Budget Bedroom Makeover for a Rental Home

While I'm still working away on my dining room makeover, I thought I'd share my oldest daughter's room that has been mostly completed for a while now.  It just need a couple of little things finished up before I could take pictures...

As you know, the house we are currently living in is a one-year rental, so making this house feel like a home is challenging!  Also, this latest transition has been particularly difficult for my twelve year-old daughter.  The poor girl has had to move schools so many times over the last several years and just when she grew to love her old school outside of Raleigh, she was uprooted to Greensboro.  It breaks my heart that she's had to go through so much and I wanted to make her room as special as I could without spending much on a rental.

It definitely took a bit of rotating furniture around to get this room figured out since her bedroom in our old house was huge (way too big).  She had a full-size bed and her own bathroom that she didn't have to share with her two little sisters and she happy as a clam...

I never completely finished her room and didn't share it on the blog before we sold the house, but we had to sell the full-size bed since there was no way it would fit in the small rental bedroom.  Also, the younger two are now together in one room...requiring us to purchase a set of bunk beds and leaving two unused twin beds.  I knew that we would need to use one of them for my oldest daughter, but wasn't sure just what I would do with this room...

Before 

As you can see, the room already had wood planking on the walls when we moved in since it's covering some sort of old wallpaper. I believe it was a teenage boy's room with the wood and sage green walls (and broken window shades). Working with the wood walls for a pre-teen girl was going to be interesting...

Since I had an ornate French bed and a hot pink antique iron bed from previous rooms to work with, I chose the hot pink bed... but re-sprayed it ivory...

I knew that I wanted neutrals in the room and already owned the linen duvet ($25 Target clearance purchase several years ago), and the ivory seemed like a safe choice and would pop against the darker wood walls. It wasn't until a trip to IKEA that I really got the inspiration the room!  With the broken blinds being on the front of the house, I had to break down and get some window coverings.  I've always loved the "EIVOR" curtain panels from IKEA and for $15/pair, the price can't be beat either...

The black and white trees, branches, leaves were the perfect inexpensive solution to tie the existing black and white decor with the wood paneled walls.  They are also whimsical and perfect for a "tween".  Right next to these panels at IKEA are the"LILL" sheer panels that are only $5/pair and a light bulb came on to use these to flank the bed to break up all the wood and make the room a little softer and feminine...

We all know that window hardware does not come inexpensively, but I was able to get all the hardware and brackets for the room for around $20 (at IKEA) for a total of about $60 for all the curtain panel treatments...money well-spent for the impact they have in the room! 

The rest of the room was pulled together with  fresh, neutral paint and using artwork, pillows, etc from other rooms in the house.  For example, the flower and branch artwork used to be in my master bedroom and bedside table and lamp from the old living room.  All of the pillows were used in different areas before, but I did need to get some new twin sheets ($15 - TJ Maxx)...

...and the ruffled bedskirt for $30 on Overstock...

I found the dresser, desk/vanity, and bench about five years ago from Craig's List and painted them up.  They've made all the family moves so far...

Last summer, I made the large chalkboard for signage for a show and a wedding... Now it's for keeping track of homework, notes, and doodling.  I took about 5 minutes and drew a little curtain-inspired artwork for the chalkboard. My step-dad is the chalkboard artist...not me :)

All in all, the little makeover came in right around $100 and some paint!  It's amazing the different looks you can achieve just by recycling items from around the house and hunting for a few bargains.  

More importantly, my daughter loves her "new" room and I was happy to get her settled in as much as she could before she started her new school!  

Kristen

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