Small Space Bedroom Makeover

Sources for this bedroom are linked at bottom

One Room Challenge

I recently did a complete bedroom makeover in our guest bedroom for the One Room Challenge. For those of you unfamiliar with the One Room Challenge, it is an event that happens twice a year where twenty designers are selected to take the challenge, as Featured Designers, and transform a space.

Every Wednesday, the designers document their process online while sharing their sources and professional advice over six weekly posts. In addition to following along, everyone with a blog or Instagram account is welcome to join the fun as a Guest Participant by linking their own updates during the six weeks. I was a guest participant with this room and had a blast!

From Blank Slate To Warm & Cozy

When I decided I wanted to tackle our guest bedroom for the One Room Challenge I started with pretty much a blank slate and a design board. I should back up and first show you the before. It was basically a storage room with a bed in the middle!

The Design Board

Back to the design board. I find when I’m planning a space that if I initially do a design board, it makes the process so much easier! For instance, in this room it made it easier for me to visualize the bedding with the pillows with the art, rug, etc. Plus, I needed something to share week 1, so design board it was! Completing a design board first doesn’t mean changes won’t need to be made down the road, but it sure makes it easier.

As you can see a lot of what was in my original design board made it into the final space.

The final space is very similar to the original design board

Executing The Plan

The first thing we did was clear out the bedroom. I ended up keeping the mattress and selling almost everything else.

Blank wall where vertical shiplap will be going

The Shiplap Wall

I knew all along I wanted vertical shiplap on the wall where the bed was to go. I also wanted sconces above each of the bedside tables.

The first step was removing the base molding along the wall where the shiplap is going. This would be saved and placed back on over the shiplap when complete.

Because the shiplap is running vertically, it won’t always have a stud to attach to. So, we marked the studs so we could secure plywood to the wall. Then, when the shiplap is attached it will be secure.

And because my husband thinks he is hilarious, he signed the wall 🙂

My husband is an electrician, so this makes it really easy when I want to install lighting somewhere. If you are wanting to do the same, call an electrician before you install the shiplap so the wiring is already done. The cutout shown below is for the sconces. You will also see below the start of the plywood on the wall. We covered the entire wall like this before placing the shiplap.

*The start of covering the wall with plywood*

We purchased this shiplap and installed it vertically to the plywood using a nail gun.

After it was all installed, we caulked along the ceiling and walls, re-installed the base molding, and painted the shiplap the same as the rest of our home- Benjamin Moore Simply White.

The Fun Part

Once the shiplap was complete, the fun part started- moving all the furniture we had ordered and stored in the garage in preparation for the One Room Challenge. We ordered a bed, 2 nightstands, 2 ottomans and a rug.

After the rug and furniture were in place, it was time for the sconces I ordered to be installed. My original design board sconces were beautiful. I LOVE them but they weren’t right for the space. I ordered a few other options and never settled on any that I loved.

So, I ordered some affordable task lamps from Amazon (shown below) until I could find my dream sconces. (Still haven’t found them!) The mood board is so helpful, but it isn’t real life, and once you get started on a space you will inevitably have to make changes after seeing things in the space!

My Amazon lamps were a fraction of the price of my original sconces!

Styling The (Almost) Finished Space

Now for the really fun part- styling! When I am doing a room for the One Room Challenge, I don’t have a lot of time to make decisions, because you basically have 6 weeks to complete the space. If I’m doing a room in my own time I would slowly find pieces to add to the space. But with only 6 weeks I had to order everything day 1 and hope most of it worked.

I ordered the art print and took it to my local frame shop as soon as I received it, as I knew it could take a few weeks.

This art print was initially meant to go over the bed

When I ordered the art print shown above, I intended it to go above the bed. After getting it framed and seeing it in the space, I decided against that. I loved the shiplap wall and wanted that to be the focal point of the wall.

I ordered few leather décor pieces to tie in with the leather ottomans and the colors in the artwork. The room was in need of some additional texture and warmth, so I ordered a few additional décor pieces. Between that and pieces I already had, I was able to fill in the bedside tables. Because this room is super small, there isn’t room for a dresser, so I only had to “decorate” a few areas.

The Throw Pillows

After seeing the furniture in place, I made a change in the pillows I wanted for the space. Initially I thought I would bring in a bit of color through the pillows, but once I saw the space I changed my mind and knew I wanted very subtle, neutral pillows to continue with the overall soft feel of the room.

Neutral throw pillows keep the room feeling soft and calm

I ordered new pillows, and after receiving them, I made a trip to Target and found the duvet and quilt (both at the end of the bed) that were perfect with both the pillows and drapery that I already had in place. Sometimes luck is on my side!

The Finished Space

After having lived with this bedroom for a while, I really wouldn’t change anything about it. It continues to be one of my favorite rooms in our home!

Tips:

A few tips if you are in the beginning planning stages of a makeover whether it is a complete redo or a refresh.

Start with inspiration pics. When doing this room I had probably 10 different bedroom spaces saved as inspiration. Nothing I chose was specifically in these inspiration pics, but I used them as a starting point. For instance, one of my inspo pics had a large, chunky upholstered bed. And while the bed they had used was out of my budget, I found a different version of it for this space.
Do a design board. I cannot emphasis this enough. You can tell so much about a space and whether or not things will work by seeing them together on one page. I can put a bedside table next to a bed in my design board and insert a dresser and know if it will work or not together. It makes it so much easier.
Use a piece of artwork or rug as a jumping off point. I find it easiest if I figure out my color palette first and go from there. Often I find my color palette through a piece of art or a rug. I then use colors from that to pull in from different parts of the room (pillows, bedding, accessories, drapery, etc.)
When ordering items online for your spaces, if at all possible, order pieces from stores that have free returns. I order a lot from Amazon, Lulu & Georgia, Target, Minted (to name a few) for just this reason. I’m a lot less stressed out if I know an item can go back with little hassle if it doesn’t work.