$300 Budget Girls Bedroom Makeover

My girls share a bedroom. A very small bedroom.

And sometimes, the walls clothes in.

Yes, I meant to spell close with clothes. Because, as any mother of daughter’s knows, in a girl’s bedroom…there’s new walls built with clothes every day.

Recently, the clothing lined walls became a little overwhelming for this Mama. And, after doing the bathroom makeover back in April, I’ve been anxiously awaiting starting a new DIY project.

So, I set a budget of $300 and decided to make the girls’ bedroom makeover the next task on my DIY home makeover project.

After waiting 4 or 5 weeks for the girls to choose paint colors, we finally got started!

The Paint

The colors the girls chose for the bedroom makeover are…

Main Color – Husky Grey

Accent Color 1 – Splash of Teal

Accent Color 2 – Mystical Purple

Here’s what the walls used to look like…

$300 budget girls bedroom makeover - before walls

Paint Color On Walls – Before

We painted the main walls, the radiator and the back of the door with husky grey.

Here’s what the walls look like now…

$300 budget girls bedroom makeover - after closet

Closet – After

The girls each wanted a chalkboard wall in their own space, so we made some DIY chalkboard paint and (as I said above) painted my youngest daughter’s closet area with splash of teal.

Then, we painted the corner with mystical purple for my oldest daughter.

It’s kinda cool how different the Husky Grey paint looks next to the purple or teal paint, isn’t it? Next to the teal, it seems almost white. But when you look at the grey near the purple, it looks lavender.

Here’s the rundown on the costs and supplies for painting…

$21.97 (EACH) – Husky Grey paint, Splash of Teal paint, Mystical Purple paint
$0.00 – Paint Rollers (had on hand, leftover from previous projects)
$0.00 – 2″ Paint Brushes (had on hand)
$5.47- 2″ Edge Brush (splurged and bought one of these awesome little shortcut brushes! Well worth the splurge!)

Total cost of painting for the girls’ bedroom makeover = $71.38

The Closet

$300 budget girls bedroom makeover - before closet

Closet – Before

Because my girls share such a small room, we decided to utilize the closet to add some space.

We took the doors off to allow the extra space to be part of the room.

Then, we painted the walls with our DIY chalkboard paint using the “Splash of Teal” paint color.

Closet – After

The Shelves

These vintage corner shelves came from the husband’s grandmothers house. Due to the style and imprint on the front of them, I would have to guess that they are from the late 70’s or early 80’s.

They’ve been floating around our house for about 10 years now and I have just never found the right place to hang them. After starting the girls’ bedroom makeover, I thought they would be the perfect way for our youngest daughter to keep her beloved books close by, in her new loft bed.

Here’s how we did it…

First, we washed off the years of dust and grime. 😉

Then, we just painted them with the leftover paint from the walls.

And hung them in the closet.

Here’s the rundown on the costs and supplies for the shelves…

$0 – Vintage Shelves
ALSO FREE – Leftover paint

Total cost for our new shelves – $0!

The Loft Bunk Bed

This awesome loft bed began as a standard bunk bed set that both my girls have used for years. But, since my oldest has sprouted up like Jack’s beanstalk, she’s outgrown the length of the bunk and desperately needed a new bed.

Rather than get rid of the bunk and replace both beds, I thought it would be more fun to create a loft for my youngest daughter instead. So, this past week, with the help of my best friend and both my girls, we created this super cool bed to go along with the girls bedroom makeover.

Here’s how we did it…

First, we put together the old bunk bed.

Bunk Bed – Before

After the bunk was all set up, we added a small brace on each post to ensure the top and bottom parts of the bunk stay together.

We, also, added a horizontal 2 x 4 across the back along with 2 vertical (smaller) bars to fully support the bed. With all the reinforcements we put on this bed, you could probably hit it with a truck and it wouldn’t fall down. It’s good and sturdy. 😉

After making sure the bed was going to stand on its own…we removed the mattress slats and the front bar from the bottom bunk.

Wallah…we have a loft bed!

We painted the bed the “Splash of Teal” color that we used in the closet to give it a nice, smooth cohesive look.

Here’s the rundown on the costs and supplies for the bed…

$0 – I bought the set of bunk beds about 8 years ago and would have otherwise thrown them away. I’m glad I didn’t!
FREE – We used the leftover paint from the wall for the loft bed.
$0 – The 2 x 4 was leftover from one of the husband’s past projects.
FREE – The vertical slats and the braces we put on each post were extra slats leftover from the bottom bunk. We just cut them to size as needed.
$0 – I “borrowed” some wood screws from the husband’s garage.

Total “new” costs for our loft bed = $0

The Canopy Loft Bed

Oh my gosh! This was by far the hardest…and most fun…part of the girls bedroom makeover. You could even say it was a “lofty” experiment!

I didn’t have a 2nd bunk bed to use and so, I decided to make one myself…with the help of the girls.

No, I don’t have any prior carpentry skills…in fact, I didn’t even have a real plan when we started.

I just knew we needed a rectangle that would stay together and hold the mattress up with my daughter on it.

I’m really a wing it and go kinda girl when it comes to crafting and well, making things.

So, I gathered up the few pieces of wood that the husband had leftover from other projects. The girls and I headed off to bring the husband some lunch and then, to Home Depot to pick up the rest of the wood.

Lucky for us, while we were visiting the husband at work, I noticed a couple of pallets, next to the dumpster, that were in really good shape.

I just knew they would somehow be useful for this project!

After begging him to put them into the car, (he just doesn’t see the possibilities in a pallet ;)) we restarted our mission to Home Depot.

When we arrived, I directed the girls straight to the lumber department and after just a few minutes we managed to gather the wood I “thought” we would need.

I’m sure it was incredibly comical, for the onlookers in the parking lot, to watch me shove these 8 foot 4 x 4 posts and 2 x 4’s into my car. (My car is just over 8 feet long inside from the radio buttons in the front to the hatchback trunk door.) I wish I’d been the one watching!

Anyway, we rushed home with the wood and carted it all inside, to the girls bedroom. It’s a good thing we did this, because we NEVER would have been able to get the bed down the hallway to their room after it was built. That sucker is staying put!

Here’s how we did it…

First, the girls and I made a simple bed platform using the pallets as the base and then, we built a frame around them with 2 x 4’s, leaving space for the posts at each corner.

Next, we slid the (8 million pound!) posts through each corner. NOT an easy task for a fairly small woman and 2 young tween/teen girls. But hey, we accomplished it…with only a tiny amount of bickering.

This just goes to show that you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it!

After sliding all the posts through, we lifted the bed frame and secured each corner to the posts using long screws and corner brackets.

We also added a canopy support using 1 x 3’s.

This is the point at which the husband came home from work.

He looked over the bed and said everything looks great, except we needed an additional support bar across the back and the mattress platform wasn’t “square” (whatever that means).

So, he pulled out his measuring tape and some other tools and started measuring, only to prove to me that on one side of the bed, my mattress platform was approximately 1/2″ off from the the opposite corner.

Apparently, being square means that all the corners are at a perfect 90 degree angle to each other. And well, mine weren’t.

So, he fixed it. Thank God, he’s so handy. 😉

After he was all done with his alterations, we painted the whole bed with the “Mystical Purple” paint.

Then, we “upholstered” the top of the mattress platform using matching purple fabric and hung some pretty, lace curtains from curtain rods, hidden inside the canopy.

It looks awesome!

Here’s the rundown on the costs and supplies for the bed…

$0 – 4 leftover 2 x 4’s from my husband’s previous projects
FREE – Dumpster diving for pallets
$0 – I “borrowed” more wood screws from the husband’s garage.
FREE – The purple fabric we used to upholster the bed came from an old bed sheet we already had.
$66.42 – 4 (4 x 4) posts
$45.96 – 4 (1 x 3) boards
$7.44 – 8 metal corner brackets

Total cost for our canopy loft bed = $119.82

And now for the final tally…

The total cost of our girls bedroom makeover was…

$191.20!!

WAY under budget!

We had so much fun completing these beds and the girls bedroom makeover! While we might have bickered and argued a little, we created some really cool beds and a few silly memories that will last a lifetime.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our girls bedroom makeover project.

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Have a Spectacular Day!

Vanessa Hamlin

Vanessa Hamlin is the owner and founder of Food Life Design and VLHamlinDesign. With her passion for frugal living and homesteading, Vanessa loves to write about easy recipes, making money, gardening, home remedies and everything else that a good life entails! When she’s not writing for Food Life Design or creating products for VLHamlinDesign, you’ll find Vanessa reading, drawing, gardening, cooking or spending time with her family.