side of the headboard. It might be easier to just upholster the headboard and paint the rest of the bed nearly the same color or even a rich dark brown.

I've seen people make beautiful upholstered headboards on blogs and HGTV, and you could probably make one from scratch for less than your current bed would sell for on craigslist -- you could end up making money off the upgrade!

I also LOVE the fabric on the settee -- I'm trying to find something with those colors in a lighter weight for curtains. Has anyone seen something affordable along those lines, either curtains or fabric?