Remember a week or so I showed you one of the bedrooms we had redecorated on-the-cheap at our beach house? Well today I am showing you another easy bedroom makeover! These are more ideas for how to repaint furniture and totally change the look of a room. They are so quick and easy you could start to transform a room this weekend!
Before we get started, prepare yourself for the “before” pictures (are you ready? are you sure??)…… Because it looks like just a tiny bit like an episode of Hoarders, bwahaha…
My very first decorating tip is to never ever ever put a bed against a window if you can absolutely help it. I think it closes off the room, and of course makes it difficult to open and close the windows and blinds. We moved the bed to the opposite wall. The room was also very overcrowded with too much furniture- a double bed and 2 sets of bunk beds. We eliminated one set of bunk beds and kept the other. The large room sleeps 4 quite comfortably.
The color inspiration for this room came from the bedspread, which I got for a great price at Home Goods. I pulled the light watery blue and sea grass green (almost gold) colors from the stripes and used those for the walls (I painted 3 walls with the blue and 1 wall with the green.) I also used those colors to paint the furniture. I really love this palette- it’s so relaxing and fresh. You can see how much relaxing the room is, compared to the before photos.
You might notice that the 2 night stands are actually different- but I painted the drawers the same color so they go together. I used the same method that I explained in my previous post– painting just the drawer fronts. Besides being quicker and easier, this method also helps keep the drawers from sticking- which they can tend to do in the humid beach climate. I also love the way the dark wood “pops” against the pale wall color and drawers. I put new white enamel pulls on the drawers.
Same method used on the chest below, and I used the same pulls as on the night stands. Another decorating tip- use a mirror which doesn’t match the dresser or bureau. It adds character – and it’s much less expensive than buying a matching mirror if you are buying new furniture. (When I buy bedroom furniture, I never buy the mirror that goes with it- it looks too “matchy.”) You can easily find old mirrors at yard sales and flea markets, and it’s easy to repaint the frame if you want.
For the little dresser below, I had to paint the entire thing, since it had already been painted at one point with a really interesting 1970’s yellow. Look what a difference some paint and new drawer pulls make:
(You can see in the above photo, we also replaced the very old linoleum flooring with laminate flooring from Ikea. What a huge difference it made in the room!)
We got this storage unit from Ikea, also. The dark wood ties in with the dark wood that I left unpainted on the dresser. It adds extra storage and makes a nice little sunny seating area. Crisp white curtains make the room fresh and bright.
We made some wooden wall art- my father-in-law cut out wooden fish which my daughter painted with acrylic craft paint. We made the sign out of a piece of drift wood which appeared on the beach after a storm- it was this great blue color which matched the room perfectly! How serendipitous! We just used acrylic craft paint to add the lettering:
Picked up these cute wooden signs at a craft show for a very reasonable price:
And that’s it! Lots of paint and a few accessories totally transformed the room!
You can check out more inexpensive and easy redecorating ideas below:
Enjoyed your post….loved the ideas
Thanks, Barb! I had a lot of fun putting the room together :)
Wow – what a transformation! I love especially how the nightstands and dresser were transformed with a little bit of paint and new pulls – great ideas!!
Jennifer- it’s so simple! I don’t know why I ever buy new furniture, but sometimes I still do, lol.
I liked your makeover….I am intimidated to paint my furniture, but I think I could manage just the drawers. Thanks for the plan.
Give it a try, Lee! It really makes a difference :)