I may be a Facebook ads manager by trade, but one of my ultimate passions in life is interior design. And, one of my all-time favorite projects has been giving my 10-year-old son, Davis, a complete bedroom makeover as a surprise for his birthday. Designing becomes even more fun when you’re doing it for the people you love most!

I’m so excited to share photos of this recent makeover (including a ‘before’ photo of how the room looked when we purchased the house!) to give you some inspiration and motivation for your own home decor projects!

Before: When we bought the house

Needless to say, it needed a change. Pretty soon after we moved in, we painted it a light grey but that was pretty much it for several months.

After: Cozy Pre-Teen Retreat

As you can see from the ‘after’ photo, we breathed new life into this room and gave it a slightly rustic-modern vibe that is much better suited to Davis’ likes and personality. We decided to make it calm and inviting by using a neutral palette with grays and creams, yet keep it bold enough for a pre-teen boy.

What We Did

My main goal for Davis’ room was to give him a bedroom that made good use of its space, was practical for his needs, and overall just a nice place for him to call his own. Natural light was one of the most important things to me. He has one of the brighter rooms in our home so I wanted to maximize that by keeping things light and airy.

By choosing the right color scheme and finding practical pieces that didn’t take up tons of space, we ended up with what feels like a bigger room and Davis having more space to relax.

Here’s a rundown of what we did and the materials we used to achieve the finished room:

• One of the first things I decided had to go were the bulky closet doors that opened into the room. I replaced them with sliding mirrored doors to give Davis some more space and make the room feel larger. You can see them on the right in this photo.

• We painted the walls with Seattle Gray from Benjamin Moore. The hue gives the walls just enough color but is super neutral. Greys can be hard but this one is gorgeous. Since it’s a small room, we wanted it to feel bigger, and this color brightens it up beautifully.

• We added wallpaper to the ceiling to give some extra texture and color to the room and to do something fun with the recessed ceiling. That fan will be replaced at another time. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it happen in time for Davis’s surprise.

• I picked out several mismatched grey patterns for his bed and bedding from Pottery Barn. We picked this bunk because I wanted something that gave him plenty of space – and also room for a friend (or one of his brothers) – without taking up a ton of room. We added one long shelf to the wall of each bunk to give Davis some room for a drink or knick-knacks.

• The curtains I chose from HomeGoods not only balance the color scheme, but they also allow extra light to shine in!

• I love layering rugs over carpeting to bring some dimension to a room. I found this blue rug at Pottery Barn and the stripes tie into the colors in the wallpaper (on the ceiling) so I loved the juxtaposition there.

• Next: the dresser. I love how this came out. The dresser is from Pottery Barn, but I decided to add interest by adding just two unique knobs that I found at Hobby Lobby to the top drawers (and more often than not, the dresser looks just like this – with the deer head wonky and some of the drawers half open #reallife).
• Fun fact about my son: he collects magnets from all the places we travel! We added this magnetic board above his dresser to hold his keepsakes. He has magnets from many different states, Italy, Canada, and Ireland.

• This end table is the perfect addition to the bunks, giving Davis a place for a book or drink. I found it at Target.

 

 

• There’s also a small chair in the corner from the Pottery Barn Outlet that makes an awesome spot for relaxing or reading (and he’s a reader!).
• Last but not least came an upgrade for Davis’ snake. I couldn’t make over my son’s room without giving his snake something special too! I bought this huge snake cage to give him more space to roam and built a floating shelf that works with the design. If I could get rid of those cords, I would but thus far, I haven’t found designer snake lights:)

So this was quite the transformation. We sent Davis to my parents for the day, telling him some little white lie about why he was there all day.  He was overjoyed when we surprised him as the room fits him perfectly and can grow with him for years to come.

What’s the next interior decorating project you want to take on? I’d love to hear about it. Leave me a comment and give me your thoughts!