Most people don’t have a 6-foot papier-mache camel in their living room. Or a wiener dog-shaped bench in their entryway. Then again, most people aren’t Claire Billingsley. “I’ve always been drawn to unique, eccentric spaces,” says Billingsley, a Detroit-Shoreway resident. In January 2023, she started documenting her decor and interior design journey on the Instagram page @odetoanabode. More than 32,000 people now follow along with her DIY projects, which often feature rainbow hues, bold patterns and squiggly shapes.
As a hobby artist and daughter of a home builder, Billingsley has always had a keen eye for design, and she loves to rescue and repurpose novelty items. Her living room table features a corn cob stool and her kitchen table is an arcade cabinet that has been coded to play classic arcade games like Frogger and Tetris. She converted two twin bed frames into a sectional couch and turned her husband’s childhood skateboard into a shelf by mounting it to a wall.
The list goes on and on, with something to gawk at in every corner of her home. But it wasn’t always like this. After college, Billingsley felt pressure to abandon her penchant for bright colors and patterns to instead adopt a more toned-down aesthetic, both in terms of her wardrobe and her home decor.
“The pandemic helped me reset and realize that the space I spend the majority of my time in should be a true reflection of who I am,” she says. She’s been repurposing and creating ever since, giving wacky upgrades to even the most functional of items.
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Billingsley’s favorite way to change her space is through paint, which has led some online commenters to complain that her many off-the-wall projects will make her home impossible to sell, whenever the time comes. But she’s not particularly worried about it, in part because she’s put in so much work just to make the house livable.
When Billingsley first bought the 120-year-old house in 2018, a contractor recommended tearing it down. A long-vacant foreclosure, it came with plumbing problems, water damage, a crumbling foundation and a partially caved-in ceiling. Fortunately, she landed a rehab loan and was able to wrap the cost of the renovations into her mortgage, which enabled her to make all the necessary code-related repairs within her budget. The house still needs work, but Billingsley finds solace in personalizing the space however she can.
To avoid waste and keep costs low, Billingsley mostly decorates with secondhand and upcycled materials. This also allows her to experiment and sometimes to fail, like when she tried to turn a bunch of terracotta plant pots and scrap wood into a TV stand.
“When things go south, there’s not a huge sunk cost or excess waste.”
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For Billingsley, one of the best parts of being a content creator is getting feedback from followers — not just about her home but about their own. She knows that her aesthetic isn’t for everyone, but she loves hearing that her courageous approach to DIY projects has inspired others to take risks, too.
“My house is really out there, but you don’t have to go all in like I have,” she says. “Experiment and have fun at whatever scale you feel comfortable with. Take small risks that are impermanent and don’t cost lots of money, like paint, throw pillows, and secondhand decor. These are things you can do even if you’re renting or on a tight budget.”
They’re all projects she’s done herself and encourages others to try when they’re itching for a new look. What’s the worst that can happen? That you’ll have to paint over it?
“On the other hand, if you don’t try, you risk living in a space that never feels quite right, and that can directly impact your day-to-day experience. Live a little!”
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