Safari Style on a Budget?

Using mattresses on the floor takes away a lot of storage space. But, I have to admit, having a mattress on the floor is lots of fun. It's welcoming to just curl up in the corner and read. So, two ideas: 1. With mattresses on floor - make sure to use bold-colored, fitted sheets to it make look less private/intimate. Make sure sheets are neat and form fitting (not touching the floor to trip on). Purchase a new, cool, washable throw blanket so she can just easily straighten/fold it up each morning. Use large couch pillows against the wall. 2. Use the bed frame only – for a cleaner/less cluttered appearance. Hang a mosquito net (same color as walls) on the ceiling. I've seen them in Claire's – an inexpensive faux jewelry/hair accessories store. But you might find it at Walmart, etc., too. Or, check your local fabric store to see if it's more inexpensive to purchase mesh and make yourself. Buy/find some second-hand straw latch fans and criss-cross them on the wall. Buy a used old-fashioned wire fan and display it on a triangular shelf nailed into the corner of two walls (paint to match if time allows).

K. Harris
Fredericksburg, VA

Tawnda

May 18, 20040 found this helpful

You could find a safari mosquito net and drape it around her bed. Buy a large embroidery hoop and staple the netting around the hoop and center it above her bed. You could even get black paint and paint a few mosquitos onto the netting.

You could buy some leopard, zebra, girraffe printed material and sew pillows for her bed. If she is turning 12, she is probably beyond the cutsie safari stuff. You could paint the entertainment center to look as though it is covered in palm leaves and you could buy some silk vines (in the craft section at Walmart) to hang around her curtain rods and throughout the room. Maybe even staple several around the ceiling. If she has stuffed safari animals you could place them around the room. Monkeys hanging from the vines, etc. You could find either a discounted section of carpet (check your local carpet store for scrap pieces for small projects) and make a "watering hole" and set a few animals there to drink. You could get by with anything from brown, tan, blue, aqua or green...

Get a large piece of rope and spray paint it green to look like a rope vine to swing on and hang it from the ceiling and wrap the end around a hook that is hidden by a pretend tree you paint on the wall or something.

If you can't paint the furniture, use more of the animal print material and make runners for the entertainment center and dresser, it will at least have the effect. You could do curtains too. If you dont have anyone that sews much, you can easily hand sew the pillows and then cut strips of the material and just wrap around the curtain rods she already has.

If you are painting the walls, you could just get by with a khaki tan and make up for more color with the animal printed material.

If you could find a wicker chair somewhere and drape vines around it would be cute too. Place a few houseplants on either side or on the seat of the chair if it is older wicker that won't hold the weight of a person any more. Use for decorative purposes.

How about replacing the closet door with an old, or old looking wooden screen door?

I believ you should lay down hardwood floors, and buy her hip furniture from PB Teen, then buy her some cool animal print sheets and paint her a mural with her favorite celebrities in a safari jeep watching the animals. I have a 12 year old and I no she'd love something like this!! good luck!