Madison Keys wanted a bigger reward than the huge silver cup or plate that is usually given to the winner of a major tennis event after a great season.

What did Keys, 25, say in this week’s issue of PEOPLE? “I had a really great summer in 2017; I won a title [the Stanford Classic], and then I made the finals of the U.S. Open, so I thought, ‘Why not buy a house?'” The athlete who was crazy about interior design already lived in a small apartment in Orlando, but she couldn’t wait to decorate her first real home.

This is Keys’ 11th U.S. Open and she is placed 13th in the world. “Decorating is my way to relax and be creative,” she says. (The seventh-seeded player had to drop out of the game on Saturday because he hurt his neck in a match against Alizé Cornet.)

“I would watch HGTV all day long when I was a kid in Florida,” she says. My mom came into my room in the middle of the night when I was 13 years old and I was moving things around. Everything is stronger now that I have my own room and can break through the walls.

For Keys, the perfect first home was in a new neighborhood where she “got to start from scratch, pick my lot, and all of the finishes,” as she puts it. “I went through the model home about eighteen times.” Before the sheetrock was put up, I had taped things out on the floor. The only problem was that she had to go on a business trip and didn’t have much time to look at tile examples. “It was five days from my last tournament to my next one,” she says. “To be honest, it didn’t work at all.” I closed the deal and then got on a plane.

She was excited to start decorating even though she wasn’t in town. Over the next few months, Keys, who is proud and organized, spent her time looking on furniture websites for her ideal pieces. “Because I had so much time between starting construction and moving in, I started looking for sales on websites.” She says, “I took part in Black Friday, President’s Day, and everything else I could think of.”

Reusing pieces in places other than the ones they were meant for was another creative thing she did. A kitchen bench from World Market is what my big black and white desk in the closet is really. “It cost $280!” she says.

Keys sent her valuables to her mother’s house in Iowa to be safe while she was traveling. After a year, when it was time to move in, she had everything sent over at once.

She was also able to finish a number of hands-on projects during the off-season. “The floral wallpaper in the dining room was put up by my mother and me,” she says. Look for Khristian A. Howell’s Une Femme wallpaper if you like this style!) If you look closely, you can see that it was made by first-timers, but she says, “I love the statement it makes, and the thought of this four-hour project makes me laugh.”

In the sitting room, another do-it-yourself project makes it look better. At TJ Maxx, Keys found a big vase. She sprayed it with gold paint, added floral foam, and filled it with pretty feathers to make an accent that stands out and gives an empty spot color and height.

In her room, the wall behind her bed is painted gray. Keys says, “I love dark colors so much that I have a lot of dark accent walls.” All of the wood pieces on display came from Etsy, which shows that it’s one of her favorite places to find cheap wall art. (Get the same look with Crafted Glory Design’s Hexagon Shelves!)

She spent a lot more time inside than normal during this year’s coronavirus pandemic. Every year, Keys stays at home for about 18 to 22 weeks. It’s been the longest time I’ve ever spent there.

But having more free time at home lets her improve her style. She says she has been giving in to her 13-year-old habit of moving things around and has been asking her tennis player boyfriend Bjorn Fratangelo for help.

“I’m always moving things.”She laughs and says, “It makes me laugh, but it drives him crazy.” “I love the things I own, and because of who I am, I like putting them together in different ways!”