Well, I can hardly believe it, but we finally finished this thing. AND both my son and I are happy with the finished look.
It’s kind of tricky sometimes getting a kid’s room to jive with the rest of the house.
Actually, one of the best things about decorating kids’ rooms is the fact that you can work “outside of the box”, using fun colors and pieces that you don’t have in other areas of your home.
But, sometimes when you give NO guidelines, you can end up with a real mess. (Not that that’s ever happened at my house, eh-hem.)
The other challenge I was up against was the size of this room. Our house was built in 1906, i.e. there are a plethora of tiny, odd shaped rooms to deal with.
I adore the old, quirky character of the rooms, but it challenges me as a designer to figure out how to meet the practical needs in each space.
I knew my son would need a desk, bed and dresser of some sort. But, each piece was too large for our floor space.
After much deliberation, we decided on lockers, instead of a dresser because they are tall and not very deep. You can read more about how we painted them in the Fusion Mineral Painted Lockers post.
The desk couldn’t have legs or be very deep either. Enter the Bar/ Desk solution- its basically a huge shelf. We did a whole post on how we built the simple bar/ desk to help you out.
For the bed we gave up on having a bed frame and just slid the mattress (with box spring and little metal frame) back into the only space that was really left to use. I guess you could say the walls act as the be headboard.
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Now, I know we all love seeing Befores and Afters, so here are a few for ya. . .
As for the Sources. . .
*This post contains affiliate links to products I know &/or love.
- Paint- Repose Gray (Sherwin-Williams)
- Wall Map (Hobby Lobby)
- Wall Cubby (over bed, similar one)
- Nightstand (similar one)
- Buffalo Check Bedding (similar one)
- Dust Ruffle (Target)
- Throw Pillow (similar one)
- Wool Throw Blanket (Ikea)
- Wall Clock (similar one)
- Dog Bank (similar piece)
You can learn more about the room and design process in the video below!
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Love it! Looks soooooo good, and I really like the wall color. Yes, it’s a chopped-up room with a LOT of windows (great light but a disadvantage in some ways when you could use more wall space) but the charm and quaintness of these odd shaped rooms in older homes is wonderful—even if it is a decorator’s nightmare. You’ve done a great job with the challenge of decorating a small space and making it cozy and restful.
Author
Thank you, Leslie, you are so sweet!
Love, love, love how it turned out! My son is an adult with s family of his own now but he would have love the simple lines and the colors.
Author
Aww, that is good to know. It’s hard to decorate for sons sometimes, isn’t it?
Love to know where you got the little dachshund and the gym lockers most gym lockers I found are way to expensive. can you help trying to do my son’s Room thank you we are on a tight budget
Author
The dog is a cast iron bank from my childhood, but I have seen similar ones online. The gym lockers were free from a job site, my husband worked on. But, I would check Craigslist. I hope your son’s room turned out beautifully. xoxo
I can just see how happy he would be in his new room! You did a marvelous job! How respectful that you really took his opinions into consideration.
Author
Thank you, Tanya. That means a lot to me. I know you understand decorating with teens.