You may be asking yourself, “Why 2k?”
A mom is so enamored with everything from the year 2000 that she’s turned her home into a Y2K-era-inspired playground.
Jemma Murphy, 33, from Solihull in Warwickshire, England, even pulled off the DIY dated decor on a thrifty $1,200 budget.
“I’m obsessed with the Y2K look — it inspires my house and the way I dress and do my hair,” Murphy told South West News Service.
“I love a girly fem look, which includes anything pink, flowers, hearts and butterflies.”
She said she first rented her house in 2021 and “couldn’t wait to inject some color” into the abode, which she described as being “drab.”
Now, her new family-friendly decor — including a Bratz dolls-themed bathroom, which is Murphy’s favorite room — is also popular with her 5-year-old daughter, Pixie.
Murphy additionally shares her three-bedroom home with her partner Aaron, 27, and her two other kids, Brandon, 10, Cody, 8.
Her boys are a lot less impressed with that doll-themed room, although they like other playful aspects of the house’s design — like her “teddy bear wall.”
Murphy said she spent four hours pinning 80 stuffed Care Bears along with Pokemon and My Little Pony toys to a hallway in her home.
“I didn’t want to spend a fortune, so about 60% are from charity shops, others were ones the kids didn’t mind me using,” she said of the toy wall.
“I used old metal crates as the base and attached the toys using zip-ties,” she explained.
The bathroom was the first room in the house that Murphy completed — and it took her three weeks to accomplish.
She ordered a Bratz doll shower curtain and bathmat from retailer Dolls Kill costing around $30 each and continued to build on that theme.
“I found Bratz doll head on eBay for $21. Wall paint was around $12, and I hand-painted the flames on the wall,” she said.
“I did all the vinyl tiles myself – it was about $1 for an A4 sheet. The expensive bit was the cow print flooring, which cost about $248 but was so worth it,” she effused.
“Also the fluorescent cabinet paint was about $81.”
Murphy is so in love with her decor that she shares it on Facebook groups like DIY On A Budget Official, where photos of her bathroom have racked up over 2,500 likes.
She also posts on her TikTok page, where she has earned herself more than 14,500 followers.
In addition to being inspired by the early 2000s, Murphy also loves “goth” decor and painted her living room walls black and complemented them with dark furniture.
Murphy said this is just the beginning.
“I plan to do more to the living room and paint some color rainbow arches on all the doorways,” she said.
She also offered tips for those who want to try the DIY lifestyle for themselves.
“My advice would be to look in charity and vintage shops and check out eBay for finds. Also, TikTok is a great place to get DIY tips – I get lots of inspiration from there,” she said.
Murphy’s thrifty makeover, however, pales in comparison to a Barbie fan in Brazil who spent a whopping $200,000 to create her own full-size dream doll house to match her pink-splashed lifestyle.