Simple and Affordable Master Bedroom Makeover

No one loves a good bedroom makeover quite like I do. When I discovered that my neighbor’s bedroom needed some love, I couldn’t wait to make a few adjustments to help it feel a little more cozy. Jeff and Trish are both busy people, Jeff works for the military (thank you!) and Trish works full-time at a pretty-intense job. They just haven’t gotten around to making their master bedroom what they really wanted it to be. Our goal here was to keep it simple and still make a big statement. You won’t believe how affordable this on-trend bedroom makeover was!

Thank you to Wayfair for sponsoring this post.

Master Bedroom Before-

Here is what we started with. I love the warm hardwood floors and the natural light in the space. They had a great nightstands and a dresser that Jeff’s dad made for them when they were first married. We definitely had a lot to work with.

Master Bedroom Plan-

Of course, I started with a plan. If you are a long time follower, you probably have my voice in your head on repeat with the words “start with a plan!” I cannot stress this enough. Knowing how items will look all together in the space is such a time and money saver! Bonus, the process of creating a design plan is actually really fun. I typically start my design plans by picking a rug! And this room was screaming for a beautiful new rug.

See my rug sizing guide and the process of picking a rug in this post. See some of my favorite rugs from Wayfair from their on-trend collection at the bottom of this post.

Bedroom Before & After-

What do you think?? Jeff and Trish have never had a bed frame, so we gave them this classic metal bed. The neutrality of the bed really goes with their style!

We didn’t need to paint the walls, but we added some interest to the space with a board and batten wall and painted just the board and batten in Pure White from Sherwin Williams. Just by adding some primed 2″ trim pieces and spaced them 16″ to the existing wall. He caulked the joints and nail holes. I love the statement it makes with minimal effort.

TIP: A question I am asked about board and batten is if you don’t have smooth walls, do you have to add a board behind the trim. In traditional board and batten, it is a board framed out by a batten. This easy method for applying this treatment removes the board step and requires the batten (or the trim piece) to be applied directly to the plaster or sheetrock wall. As long as you don’t mind seeing the texture, I don’t think the board step is necessary.

TIP: When the batten piece dies into a tapered base molding, Kevin miters the bottom so that it has a seamless look. (see in the photo above)

Besides the wall treatment, adding a rug or changing your rug can make the biggest impact on a room. We went with this rug for Jeff and Trish. Trish kept saying she would not have thought to pick that rug, but she loves it (so do I!!). There are so many cute and affordable rugs to choose from Wayfair. Can you believe what a statement that inexpensive rug makes?!

FAQ: “Can I put a rug over carpet?” You BETTER BELIEVE that you can! And if you have carpet that you don’t particularly love, the ONLY saving grace may be a rug! When adding a rug over carpet, keep in mind the pile of the rug and the carpet. Don’t layer shag over shag, for example. Do a flat rug over a shag rug.

Some feedback I get from readers is that it can be tough to know where to start when you are shopping online. Wayfair has already collected tons of on-trend items you can use to update your home from $39.99 here. I know that rugs are something that I am asked about all the time. I rounded up some of my favorite, affordable rugs from Wayfair at the bottom of this post.

When you start to fix-up a room you begin to notice the unnecessary items that end up in a space that really don’t need to be there. For instance this bike was better in another room. And you will see below they had a large chair and ottoman that they never sat in….it was just a spot to pile all the stuff that really should be put away! So when I asked Trish and Jeff if they wanted a chair in here that matched better (I had one to give them) they both decided against the chair!

A simple change of drapery rod, really allows so much light to come in and adds height to the room. We typically hang the rod about 5″ above the window frame and the same on the sides. This will allow you to pile the black out curtains off of the window and not block any of the natural light. Notice how the before photo her curtains were too short (they shrunk in the dryer- tip hang your curtains on the rod to dry!). We did have one random woven shade we gave them and love how it adds texture and brings in the wall color to the window (they are going to get two more for the other windows).

These natural pendants add texture and replace bedside lamps to free up room on the nightstands. Even better for a small nightstand. I thought I would have to do the magic light trick but they actually plug in! (PS- I did an Edison bulb in them for that soft warm glow).

Speaking the nightstands, we gave them a new life by spray painting them with chalk spray paint. We used Classic Noir Interior Chalk Spray Paint and highly recommend doing a top coat with the Behr wax, I just used a rag to rub it on. I did find really similar nightstands here, that are already painted a great color!

TIP: When you spray paint furniture, chalk paint is a simple way to avoid prep work as it adheres without sanding. You do, however, need to apply a topcoat. I like to spray Polycrlic or another Polyurethane. Or if the spray paint looks uneven due to the type of wood I recommend doing the wax. See below how I did the wax on the nightstand against the wall, vs the one I hadn’t added the wax to yet.

Our go-to spray paint is Behr Classic Noir Chalk Spray Paint.

This dresser belonged to our other neighbors! They had put it on their front yard for free and Trish and Jeff took it, knowing they could use it somewhere. And we did! We gave it a coat of spray paint and created a statement wall by adding matching shelves above it! Perfect spot for all of her books!

We did paint her other dresser white, to mix up all the dark furniture. I do think darker knobs would pull it all together!

The bedding is a collection of pieces I had saved that we weren’t currently using. The white quilt (I had) is so soft and over-sized to cover the side rails of her queen bed and made it so we didn’t have to use a bed skirt. I created a fluffy duvet-look by layering a quilt they had with a gray Matelasse! These simple white euro shams have the insert and work great with any bed! I have had that center pillow, which worked great to pull in the rug and wall color.

“Never knew I could feel a love like this!” Artwork that is just the icing on the cake from my fav, Lindsay Letters.

Still can’t get over this rug! Thinking where I could use it in my home!! Thanks for taking the tour of Trish and Jeffs new room! Trish text me and said….“I woke up today so happy!” Gosh, I want that for everyone!!

Shop more of my favorite rugs from the Wayfair Rug Sale–

1- Stripe Rug Outdoor HERE // 2- Artemas Oriental Rug (see it in a room HERE) // 3- Black and White Rug HERE // 4- Skye Terracotta Rug HERE // 5- Flatweave Natural Rug HERE // 6- Navy Rug HERE // 7- Hillsby Blue Rug HERE (see in a room HERE) // 8- Jute Diamond Rug HERE // 9- Our living room rug HERE

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