Finally, a bedroom makeover! Redecorating the bedroom was a lower priority item, since it is not a common area that guests will typically see or dwell in. So this was a long-awaited project that took lots of time, plenty of changed-minds, and of course, tons of DIYs.
The biggest challenge with the room was the size. We originally had a king-sized bed when we first got married, but when we moved to this house, the rooms were smaller, so we downgraded to a queen bed. Even with a smaller bed, the room still seemed so crammed. Here’s a before pic below. Excuse the poor lighting and dog photobomb. I actually took this photo to sell the bed frame and never got a decent before pic.
Here was my plan for redoing the room (in no particular order):
- Get rid of the bulky bed frame and replace it with a basic black metal base (minimize as much as possible)
- Replace the current night stands with a matching set and matching table lamps
- Redecorate the walls
- Put a nice rug in the room somewhere
When I started with getting rid of the bed frame, I immediately went searching for new nightstands. I found these beautiful ones on Target and ordered them. (Link here). They are super easy to put together and the drawer has a ton of storage.
Woven basket (TJMaxx) | Rug (Etsy, however would not recommend seller)
My original intention was actually to keep the bed against the south wall (like how it is in the before pic), however, upon receiving the nightstands, I discovered that they would not fit with the bed on that side of the wall (the website dimensions for the nightstands were off). So I decided to rotate the bed to place it directly below the window. I actually ended up liking this a lot more, and with a smaller and lower bed frame, it made the room look a lot bigger.
The combination of rotating the bed to a different wall, and getting nightstands gave me inspiration for finishing the rest of the room. The south wall now was completely bare, so I started to think about how to decorate the wall. I thought of maybe doing a gallery wall, but eventually decided on having one long shelf run across the wall. I also have always loved accent painted or wallpapered walls, so decided to play with the idea of painting the south wall. I put together a quick mockup of a room layout on excel (see below) and took a poll on instagram (thank you, voters!) just to get some help deciding. The vote leaned towards painting the wall, which was what I was leaning towards as well. So I decided to do it. We used “Forest Edge” by Behr.
For the floating shelf, I originally planned on having one big thick hunk of wood that ran from wall to wall. I then saw a post by one of my design crushes, Erin of @kismet_house of a floating shelf she had recently put up in her living room. It looked amazing, as everything in her house does, so I talked to the husband about creating the same type of thing. We used her tutorial (link here), and made a shorter, 7-foot version of it with Minwax English Chestnut stain. I actually think this style shelf worked better, considering I am leaning wall art on it. The front lip adds extra security should the frames slide a bit.
XL Lumbar pillow cover (D+K Renewal) same one is no longer available, but they have tons of other options
Brass Bird Figure (Target) | Vintage Books, Brass Candleholders (Thrifted)
For the wall art, I searched Etsy and took screenshots to play with the layout and combination on the excel mockup. The moon phase, blue picture and the set of line art are from Neptune Art Prints (link here), and the Seattle map is from Earth Squared (link here). I recommend printing at Costco. Quick, affordable, and good quality! All the frames shown on the shelf, as well as the ones shown above the night stand are all thrifted from Goodwill.
Although I love the DIY floating shelf, I’m most proud of the bed skirt that I DIYed out of $6 fabric from the LA Fabric District. With the small bedroom, we have to put some storage under the bed, so I knew I needed a bed skirt but didn’t want a plain one that they use in hotels. I was inspired to make a ruffle bed skirt after seeing some on Etsy that were beautiful, but a bit pricey.
Mudcloth throw (Mali Mudcloth in LA)
I’m not even entirely sure what the material is, but its a chiffon-like fabric that ruffles beautifully. I’ve never sewn ruffles before, so it was a challenge to figure out, but I absolutely LOVE the turn out. I have yet to figure out how I want to put all the pieces together, so for the purpose of getting this blog up, the panels are just tucked under the mattress!
Here are some more links to decor items:
Marble Tray (VanderHoem!) | Quartz Clock (Thrifted)
Wooden Candle Pillars (Target, Opalhouse) | Table lamps (Ross Stores)
Glass Jewelry box (West Elm)
The Macrame/Woven Wall hanging was a DIY and I used a metal vase from Target, Hearth&Hand, see pic below)
Here is a breakdown of the costs to redo the room:
- Decor, wall art – $153.00
- Paint – $13.00
- Nightstands – $247.00
- Rug – $281.00
- Table lamps – $40.00
- DIY Bed Frame wooden base – $65.00
- DIY Bed skirt – $6.00
- Bedding (duvet, bed sheets) – $75.00
- DIY Shelf – $22.00
- Curtains – $20.00
In total, we spent under $1,000 for basically everything except the mattress which we already had. Not bad! You can definitely redecorate a room for even less if you already have a lot of the basics. One final thing we might add is another set of curtains to go over the otherwise mesh, sheer-like curtains we have here (hard to see with the light shining through!). But besides that, this room is complete!
Oh, also, no images shown of the east wall (its not very interesting, just a full length mirror and some shelves for jewelry).
Let me know if you would like more info on anything we did in this makeover!
And don’t worry, Zion sleeps in this corner of the room (bed removed for pictures).
Thanks for reading!
xoxo,
Lisa
