If you follow me on Instagram you saw the process of moving my daughter into her home for college in California this weekend. It was really fun to create this space for her and her roommates. I got so many questions on Instagram Stories I thought it would be fun to share this as a post on beautiful home decor on a budget.

While this is a “college house” these are pieces that would be beautiful in my home or yours. My challenge was to create a space that felt like home, was warm and welcoming filled with good quality pieces as inexpensively as possible.

The second part of the challenge was I needed all of the pieces to arrive within five days and in a two day span so that we could help her assemble them while we were there.  I turned to Wayfair, Amazon, Overstock, Target and Hayneedle and burned the midnight oil for three nights to find items that met all of these criteria!

Here was my original vision:

Friday when I said this feels like Home Makeover: College Move In Edition…little did I know!  Again if you followed along on Instagram Stories you saw that the sofa and chairs from Hayneedle never shipped!  Everything else arrived on time other than a mattress from Overstock and coffee table and TV stand from Wayfair. This caused a little bit of a scramble and a “little” stress but in the end I think it turned out better!

I would say from this experience that Amazon and Wayfair were the most accurate in meeting their shipping arrival times.  The items from Target, I picked up in store and sent them in her car other than the TV stand and floor lamp in her room.

We were still able to furnish the shared living spaces and fully outfit the kitchen for under $3800!  That included $300 to have the furniture delivered. Thank goodness for World Market, Target, Home Goods and a cool app called Lugg that is like Uber for furniture pick up!

Here is how we ended up and actual photos below:

I found this beautiful charcoal gray Chesterfield sofa and the marble coffee table at World Market. I had wanted a gray sofa to help hide some wear and tear so this really did work out for the best.  It is very comfortable and the fabric is super soft and luxurious.  I finished with with Ivory jacquard pillows and Sea Foam velvet pillows from World Market. The coffee table is actually real marble instead of coated particleboard so it is a much better quality.

The tufted barrel chairs were a fabulous find at Home Goods. These are very similar just a little darker gray.  I accented them with Sea Foam patterned pillows from World Market.   The ivory and charcoal gray Moroccan rug and soft white ceramic table lamps were Amazon finds. The pair of lamps was only $80!  The brass tripod floor lamp I picked up at our local Target and sent it in the car.  It is really beautiful!  The side tables are a pair of marble-like nesting tables that I split to save money.

The white and gray dining set was a great find at $340.  It did come in a flat box with each piece needing to be completely assembled.  Two of my daughter‘s new friends came to help my fabulous, patient husband assemble a lot of the furniture including this set.  It is well painted, well designed and super sturdy.  The Ultrasuede covered seats will definitely wear well and are very pretty.  All three girls cooked dinner together last night and enjoyed it here. That makes me so happy!

I’ve included everything we purchased for the kitchen set up below. I was really impressed with the quality of the cookware, utensils etc.  I picked up a TV stand and the TV on sale at target. I can’t believe I forgot to take a photo!

Each girl decorated their room themselves so that was not included in the budget above. I was very impressed with the quality of this (similar) gray upholstered platform bed. The light gray headboard and nail head trim is very pretty and well-made. It has lots of slats so we didn’t need a box spring.  We picked up this mattress for her at Target when the other one didn’t arrive on time.  She says it’s very comfortable!  I already had her linen quilt and matching Euro shams from Serena and Lily that I purchased on sale this summer for my middle daughter’s room but it didn’t work.  It was perfect for this! I’ll be sharing her room with you soon!  You can see my youngest daughter’s blue and white room here.

The throw pillows and duvet were from her dorm room last year. The pink velvet pillow was something we had in the linen closet! The glass lamps were also from her dorm room last year and are still available.  They are heavy and great quality.  Her nightstands are cube bookshelves from Target. The gorgeous navy and turquoise rug under her bed are actually two 5 x 7 rugs that I put together and were also great Target finds. I love the combination of blues and greens.

The desk was the only item to arrive from Hayneedle and was good quality. It was also a good thing that my husband is super handy and brought all of his tools with him. It took about 2 1/2 hours to put together! He said it wasn’t hard they were just lots of pieces and you had to construct the drawers. Desks are extremely hard to come by right now with everyone working from home and lots of online learning happening! The modern lumbar support rolling desk chair is from at Overstock. It comes in lots of colors and is super comfortable.  I love her desk view!  Palm trees?  Yes, please!

The torch floor lamp from Target really brightens the room like an overhead light would do! Thankfully they were already curtain rods in this room so we simply changed out the sheer navy curtains that were hanging there with these white black out curtains.

She sent me this photo of her in the living room last night.  I’m so glad she and her roommates love it!  Nothing makes me happier than for my family to be happy and comfortable.

There were so many of you who said that you are in the process of doing this with your kids now so I hope that this full post is helpful. Please let me know if you have other questions. This was such a fun project to do and I can’t wait to do it with my other girls… in time!  I’ve saved the progress stories in Instagram Highlights if you wan to see a full walk through.

Now on to a few other home projects in my own home starting with my dining room! I can’t wait to share them with you!

Xo

Alicia

PS – The NSale ends soon so make sure to check out my Best of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Early Access, Looks I Love from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale,  Nordstrom Sale Wardrobe Classics and Clean Beauty Exclusives posts. You can access all of my edits Nordstrom Anniversary Sale tab on my website menu bar above.  You can shop the categories individually on these pages on my site: Coats and Jackets, Dresses, Denim, Shoes and Boots, Sweaters and Tops, Handbags and Accessories, Beauty Exclusives, Home and Gifts, Men, and Active Wear.

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