[Room Reveal] Guest Bedroom Makeover on a Small Budget

It’s been a month ago from today since I shared my design plans and mood board for our multi-function cozy minimalist guest bedroom makeover.

Well, today is reveal day and I’m finally ready to share with you everything about this room!

 

Out of all the bedroom makeovers I’ve done, I’ve had the most fun decorating this one.

The great thing about designing a guest bedroom is you have free reign over the paint colors, furniture style, and overall design style of the room since you’re not designing for someone else’s taste.

It’s all you! :).

This room gave me the opportunity to experiment with a style that was outside of my comfort zone. But it ended up being so within what I envisioned for the feel of the room.

Rather than sticking to what you’re used to, I really encourage you to pick one room in your house to try a style that’s outside of your norm.

I had several goals when designing our guest room makeover:

• First of all, it needed to function as a warm and inviting space for our family to stay the night.
• Since we only have guests about once a month I wanted to find a way to make our spare room multi-functional by adding an area for a desk and an area to exercise.
• Most importantly, it had to be done on a budget of less than $700. That includes the furniture, lighting, paint, the bed linens, a large rug, feature wall, curtains/ curtain rods, and accessories. 

Before Pictures:

Before we dive into the reveal, here’s a reminder of how the bedroom looked on move-in day. It was my youngest son’s room until my oldest son moved 700 miles away to attend the University of Chicago.

After that, my youngest son claimed my oldest son’s room. I don’t blame him. He now has his own built-in bed in a cozy alcove with tons of storage and he can tell his friends that his bedroom was featured in the October 2017 edition of This Old House Magazine.  Therefore, I was left with a spare room perfectly fit to be used as a guest bedroom. Well, except for the wall color and wallpaper border.

 

And here’s how the room looks after I gave it a budget-friendly makeover!

*A source list for the items purchased and paint colors are at the bottom of the post.

One of the biggest changes we made to the room was adding a black shiplap accent wall to make the space stylish and fresh. For about $40 (plus the cost of paint), we added interest and a modern texture while giving the room a wow factor.

Tip:

When doing a dark-colored faux shiplap wall, it’s really important to paint the wall behind it the same color. To save time and paint, you can just paint horizontal strips where the gaps will be with a sponge roller.

If you’ve never done a faux shiplap wall, it’s easier than you might think. See our tutorial & tips for installing it.

Then, check out this post on what type of plywood we always use for faux shiplap.

Next, we made our own wall lights for both sides of the bed. We spent $25 in materials on each wall sconce, which is way less expensive than what you can find online or in the store. Plus, they don’t take up any space on the bedside tables.

The modern touches of the room were inspired by the mid-century modern dresser I found at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $70. I gave it a quick makeover by removing the water stains and using a product to blend out the scratches.

After that, I spray painted the tarnished handles Pure Gold by Rustoleum to match the light fixtures. I would’ve loved to have kept them the original chrome but they were pretty rough shape when I found the dresser. 

For the other side of the bed, we built a mid-century modern style desk using this tutorial from Remodelaholic. This way, my oldest son has a place to study when he comes home from college. In the meantime, I’ve been using the guest room as my office space.

The reproduction metal Tolix chair was found on Facebook Marketplace for $10. I painted it olive green to match the pillow shams and our DIY faux canvas artwork.

I always keep an eye out for straw hats at thrift shops because I love the natural color and texture they bring to a room.

Another thing I look for is down pillows. No matter how ugly they are, all it takes is a new pillow cover.

TIP: To freshen up down pillows, throw them in the dryer with a couple of tennis balls and fabric softener sheets for 30 minutes.

The bench at the end of the bed has 2 purposes. Our guests have a place to set their luggage and I also use it as a bench when I exercise.

Jason made the top out of reclaimed cedar we had stored in our garage and then made the trapezoid bench legs.

We just listed the steel bench legs on Etsy, and you can find them in our shop by clicking this link. We can make them any size you like. 

On the other side of the guest bedroom, I have a place to store my hand weights and a yoga mat. The wooden cubby that holds the weights is an antique box office box I found in an antique store 20 years ago. I’ve used it in so many different rooms for storing so many different things (remember VHS tapes?). So, if you ever happen upon an old mail cubby, don’t pass it up if the price is right. 

Last but not least, I added a basket stocked with water bottles, toiletries, and a phone charger in case our guests left something behind.

Our guest bedroom makeover ended up being a beautiful balance of modern, rustic, and vintage elements that I hope makes our guest feel welcome.

SOURCE LIST

*Affiliate links are added to help you find the products I used. I may make a small profit at no additional cost to you. You can see our disclosure here.

Bed Linens:

Tribal Mudcloth-inspired throw blanket

Green velvet pillow shams (sold out) | similar 16″ x 24″ pillow shams on Etsy

White Cotton Duvet Cover Set with Pillow Cases

Set of Black & White Slubbed Linen Pillow Covers

Geometric Triangle Throw Pillow Cover (on chair)

Total cost of bedding + pillow covers $128

7’10’ x 10′ Rug:

Moroccan Diamond Tassel Rug or on Amazon here

Total cost of rug using 2 coupons on Black Friday $126

Lighting:

DIY Industrial Wall Light

Total cost of lighting $50

Curtains:

White textured curtains pair 40″ X 84″ (I purchased 2 sets)

Blackout Curtain rods

Total cost of window treatments $34

Artwork:

Foggy Mountain Landscape Digital Print (above bed) | tutorial for DIY large faux canvas print

Reproduction Work Hard & Be Nice to People Print Digital Print

Total cost of artwork (not including poster frame) $54

Furniture:

DIY mid-century modern desk building plans

Herman Miller Dresser/Nightstand (found a thrift store for $70!) | (more affordable option)

Similar Bench (we’ll be listing the trapezoid bench legs on Etsy soon so favorite our store for updates)

Metal Desk Chair (found on Facebook Marketplace and painted ) similar set of 4 chairs

Total cost of furniture $168

Accessories (some items I already had):

White planters- from Ikea

Sansevieria Plant

Retro White Desk Fan

Black & Natural Basket (on desk)

Large Lidded Basket for Guests (sold out from H&M)

Similar Natural and White Belly Basket

Post Office Cubby Box (vintage)

Similar Macrame Wall Hanging (above mirror)

Total for accessories (not including items brought in from other rooms) $27

Paint Colors:

Accent Wall Color: Noir [4009-2] in Eggshell by Valspar

Wall Color – Alabaster [SW 7008] in Eggshell Sherwin Williams

Trim color- Alabaster [SW 7008] in Satin by Sherwin Williams

Metal Chair Color- Urban Garden [HGSW3241] by HGTV Home for Sherwin Williams (a paint sample was enough to do 2 coats with my sprayer)

Total cost of paint (we had some left over from another project) $50

(Cost of accent wall was $40)

Total Cost of the makeover: $677

Sharing this makeover on some of my favorite blogs such as:

The Cottage Market

Finding Silver Pennies

The DIY Showoff

Celebrating Everyday Life

Across The Boulevard 

Dwellings- The Heart of Your Home