Shabby Chic: flea market style

I think I inherited my taste in decorating from my mom. She has a very classy, shabby chic taste and loves antiques. Needless to say, we find ourselves shopping for furniture at flea markets and antique auctions. Our favorite flea market is the Pickens Flea Market, which is an experience in itself. I definitely recommend going if you ever get the chance. Anyways, we have found a lot of junk treasure at the flea market. Now sometimes my mom goes a little overboard, like the day she came home with a cow skin rug to put at our lake house-I am still not a fan of that rug. However, she thinks it is the coolest thing ever. She also gets really excited about paintings she finds at the flea market. Now I am not an art expert by any means, but some of the paintings just aren't, well, very pretty. However, 98% of the time I like my mom's decorating choices, so I am glad I get my taste from her. I have never been into the modern look. It's not that I don't like it, I just wouldn't want to look at it every single day. This year I moved into a new apartment at Clemson. This is the first year I have had my own room, meaning I got to decorate it any way I want without worrying about a roommate's opinion. My room is the perfect example of how we turned flea market junk into pretty decorations (at least I think so : ) ) Here is an overall picture to show you before I start going into the details...

As you can see, we had a small space to work with. As my boyfriend says, everything in my room is at least 70 years old. Ok, that is not exactly true, but some of it is pretty old. For example, my gray dresser was actually my grandma's dresser she used while in high school. Her dad painted it with car paint way back in the day. It has been sitting in her garage for the past 20 years. All I did was clean up the dresser (a lot) and buy some cute drawer pulls from Anthropologie. The mirror on top of the dresser was one of our flea market finds (only $25!). I wanted to do something unique with my headboard, so we found this antique french door at an auction and added the curtain. Basically everything else in the picture (bedding, pillows, nightstand, picture, lamp) came from one of my favorite places to shop, the one and only Marshalls. Did I mention I am a huge bargain hunter? Here is the other side of the bed...

I love picture frames. However, as you can see, I don't always use them for pictures. I have been wanting to try this picture frame idea for a long time. First, I bought old frames from the flea market in various sizes (probably paid $5 for all of them). Then I went to A.C. Moore and got patterned scrapbook paper to coordinate with the colors in my room. I have also heard of people doing this project with wallpaper or fabric samples. Here is another picture without the blinding light from the lamp..

The floor lamp in the corner is another thing I love about my room (yet another Marshall's find). It used to be my sister's, but she says it is way to "grandma" for her. She's 14. I gladly relieved her of the "grandma" lamp. 

That's all for today friends! Hope you have enjoyed reading about my decorating taste and ideas. I know most college student rooms aren't decorating with antiques and flea market finds, but that's ok because that's what makes my room unique and it's what I love.