A Teenage Boy’s Bedroom Gets a Simple Makeover And Welcomes Guests With Upcycled Finds
Today I would like to share with you a before and after story as my son’s bedroom gets a simple makeover to welcome guests. My house is always a work in progress it seems and my children’s rooms are both in need of a complete makeover. My in laws were coming to visit for Thanksgiving and without a “guest room” they were destined to spend their week with us sleeping in our teenage son’s room. To say the least, even though we have a full size bed in there, my son’s room was not guest ready.
I don’t have an updated “before” photo but here is a shot of what his room looked like a few years ago. YIKES!!!! This was taken when my son was much younger, still had toys and only had a twin size bed.
I am quite embarrassed to even show you that photo but what makes a good before and after story is the “Before” photos right? As you can see I wasn’t kidding about my son’s room needing a complete makeover! We were very excited to have my in laws coming to visit and wanted their stay to be as pleasant as possible and the condition of his room just would’t do. With only a week or so to complete the project my main goal was to make his room comfortable and presentable. Any major overhauls would have to wait.
I gave his room a good scrubbing and did some much needed purging. Quite a few boxes of things were donated to the local thrift store. I touched up the paint on the walls to freshen it up a bit too. Next I focused on adding some much needed furniture pieces. Although his bed was large enough for two adults, it had no headboard and no sense of style. That’s when luck struck!
I was at a local thrift store dropping off some old clothing in the back when I spotted this old crib rail near the trash bin. At least I think it was an old crib rail. I am not really sure what it came from but the girl who worked there said they couldn’t sell it so I was welcome to take it. I measured it and with a few adjustments I could make it work for a headboard. Score!
Now for the fun part. I brought it home and started working on it. I had to beef up the legs a little bit to accommodate the bed rails by adding a piece of wood to each leg. I filled in a few old screw holes with wood filler, gave the whole thing a good sanding and painted it a metallic silver. Metallics are in right now and are perfect for a teenage boy’s room.
After a light distressing and waxing the new upcycled headboard was complete and fit perfectly!
I wanted two pair of night stands to flank each side of the bed. I bought this vintage mid century style night stand for a couple of bucks. It was just the right size and I liked the clean lines of the piece.
I gave it a few coats of black paint and painted the feet and hardware silver to coordinate with the headboard.
I needed a second night stand so off I went to scour my local thrift shop for something that would work when I saw this baby. Again, mid century, clean lines…. it was a winner! I love an eclectic look and don’t like to have things too matchy matchy. Once painted I could make it work beautifully with the other night stand and the headboard.
Black paint, silver drawer front and silver legs marries the set.
My son has a collection of books and collectibles that needed a place to live so I pulled a small white bookshelf out of storage that used to be a display piece when I had the shop and few years ago. It was sitting in storage collecting dust so I brought it home and gave it a makeover.
I painted it black, added silver feet and a black damask fabric to the back and put it in my son’s room.
I love the boldness of the damask fabric.
As a finishing touch, to make my in laws feel at home I set up a little welcome gift basket filled with some of their favorite goodies.
I think I succeeded in making my son’s room presentable and comfortable for our guests. It still needs a new paint job and new flooring but now I don’t get a knot in my stomach every time I walk past his room!
What do you think?
Happy Decorating!
~Lisa
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