Bedroom Makeover for Sam

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It’s truly wild how quickly kids grown up. It seems as though it wasn’t that long ago I refreshed Sam’s bedroom for him. But, here we are four years later and he has outgrown his current space. Time for a bedroom makeover for Sam. His current room doesn’t accommodate his hobbies or feel like the room of a boy who will be turning thirteen this year. So, I’m making some changes to give him a space that more reflects him and his needs. What he first suggested was a full blown gamer room. You know the type, LED lights everywhere, dark like a sad cave, and totally creepy vibe. I just cannot. After talking about what he’s really wanting/needing, we came up with a plan he is absolutely thrilled with. One that doesn’t look like he’s living out of his grandmother’s basement playing games all day in his 20’s.

Current Bedroom

There will definitely be things I will have a hard time saying goodbye to, but it’s going to make so much more sense in the long run. You can check out the entire bedroom with more photos in this post.

California Casual boy's room with red vintage rug and black Jenny Lind bed
California Casual boy's room with hanging chair, white, dresser, and gallery wall
desk in kid's room with black Jenny Lind bed, vintage rug, and surf theme
hanging chair in California casual boy's room

What’s Stays and What Goes

Bed – I absolutely adore his Jenny Lind bed. It was an antique that I found in rough shape YEARS ago when he transitioned out of his baby crib. You can read all about how I created side rails (it was just a headboard and footboard when I found it) and painted it in this blog post. While it’s a classic bed, it’s not at all comfortable when he wants to sit up in bed and read. He needs a softer headboard and would like a bed without a footboard.

Desk – This desk used to be great for drawing, but now that he has a gaming computer it’s too small. Art and computer items are all over the floor. He needs a much larger desk.

Dresser – When I gave Sam’s closet a makeover last year he no longer had a need for the dresser. It now just holds random items that can be stored elsewhere. Since a larger desk won’t fit where the current desk is I need to say goodbye to this piece of unused furniture so a new desk can go on this wall.

Hanging Chair – This is my favorite spot to sit in his room. However, I am the only one that uses it. Sam doesn’t use it and would prefer a lounge chair so out it goes.

Nightstand – The only furniture item that has made the cut, and it might also get cut in the end! If I can make the size work I will get a second to match it for the opposite side of the bed.

Sconces – If they still work when everything else is in place then I see no reason to change those out.

The Design Plan

I want to give Sam a room that he truly loves. I’m calling it Relaxed Gamer, ha! These are his must haves:

  • Bigger desk for his computer without cords everywhere and room to draw
  • “Gaming” chair for the desk
  • Bed with a soft headboard and no footboard
  • A black wall (just one, not the entire room)
  • Comfy lounge chair
  • Super soft rug
  • Just want it to look cool
Teen boy's bedroom design board with moody walls and gaming desk
  • Black wall – While my preference would be to saturate the entire room in one moody color, Sam wants just one wall to be black. I brought in a couple of paint samples and am leaning towards Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze. It works well with the existing wall color which will stay the same on the other walls and ceiling.
  • Bed – I don’t have a bed picked out yet and am still thinking about making him one similar to my DIY bed in our master.
  • Desk – This will go where his hanging chair and dresser currently are. After searching high and low I ordered this one. The thickness of the top allows him to attach his steering wheel during racing games, it has storage, a dedicated spot for his computer on the bottom right, built in plugs, and a back piece to conceal cords.
  • Gaming chair – These are not cute chairs, but I agreed to it so long as it’s all black and doesn’t have logos all over it.
  • Lounge Chair – A large bean bag style lounge chair he’ll be comfy in.
  • Art – Sam loves Godzilla so I’ll swap his surf art above his bed for this Godzilla piece. Above his desk I’ll add a light up sign with his gaming name and some pin boards for photos and art he draws. And over the lounge chair a magnetic dark board that also lights up. Kids want all the things to light up these days.
  • Bedding – Sam doesn’t want lots of layers with pillows all over the place. We’ll keep it simple and add in some color with a duvet cover and one long lumbar pillow.
  • Rug – You may recall I tried out the rug that’s in our office in Sam’s room. He LOVED how soft it was and really wants to have it in his room. You can see how it looked in this post.
  • Drapes – To transition the dark from the wall over to the lighter walls I’ll go dark on the drapes. Probably do the same color I used for Sam’s shower curtain to tie the two spaces together.

So, that’s the plan for Sam’s bedroom makeover. His desk won’t be here until the end of February. My plan is to get that in place before I paint and figure out what I want to do with his bed. I’ll definitely keep you updated though!

What are your thoughts on the design plan? His sister, who is super opinionated about EVERYTHING, saw it and said, “Oh, that’s actually pretty cool!”. I’ll take that as a win.

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  1. Pamela Avatar
    Pamela

    This will be the best option for this growing boy. He’s gonna live it. The one dark wall will give him the mood but keep the room light. I’m a yes for making him a bed similar to yours. Great choices.👍

  2. eliz Avatar
    eliz

    nice

Meet Shelley

Hi, I’m Shelley! My belief is that with a little creativity and elbow grease, you can make your home look like a million bucks without spending it.

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