Tween Girl Bedroom Makeover

About a year ago we updated my daughter’s room from the bright pink walls she loved when she was 5 to an official tween girl bedroom.

Planning The Original Space:

When we were planning the original bedroom makeover (pictured below,) I gave her some options and used her input to decide which direction we would take the space. She loves blue, for instance, so I used that as the jumping off point. I chose a few rugs I loved, and I let her pick her favorite. I knew I wanted the Jenny Lind bed in the space, and she was fine with that. Her one request was she wanted a desk in her room. It took a while to find a desk that would work in her small space, but eventually we found one and she was happy. New tween room refresh done. Or was it?!?

Fast forward a few months, and the desk was just collecting things, the blue bedding wasn’t feeling right in the space, and all of the wall decor was just feeling off.

Cluttered is the best way to describe how I was feeling about her new space. Sometimes when I do a room it feels great from the start, and sometimes it just feels off. This felt off. Don’t get me wrong, I loved almost everything about the space separately. We had picked such pretty things, but it wasn’t working all together for some reason. So, after living with it for several months I decided to strip the room down.

Starting Over (Kind Of)

I kept the rug that we both love, this dresser (may be my favorite thing in her room,) and the bed. Next, everything came off the walls and I moved the desk to our bonus room. I removed the blue bedding and pillows, and put a white duvet cover I had in its place. I needed to start over with a blank slate and move on from there.

In the end it took several months to get the room to where we are today. After moving her desk upstairs, and ordering new nightstands, it opened up space beside her bed, which helped make the room look less cluttered to me.

Once I removed all of the wall décor, I ended up bringing a few of our favorite pieces back in. Some of the walls ended up staying empty, which felt better to me.

After her blue bedding came off, I decided on changing up the pillow combo for her bed and left the bedding all white.

The New Tween Girl Bedroom

I am feeling so much better about the space today. I will be honest in saying that this room may always be a work in progress, and that is ok. For example, I really wanted to find wood, vintage-looking nightstands, but I just haven’t found the perfect option, so these nightstands are working for now. We may end up painting her wainscoting at some point, or changing up the artwork, or wallpapering above the wainscoting, but for now it feels so much better. Sometimes less is more.

Reminder to you all that it is OK to admit when something you have put a lot of time and planning into isn’t feeling right. The best advice I have is to remove what isn’t feeling right and slowly change or add things back in until you are feeling better about it. Making your house a home takes time, and sometimes a room can’t be rushed.

Tips When Planning A Tween Bedroom

• Start with a design board. It is so important to not skip this step. It will be so helpful to see the bed next to the nightstands and the artwork next to the bedding and décor pieces, etc. You can tell a lot about a planned space when you start with the design board.
• Select furniture that can grow with your kiddo. This will likely be the last bed and dresser we buy for our daughter, so I selected pieces that will grow with her and will work if we decide to makeover her room again at any point.
• If your kiddo is interested in the planning process, give them a few items to make the final decision on. This will make them feel part of the process. For instance, pick 3 rugs you love and let them pick their favorite.

Here is the original before photo. (And I know, that is some bright pink paint! Our tastes evolve over time, right?!?)