$18 Room Makeover

Several months ago, before my husband lost his job, we talked with our oldest son G about redoing his room for his tenth birthday. At some point last year we moved a twin bed into Little Man's nursery and G started sleeping in there too, but we didn't take the time to make it a real two person bedroom. G's toys and clothes were mostly still in his brother's room where he used to sleep. The nursery border was still on the wall (still is actually). The tiny closet was full of tubs of boy clothes, organized by size, and baby toys I'd taken out of the room as Little Man outgrew them but never put away anywhere. It clearly needed work!

G was very excited about this possibility, and said he'd like a space themed room and that he wanted "more floor space so I can play in there". We window-shopped for new furniture (a desk), talked about paint colors, and made our plans. Then my husband lost his job.

We adjusted our thinking and I took one day during our short spring break to work in G and Little Man's room. I had two goals: to unmake the nursery and make it a joint bedroom suitable for their current ages, and to give G the floor space he wanted. This would be a cheap makeover. No new desk, and no paint. But cleaned, organized and rearranged. I wanted G to have a place for all his things so he would truly feel like this was his room.

This is before. They shared this dresser, and Little Man's clothes frequently got stacked on top because there simply was not enough room in the drawers for both their clothes.


To the immediate left of this picture is the teeny tiny closet which can only be accessed if the bedroom door is closed.


The week before, in preparation for this day, I had given G the task of cleaning out underneath his bed. I gave him two boxes, one labeled "throw away" and one labeled "give away" and he spent a couple hours cleaning out all the junk that had found its way under there and sorting it into one of the boxes, or putting it away on one of the shelves of their bookcase. This helped tremendously, so that I could actually begin moving the furniture away from the walls and cleaning right away! I cleaned the perimeter of the room really well and then rearranged the furniture. The only way I could create more floor space was to move all the furniture up against the walls. It's a boring layout, but it fulfills G's wish. :-) I took out the rocking chair and a nightstand that had been between the beds, and brought in a second dresser that was largely unused in the other boy bedroom. This of course necessitated going through all the clothes as well!

Halfway done.


The finished room has 6 pieces of furniture in it. Two beds, two dressers, and two bookcases.

4 year old's stuff:


Two happy brothers! The TV tray is G's "desk" until we can afford a real one and until the bunkbeds my hubby is building are finished so that there is room for one.


See the "desk" folded at the foot of the bed when not in use?


Almost 10 year old's stuff:


Mostly finished closet. At least there is now floor space for Little Man's chunky toys!


New orange lampshade: $5

New round orange throw rug (supposed to represent the sun): $8

New hanging stuffed animal organizer: $5

Hearing your almost 10 year old say enthusiastically, "I LOVE it!": Priceless!!