Teen Boy’s Bedroom Makeover – One Room Challenge – Week 7

It’s reveal day for the One Room Challenge, and I’m so excited to share my teenage son’s finished bedroom today!  If you’re just now tuning in, the One Room Challenge is a 6 week design challenge, hosted by Linda at Calling It Home, in which featured and guest participant design bloggers completely makeover a space.  (Except this time the challenge was extended by a week.)  Feel free to get caught up with my teen boy’s bedroom makeover here – week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6.

It could not be more fitting that I’m writing this post just before heading to the high school for an open house for 8th grade parents.  I could cry just thinking about him heading off to high school next fall…….

Let me grab some tissues while I show you all around my teenage son’s new digs.

teen boys room

teen boys bedroom

A Quick Look At The Before

I didn’t want to scrap everything and completely start over, but I did want to build on what I had started over a year ago.  He inherited the king size bed when I moved him into what was our guest bedroom, but the style of the headboard never really suited him.  At 13 my son has a much better sense of himself in terms of his style and interests.  And boy, did he have opinions.  And so I wanted to work with him to create a space that felt much more personal to him.

before

before teen boys room

I decided to keep the furniture layout the same, bring in a few new pieces to replace what just wasn’t working and add moulding to the headboard wall to add some architectural interest to this flat rectangular room.

After

teen boys bedroom makeover

I think the moulding I added to the headboard wall is the real MVP in this makeover.  It adds so much depth and interest to the room.  I had, as many of you know, originally planned to do a grid style moulding treatment, but the simplicity of the vertical boards really grew on me.  And I’m happy I changed course on that element.

teen boys bedroom makeover

Painting the walls Sherwin Williams Amazing Grey ended up being such a great call in here.  With all of the warm tones in the room, the grey, albeit a warm-ish grey color, adds the perfect amount of contrast.  And even on cloudy days and with just this one window in here the room never feels too dark……but more just slightly moody….which seems appropriate for a teen.  😉

teen boys bedroom

Runner up to the moulding feature wall is this ceiling fan.  Lighting is so key.  It’s like botox for a room. 😉 Immediate results…..and while something other than a fan would have looked better…..if you live in the humid south you understand why there’s a ceiling fan in here.  His room also happens to be on the side of the house that feels the most intense heat at the end of the day…..which is great in the winter, but not fun to deal with in the summer if you don’t have a fan.  So a round of applause goes to Hunter for making ceiling fans cool…..both literally and figuratively.

hunter ceiling fan

Desk as a Nightstand

We’ve had this red desk for a few years now.  I just changed the hardware to make it feel a little more polished.  Using a desk as a nightstand is kind of a go-to bedroom design move for me.  It just works so well!

teen boys bedroom makeover

This coppery-rust shade paired with deep red against the warm grey walls feels so fresh and modern.

red desk

And I love that the rug ties all of the warm colors in the space together.  It even has a few touches of grey in it that I hadn’t planned on when I bought it online.  I love happy design accidents like that!

teen boys bedroom makeover

teen boys bedroom makeover

Artwork with Meaning

My boy loves cars, just like his dad.  He took this picture during our trip to Italy.  I love that it not only represents something he loves but is also a reminder of an amazing family vacation.  I had the photo enlarged to a poster print size at Staples then framed it in a Target frame.  Such an inexpensive way to add meaningful art to a space.

car print

Opposite the bed is ol’ blue, the velvet sofa that once lived in our living room.  I wanted to create a gallery wall above the sofa in here that spoke to his interests and personality, but wasn’t overly theme-y.   So I again had a few pictures from our Italy trip enlarged.  There’s a picture of the paper mill in Amalfi, the inside of the Colosseum and a cool scooter I snapped in Ravello.  The starry night print if you look closely at it is actually a “Star Wars Night”, and it once lived in his room back when he was in elementary school.  I wanted to have something in here that felt a little nostalgic.  The iron bear I just couldn’t resist……bear is his nickname.

teen boy gallery wall

I found the Johnny Cash record mirror and the letterbox at HomeGoods…..my son put that “genius at rest” on it.

teen boy bedroom makeover

A few of the smaller prints I pulled out of a car magazine that he has a subscription to.

gallery wall boy room

He collects old cameras.

teen boy gallery

Golden Hour

My favorite time of day in here is right before the sun is getting ready to set.  His room sees the warmest light of the day, and all of the colors in here just come to life in the prettiest way!

golden hour

teen boys bedroom

He’s so happy with his new space, and that just makes my momma heart swell!  I know these next few years are going to fly by, and I just want to hang on to every precious moment.

Sources

Not one thing was sponsored.  I built on what I already had and brought in some great, affordable new pieces.

The art above the bed is from Society 6.  They are such a great source for inexpensive art.  Cowhide stool is an Ikea find from years ago.

Thanks for coming along on this One Room Challenge design journey!  And thanks so much to Linda for creating this crazy fun design challenge!  Be sure to check out all the other participants spaces!  And absolutely don’t miss the spaces that the sponsored designers created!  They’re incredible!

one room challenge

teen boy bedroom makeover

 

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  • it’s so grown up and so good! i am crying for you! happy tears, too because this room is awesome and you did it!!! but bittersweet don’t ever grow up please and thank you tears, too. colin is so lucky- that sofa area is amazing!

  • How cool that he wanted to play an active role in the room! Guys can sometimes be hard to design for, but I feel like your son’s personality is really coming through here. The room feels so gathered and authentic. Well done on the ORC!

  • What a lucky kid! This space is so grown up, and I love how you incorporated what HE wanted into his room. That bed is awesome, too!

  • It’s from World Market- I linked it in the sources. It’s so much prettier in person! I’m really happy with the quality for the price and it’s currently 40% off!

  • Its an awesome room Carmel! And as always you are the queen of the gallery wall in my book! Love that last pic of you lounging watching your son. I also did my son’s bedroom for the challenge, but he is only 9. It was my favorite room ever to do though, because he had a say in the entire design! We had fun together creating it all.

  • Thanks! It’s from Bed, Bath & Beyond. I linked it under the sources section. We’ve had it for almost a year now, and it washes so well!

  • Thanks, I’ll go see if I can find it! :). (Not having any luck with your source links, though on my phone, so perhaps that’s why?)

  • So sorry to be a pain… when I click on the images in your source carousel, it takes me to Pinterest…? 🙂 I really am interested, and happy for you to get credit if I purchase one – not sure if I’m just missing an actual link somewhere else.

  • Oh my goodness, I just realized that this was an issue! I’m so sorry! Not sure why that is happening? But I changed the way the sources are linked now so hopefully that won’t be an issue any longer. Here’s the link for the quilt – http://bit.ly/2A6qM48 – sorry for the inconvenience!

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