I want to update my room style from posters of David Beckham and Edward Cullen (I love you, RPatz – if you’re out there….call me. Seriously….) to shabby chic art, furniture, and frames. I want my room to scream “I’m a fabulous adult” and not “I frequent college poster sales,” and I don’t want to spend a lot of money to do it.

Instead of bringing along a DIY corkboard (perfect for any college dorm), I decided it was time to display my favorite college mementos, pictures, and reminders in a more sophisticated way. So I scoured the internet and the few flea markets that exist in my neighborhood to get design ideas until finally I came across an old miniature dress form.

Dress forms have been a symbol of chic fashionistas since sewing was invented. To me they scream modern yet vintage décor, and can be used for more things than just designing clothes. Instead of traditional frames or tape to mount my favorite pictures and mementos on a wall, I transformed the dress form into its own display board, frame, and jewelry case.

So here is an easy, creative, and inexpensive way to step up your style and display tidbits of your life.

What You’ll Need:
1. Dress form (mini or large): You can find these online (Craigslist, ebay, All Dress Forms) or take the time to search flea markets and consignment stores in your area. A covered dress form will work best because you can easily pin stuff on, but if you find a foam or plastic form, you can always cover it with fabric first.

2. Ribbon, buttons, and decorative flair: These will personalize your dress form even more and add extra room to place pictures and mementos, like ticket stubs.

3. Sewing pins/fabric glue: To keep it all together. Used to pin your photos up. Find these at any art store or drug store.

4. Mementos: Your favorite pictures, cards, reminder notes, and necklaces!

What You’ll Do:

1. If your dress form is old/dirty/boring and needs covering, there are tons of ways to fix it up!

Some ideas: Use papier-mâché and strips of newspaper or old book pages to cover the dress form for a vintage/city look. Cut up old college t-shirts and pin them on in an interesting pattern. Or use your favorite fabric to cover the dress form to match your bed linens or the color palette of your room. Secure with fabric glue for a custom fit to your dress form or keep it just the way it is if you like the basic look of the form.

2. Cut pieces of ribbon (or use colored shoelaces!) and wrap your dress form in different places. To secure the ribbon tightly, glue to your dress form (back side) with fabric glue. For an even easier route, just pin the ends of the ribbon or shoelaces to the backside of your form (the side you will not see when displayed).

3. Decorate with your favorite things! Tuck in photos and ticket stubs behind pieces of the ribbon or shoelaces. Hang earrings and necklaces with pins. Get creative and put your newest chic display décor anywhere in your home.

4. Look at you. You’re now a grown up with chic and easy sense of style.

Have no fear my decorating minions, get your hot glue guns ready and lets get crafty!

Let’s Make… Picture frames! Posters are so…mainstream. Everyone has them. Why not hang your own pictures in personalized frames?

 This is an easy craft. You can find ready-made frames for cheap at any dollar store, walmart, or craft store. All you need to do is decorate with fabric, sequins, or little plastic accents…things you can again find at walmart or a craft store. Just apply them with your hot glue gun…and there you have it!

Let’s Make… Beaded curtains!  This project will take a little more time to finish, but it allows your mind to go to a zen-like place while you do it.

You will need: Beads! Fishing line and a tension curtain rod.

First measure your door frame and decide how thick you want your curtain to be. Thicker curtains call for more beads. Cut your fishing line to fit, and then start stringing your beads (this part takes awhile).

Once you’re done stringing all your beads,  apply them to the rod and hang. Put a dab of hot glue over the part where the beads are tied over the rod to keep the steady. There you have it!

Let’s Make… A bulletin board! Tired of all that random paper that you acquire but are to pack-raty to throw out? Make a bulletin board! You can do one of two things for this: buy a pre-made board and just paint the frame, attach some beads, or glue fabric to the edge with your hot glue gun — or, you can cover a piece of plywood with fabric (hot glue the fabric down) then crisscross ribbon over the fabric to stick notes and pictures inside.

The most important thing is to have fun doing these projects!  College can be stressful, crafting shouldn’t be.

[Crafty photo from craftzine.com]

Oversized Frames: This look has been around for a few years now and was taken mainstream by the likes of Nicole Richie and the Olsen Twins. While it’ll eventually go out of fashion, don’t expect that to happen for the next couple of years. This look doesn’t work for every face shape, but if you can rock it, it can be a blast. You can go for many different shapes; square, round, oval. We’re even seeing octagonal and heart shapes! And the color combos are endless. Classic black gives an Audrey Hepburn look, while going for a fun, funky color and shape allows a whole new feeling. The best advice is to try these glasses on and make sure they don’t take over your face, then have fun with it!

Ray-Ban Wayfarers: This vintage style reemerged in 2007 and is still being seen on celebs such as Kate Moss and Paris Hilton. Of course the classic black frame is in, as are the brightly colored frames. New this year, though, are the two-toned frames to add a little spice.

70′s Inspired Thick, Plastic Frames: The 80′s trend is leaving us, but the 70′s trend remains popular and that means thick, plastic frames in all shapes and colors are popular once again. My best advice: when choosing a style of retro sunglasses, make sure you pick a decade that is currently in trend and don’t go overboard on the color or print of the frames; with the thickness of the 70′s frame, you don’t need too much.

Round, “John Lennon” Glasses: An offspring of the thick 70′s frame trend, the round frames trend has been seen all over the runways from Betsey Johnson to Moschino and everyone from Target to Ralph Lauren are taking the cue and running with it. Again, these frames won’t work for all face shapes, so try ‘em on before jumping on this bandwagon.

Tortoise Shell: While you won’t be finding real tortoise shell out there (we’re much more animal and eco-friendly these days), faux tortoise shell will help fulfill the desire for an exotic look this season.

Aviators: Another continuing trend, the look and style of one of 2007′s biggest trends has barely changed, which means recycling last year’s aviators is completely acceptable and will help out with the budget in this declining economy.

Gradient Lens: Looking ahead to late Summer/Fall, gradient lens (where color changes from black to clear) will be extremely popular, though hard to deal with in the middle of Summer due to the intensity of the sun. They’re a fun way to add a twist on your favorite style and are a fresh look for 2008, so keep them in mind.

The fun of all of these trends is that they can be mixed together to create your own special look; oversize aviators, round tortoise shell frames, 70′s inspired frames with gradient lenses, you can put ‘em all together to add a personal punch to your summer look.

For those of us on a budget (or who wanna indulge in all of this summer’s trends), there are plenty of options out there. Urban Outfitters and Target have a vast array of glasses in the $18-$20 range, which can be found in their stores or on their websites. Forever 21 is an even better option with tons of glasses that fit all of these trends for under $10!

If you really want some designer specs, but don’t have a couple Benjamins to drop, my suggestion is to head over to your local discount store (Filene’s Basement, Loehmann’s, etc.); with all of the style recycling this year, you can usually get some adorable glasses at a discounted price, and no one has to know they are “so last season”.