A Coffee Bar & Bookish Decor Makes This Bedroom Feel Like a Cozy Cafe

Lauren Fant, a commuter student who goes to Merced College, upgraded her childhood bedroom to create a sophisticated space to sleep, study, and relax in style.

All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.

Tell us about your room: I live at home with my family for college because my school is nearby! I knew this would be my situation throughout high school, so I saved up to redo my room when I graduated so I was able to make a change for this new stage of life. It was exciting — I painted, bought new furniture, and decorated to reflect the type of person I was and the things I loved.

What’s your space best known for? Honestly, my Luke’s Gilmore Girls painting that my friend made for me — people seem to love it the most! But otherwise, everyone says they like how clean and cute my room is decorated, and that it makes them feel very comfortable.

Define your personal home style: Clean, aesthetic, personalized.

What’s your favorite element of your space? My tiered IKEA shelf unit with different objects and books decorating each shelf. I was able to be really creative and expressive with it.

What’s your favorite DIY project in this room? My coffee station on my desk. I don’t have too much space in my room, but I was able to use part of my desk surface for my coffee station while also having room to work!

In an effort to remove the stigma associated with talking about money in college, we’re asking students to share how they plan and budget for their space.

How much do you pay for this space? $0, as I live with my parents.

How much did it cost to decorate? Around $600 — I saved up and paid for all of it!

What was your biggest splurge for this space and how much did it cost? My biggest splurge was my new furniture, because I wanted to replace my mismatched childhood furniture. I bought all my furniture at IKEA because they have great pricing, so my furniture cost about $400, which includes my desk, nightstand, dresser, and shelf unit.

What was your best budget find for this space? My TV, which was free because my grandparents were getting a new TV, so they gave me their old one!

What was your biggest challenge in designing this room? I have a small bedroom, so it was a bit challenging to fit everything I wanted to in the space. 

What did you learn from overcoming this challenge? To combine storage and decoration! For example, I love having books, but they’re hard to store in a small space, so rather than have a large bookcase, I use stacks of books as decor in my room.

This submission’s responses were edited for length and clarity.

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