Happy Friday: Frugal Kid’s Bedroom Makeover
Sent from reader, Wendi:
This summer, I promised my son his own room. He had shared for the first 6 years of his life and was due. But with a budget of only $100, I knew I would need to be creative in order to give him a room he would love. I shopped sales, reused and repurposed, and salvaged (AKA rescued someone else’s garbage) to save where I could!
I began by faux painting the walls to look like salvaged wood. Most of the paint colors I already had on hand or was able to wrangle up from left-over stockpiles. I did buy the primary wall color from Sherwin Williams while it was 40% off, and I purchased a handy little wood graining tool at Lowe’s that is my new best friend! Bedding cost about $39.99 at TJMaxx and the throw pillow was deeply discounted to $8.50 because the zipper was broken, but we just stitched it up and it works great! A new area rug wasn’t in the budget, so I simply folded an old one so that it was the right size. The triptych photograph of our home town was done by my dad. My mom donated one of her frames, and to save on matting costs, I simply flipped the commercial insert over and used double-sided tape to mount the photos to it.
I found the desk chair at a thrift store during their sidewalk sale. It was a dollar and just needed a little spray paint, which I had at home. The ladder was salvaged. The letters of my son’s name were originally part of his nursery, but I recovered them with an old pair of jeans destined for our yardsale. The weathered fence boards that make up the clock were salvaged. I did some quick work with a jigsaw and attached hands from a make- it-yourself clock kit I happened to have on hand, and wa-la!
The smaller skateboard I purchased from a yard sale for $3. The larger was salvaged. I purchased the L-shaped brackets from Home Depot for under a dollar each. My son chose the picture frame from TJ Maxx for $9.99. (I kinda gulped after spending 10% of the budget on a frame, but it was the only thing he requested so how could I say “no”?).
We used one leg of the leftover jeans used to recover the letters of his name to make one of the throw pillows. Everything else in the room I already had. A lot of elbow grease compensated for the lack of spending. It feels really good to finally be done, but my daughter’s room is pending!!
HAPPY FRIDAY! 😀
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Wendi you did an amazing job with this room! It looks great! You are very talented. Thank you for sharing a of your hard work with us! The results are fabulous!!
Looks great!
Can I hire you????????? Now will Elan (that’s his name, right?) keep it tidy? My son never will and he’s 13. I’d love to see the picture your father did!
You are QUITE amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m in awe of this room and would love to have a $100 makeover look even 1/2 that good! I’m just not talented enough in the artistic area.
Well, of my two children, Elan is more tidy… But a “neat freak” he is not 🙂 LOL I actually LOVE having a limited budget… It limits my options which is nice (because I can be indecisive.) And it forces me to utilize a little ingenuity and resourcefulness, which energizes me. And, to be fair, I’m an art teacher, so I have a little leg up…
Wendi! This is amazing and I love that you gave him a room that he will continue to grow into, not one that he’ll be bored of in two years. I’m sure if I had to share a room, a cardboard box in the corner would have been nice to me but you’ve really outdone yourself and I’m sure he feels so special walking into that room because of how much love and hard work you put into it!
Funny. I kept wondering why it said “flan.” Is that his favorite dessert or something? Guess my laptop screen is too small.
Me too! LOL glad I wasn’t the only one! Saw it on my phone first and wanted to look again on a bigger screen now because the design is AWESOME!
Impressive! You did a great job!!!
Well, of my two children, Elan is more tidy… But a “neat freak” he is not 🙂 LOL I actually LOVE having a limited budget… It limits my options which is nice (because I can be indecisive.) And it forces me to utilize a little ingenuity and resourcefulness, which energizes me. And, to be fair, I’m an art teacher, so I have a little leg up…
Wendi! Amazing room! Do you have a blog? Wish I could see the rest of your house 🙂
Anna, I do not have a blog…. I don’t think I’d have time for one between painting faux walls and building clocks 😉 But maybe I’ll have opportunity to show other parts of my home if Collin would permit me to submit a Happy Friday photo again. I have lots of Dollar Tree decor–It’s funny because with the right “twist” Dollar Tree items can look pretty good!
I would love to see the rest of your house!! I’m inspired by the deco you chose for your sons room. I have a boy and girl sharing a room and I’ve been debating how to decorate. I’m loving this!
Looks awesome. I’d love to see some of your Dollar Tree twists. Maybe Collin would let you do a few guest posts… If you’re interested of course 🙂
It looks amazing! Love it, your love and dedication show. Its one of a kind and priceless!
Honestly the best room makeover I have seen in a long time-you should do this for a living!!
BTW, I would purchase that clock in a heartbeat
Your words are very kind 🙂 I think you could make that clock in a heartbeat 😉
I love the room! I just noticed your son’s name is Elan so is my 18yr old brother! It was our great grandfathers name how cool
Not a very common name! We only know one other Elan (whom we named our son after…) Very cool!
The room look awesome. I was wondering if you were a professional decorators. Great touches throughout!
Nope… not a professional… just a mom who craves a creative outlet 😉 (And to be 100% honest, I do have an art background, so it helps.) But this project took me quite a while to complete and there were a lot of failures in the process… (In fact, I painted the WHOLE room the WRONG color before biting the bullet, recruiting family and repainting…) I find that perseverance is almost as important as creativity and resourcefulness… I mean, I have to expect some failures along the way…. that way, when they happen I can pick myself up and try again without throwing in the towel…
That skateboard rack is genius.
Looks like Pottery Barn. Well done!! You should start a business 😊
Highest praise anyone could EVER offer! I would live in that store if I could!
What a fantastic idea that will last! Glad you can use your art background out of the classroom too!
Amazing, I’m gonna want to see your daughters room too!
Excellent…great job…great parent
Wendi, beautiful job! What kind of light did you use under bunk? Looks way cooler than clip on one I was considering, but concerned it gets too hot.
It actually IS a silver clip lamp from Walmart with a flexible metal arm… $7.88 or something like that! I totally forgot to include that in my expenditures!
What a wonderful job you did! Looks adorable!
Absoulutely terrific…lucky kid!
You are amazing! Great job!
this is amazing. i wish we could see more photos of the room. great job!!
I’m so inspired now!! My oldest currently has curtains that are fitted sheets hanging over a pole cause I can’t think of what to do. He’s 16 so I can’t cheat and do it all dino theme like when he was little. Amazing work & thanks for sharing! I wanna see more of your work!!
Can you please come to my house next? I wish I had your talent!
That looks amazing!!! I was so proud of myself for craigslist shopping and getting my daughters a pottery barn room with a bunk, vanity and the cameron system and a beautiful rug. I purchased the bedding and curtains. Even though I saved probably 75%, i still spent nearly $1000 on it. Puts me to shame looking at what you had done with $100.
Nice work. Creative and original. That makes it just that more special.
Absolutely LOVE the faux wood paint job. It looks amazing!!! Awesome job!
Absolutely AWESOME. That wall is crazy great, love the wall clock. My favorite it the skateboard shelves.