My wee-est sister just moved into a new place in Philadelphia, and started a new, fancy, downtown job at the same time. She wanted her room to reflect her status as a full-fledged adult, but at almost 23, she's still young and fun - and lacking major funds, of course. This weekend, we took a trip to see her and to try our hand at sprucing up her digs on a small budget. Luckily, we started out with pretty good bones.

The room's got gorgeous light and lovely hardwood floors. Plus all the great stuff my sister had already gathered: white bedding, gray futon, blue and white rug and accessories. She was lacking curtains, a desk area for makeup and work, more storage for clothes, and a floor plan that accommodated it all. Here's what we came up with:

The only thing we bought for this room was the fabric to make the curtains. Otherwise, we scored some hand-me-down furniture for the desk area, and brought in teal dressers that my mom had painted and saved for my sister.  Would a breakdown be good here?

1. Curtains. Ah, the curtains. I'm thrilled with them. Finding something that works well the other stuff you've got can be a real challenge. Especially on a budget. But at 10:30 pm at my parents' local Wal-Mart, we found this fabric for $3 per yard. We bought 10 yards, created rod pockets with no-sew hem tape, used no-sew glue to hem the bottoms, and applied Fray Stop to the edges. Voila: $34 ($4 for the no-sew kit) for 8 curtain panels. We hung two extra panels on the side of the bed to go for a canopy feel. I'm not totally, totally sold on it, but I think with some tweaking it could be great. The curtain rods were two $20 rods from Target.

2. Art & Knick Knacks. I don't know where each piece came from, but the goods pictured are almost all from TJ Maxx, Home Goods, and Target, at low prices.

3. Dressers. These teal dressers are just awesome. My mom got them at a garage sale and painted them teal a year or so ago, with the intention of having my sister take them to her new place. Here they are!

4. Pouf. You all know I love a pouf, but I had to give a special shout out to this one. I got it at Marshall's for I think $17 this winter. It's actually a storage cube, so it's holding spare comforters, while acting as a cute place to cop a squat. I'm so into it, because even discount stores are selling poufs for $60, and why not use them as storage?

5. Futon. Ikea. From college. Works nicely in here to give people a place to sit that isn't my sister's bed. I'm not sure where that pillow's from, though I covet it, and my best guess is Home Goods.

6. Bedding. The white bedding is from Sam's Club. It's a nice lightweight comforter. The throw pillow was a gift to my sister sometime ago, and it's indoor/outdoor fabric, as are the brightly colored throw pillows (that you can see on the bed in the "before" picture and are now on the futon, but somehow escaped photographing) and the blue and white rug (that is also more visible in the before pictures). I'm a huge fan of indoor/outdoor stuff inside, as long as it's not off-gassing weird water repellants. It's both cheaper and more durable, so I call it a win.

7. Desk. This is a little console table I've had since college - someone had left it in a group house we moved into and I fought off the other 5 women I lived with to keep it. I still love it, and it's spent time at my parents' house as well. The green chair is from an old Target patio set. We may paint that chair a burnt orange to bring out that color from the curtains, but we'll see.

A couple other shout-outs: The Tibetan flag art above my sister's bed is from Urban Outfitters a while ago. The Marimekko bulletin board, which you can see propped against the wall in the "before" photo and then with some photos on it behind the low teal dresser in the first and second "after" photos, is actually part of my old headboard. Five years ago, I got that Marimekko fabric on clearance and covered two bulletin boards with foam (a cut up twin-sized egg crate) and the fabric. I hung both panels behind our bed as a headboard. It worked for us, and my mom and sister have both adopted them at varying points since. I really like the single panel as a photo board (and as a bonus, it's hiding the AC unit in this photo).

My mom and sister can chime in in the comments with specific prices/places for various things, but that's the gist. I'm really, really happy with how this room turned out and I think my wee sis is, too. I think it's a prime example of how furniture placement is so critical to the overall feel and function of a room - and moving around furniture is basically free. Thanks for reading!