It’s finally REVEAL DAY for the #budgetroomrefresh we’ve been doing over on Instagram! The master bedroom has always been one of the most neglected rooms in my house. No one really sees it, so I’ve never bothered to put much time or money into it. It’s filled with hand-me-down, free, and thrifted furniture. The walls, like the rest of my house, are 1970’s plywood, and I’ve never owned an actual headboard in all my adult life. You’d honestly think I was in my first post-college apartment to look at this room. But that’s all changing right now!
Last week I gathered together with some of my favorite home decor accounts on Insta to do a Budget Room Refresh Challenge. We took one week and $300 (or less!) to transform a room in our homes that needed a little facelift. Before I show you the final product, let’s take a walk down memory lane, back to 2008, when this room was merely a plywood loft and I had several fewer children.
Eventually, more kids and a wall showed up and this loft was turned into the “master suite.” I threw some white paint at the wall a few years ago, which toned down the scary-DIY-cabin-in-the-woods look a bit. It was a big improvement for the time and resources I had in that season of life, but lately I’ve had ideas swirling around to take it to the next level.
For the refresh, I started with a coat of Behr paint in Black which immediately added warmth and a little moodiness to the space. I’ve dreamed of doing a “slat wall” since I first started seeing them pop up on Instagram, so it was an easy decision to make that into a headboard of sorts. It was a simple DIY and the most fun part of the refresh. I picked up 1×2 boards (which are actually .75×1.5) from Home Depot, sanded and stained them, and nailed them to the wall with my Arrow Fasteners nail gun. Side note: Everyone should own and use a nail gun!
The shelf above the bed was also made with wood from Home Depot and metal brackets gifted from DIY Cartel. (See Instagram post for a giveaway!!!) Hanging off the ends of the brackets are some simple pendant lights from Amazon. I love the touch of brass and the industrial feel. I even considered painting the brackets with a brass spray paint, but opted to let them blend into the black wall so that the pendants were the star of the show.
Because this is a BUDGET refresh, I used a lot of what I already had. The curtains (Homegoods) simply got raised a few inches, the bedding (Target) stayed the same, and I moved a mudcloth pillow in from the livingroom couch. I’m still waiting on the perfect nightstands to show up on Facebook Marketplace, so I kept the thrifted pieces that I have for now, but I did give my dresser a bit of a facelift. It was a raw wood piece that I found on Freecycle about twelve years ago and I just never got around to sprucing it up. Using leftover paint from my kitchen cabinet project and some cute (discounted) knobs from Amazon Warehouse, it’s no longer the sore thumb of the room.
But enough of the build-up, here’s what you really came for… The new and improved master bedroom!
This room is at the back of the house and is so dark that it made it really difficult to get good photos. Can you even believe it’s that same sad plywood room though?
Money spent:
Knobs: Amazon Warehouse $32.22
Paint: Home Depot $22
Wood: Home Depot $28.27
Pendant lights: Amazon $65
Pillows: Homegoods $50
Brackets: DIY Cartel, gifted
TOTAL: $197.49
I am completely IN LOVE with this room now. There are definitely a few things I’d do if money weren’t an object: I’d hire someone to paint the high ceilings/walls. The roof is a gambrel or Dutch style, like an old barn, so there are two slopes, the lower of which feels more like a wall. I think it would be stunning to paint it all white and leave the large beams natural. I’d also replace the carpet, which could quite possibly be original to the house. For just under $200 though, this room now feels like a million bucks!
If you’d like to see more of the process, including video of the slatted headboard going up and a video walk-through of the room, check out my Instagram highlight titled “Budget refresh.” Now tell me… What’s your favorite part of this refresh?