This is our second year doing this. Last year we did a bedroom makeover for our youngest daughter. She was locked out of her room until Christmas Eve. We are a family of 6 and everyone did something to the room. Our youngest son liked the idea so much that he asked to have his room done this year.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
My room is messy! I have tons of clothes that end up everywhere. I have a guinea pig and a queen sized bed that takes up practically my whole room. My room is also pink and girly, not my thing. Can anyone help me with organization and ideas for a bedroom makeover? I need ideas that won't cost me a fortune.
By lexa<3 ny girl from NY
Buy some under the bed storage bins and use them for sweaters and shoes etc. that are not worn often, you can get bed stilts to use higher bins. Find a shoe organizer to fit over your closet or bedroom door for your socks and underwear. You could maybe get rid of the head and foot boards and just use a bed frame, this will take some bulk away and make it look roomier. Add some artwork above the bed for the headboard look.
The first thing to do is declutter. Do you really need "tons of clothes". Get rid of anything that is too small, not really your thing, worn and ripped. Reduce your inventory.
Yonder178 has some really good ideas. Try some of those. As well, get at least one, perhaps two clothes baskets for your dirty clothes, so that things that you have worn do not get tossed onto the floor.
You didn't mention a closet and dresser. Hopefully there is a closet and you have a dresser. If there is no room in the room for clothes storage, get a smaller bed. A queen is lovely, but if you are desperate for space, get a single bed.
As far as decorating, paint is the most inexpensive thing to use. Choose a color that you like, and cover up the pink. A change of bedspread does wonders for the decor. If I was a teenager with very little money, I would get a new bedspread first, and if I couldn't afford to paint the room, cover the walls totally with posters.
Another thing that one of my sons did was to create a mural on his bedroom wall. He glued pictures cut from magazines, creating a large collage of his favorite images. He just glued them on with gluestick. Now, getting them off may be a problem, but I am pretty sure that something like a steam cleaner would take them off. (I left his dad, the kids and I moved to a different house, and the mural became his dad's problem!)
Here are some suggestions:
If you want to paint over the pink but you don't want to spend a lot of money go to Wal-Mart, or Home Depot and look for what I call the Oops Paint. Usually this is paint that didn't mix the color someone thought they wanted and you can get it at 50% off. I have painted almost my whole house with it, you just can't go in and have an exact color in mind. If you are interested in a sophisticated look for your bedroom black and white decor with a bold wall color like a plum is a good idea.
What if you don't have a lot of money? Then how do you pay to get the stuff to makeover your room?
By Jacqueline C.
If you don't have a lot of money to buy things to makeover ANY space in your home - you get creative, like the rest of us have:)
You learn to make-over, you learn to check FreeCycle (free stuff, woohoo!) and CraigsList. You find your way to the local second hand shops, especially Habitat For Humanity's ReStore where you can find all kinds of goodies towards doing over a room, a yard, or garden - ReStore can be the source for new (job overruns) or gently used hardware (new door knobs and cabinet pulls, hinges, and so on), paint (ok, may not be the exact colour you wanted but it might be close enough), wallpaper, sinks, appliances, furniture, fence panels and other landscape materials. All at incredible prices!
For example, when I lived in NW GA I found a matching washer/dryer pair that was only five years old for...£25! That was in 2005, prices may have gone up but in 2010 (just before I relocated to Scotland) I found enough landscape edging to do my entire 1/4 acre lot for $15. For new landscape edging I would have spent hundreds. I was able to prime AND paint the house I was selling - $20 spent at the ReStore got me enough Kilz brand primer and white latex matte paint to do the whole house, my buyer was thrilled!
Second-hand (or 3rd, 4th, etc) furniture can be painted; second-hand (or cheap big-box new) bed sheets make fabulous curtains, table cloths, etc, and hey, you might find the perfect curtains or drapes already made in just the right measurement to fit the windows you need to cover.
And in the US you can often find great stuff set out on the curb - BBQs, china cabinets, sofas, washing machines...last night on TV I saw a guy take apart an old washing machine and turn the stainless steel drum into an amazing coffee table using tempered glass, long bolts, and a string of fairy lights.
Another good source of inexpensive materials is your local Lowes, Home Depot, or other DIY store. Need paint? Ask if they have any 'rejected' mixed paints - you just might find the perfect colour at a bargain price (they sell the mis-mixed or rejected custom-mix paints at a huge loss to get rid of it). Need floor covering? Ask to see the off-cuts.
Find your way to their clearance tables. Oh wow, the things you can find on a Lowes clearance table! I found a gorgeous five bulb vanity mirror (high-quality marine grade wood, and delicate frosted bulb shades, just stunning) marked down from $75 to $10. I could go on and on about the amazing bargains I've found on DIY store clearance tables.
The possibilities are limited only by your willingness to unleash your creativity. Get cracking and post your do-over for us to admire:)
Look at the Good Will and Salvation Army stores for great bargains. Or just changing your curtains to a pretty valance and adding a couple of inexpensive throw pillows in a new color can brighten up your room. Add a walpaper border to add some spice. Best wishes!
