Planning an entire room makeover is challenging, and I tend to overthink every design decision for our home. I figured if I’m struggling this much, I’m certain others are too. So, here we are talking about how to actually plan (and complete!) a room makeover.
Have you ever looked at a room and thought “This could be better…” and started to look at all the ideas, gotten overwhelmed, stuck in decision fatigue, and never actually did anything about it? Well then, welcome to our primary bedroom.
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Before I get started, I want to thank the brands that have partnered with me for this project:
- Sleep & Beyond – Quality bedding that is earth friendly and non-toxic, which is very important to me. For the One Room Challenge, they gifted me all new bedding that I can’t wait to try. I’ll report back in a few weeks once I put all our new bedding to use. In the meantime, you can use my discount code Dani10 for 10% off all orders placed on https://sleepandbeyond.com/.
- Fanimation – for a new ceiling fan of course! Another environmentally friendly company focused on quality products with great design. I can’t wait to show you which fan I picked for our bedroom makeover!
- By Cloud Designs for Turkish rug pillows. These are made from vintage wool rugs, and the perfect way to add some color and pattern to my room!
How to Plan a Room Makeover
There are many different elements to consider when planning a room makeover. From furniture and lighting, to colors, textures, materials and more. Each piece works together to create your desired living environment.
The reason I wanted to makeover our bedroom is because it feels scattered and unfinished. I’ve slowly piecemealed this room together, and it shows. First, I painted the headboard wall black, but never finished adding moulding like I had planned. Then I added a headboard and painted the remaining walls. I tried and tested multiple pillows, blankets, and fabrics to find what worked best for us; bought and returned numerous curtains; added wall-mounted lamps that I thought fit the vibe I was going for. But I did all of this with no plan, and ended up with things that didn’t quite work together. Through all of this, I still had issues that really bug me about this room. Namely, the desk that we don’t use and collects all the random things we don’t know what to do with.
So, now that I’ve told you all the random things about my current room, let’s get on with how to actually plan a full room makeover.
Follow along on Instagram for behind the scenes of this project and all my DIY’s! If you weren’t around for my previous One Room Challenge Makeovers, you can read about our Home Office/Guest Room/Man Cave here and Our Cozy Fall Patio here.
1. Make a List of Functional Needs for Your Room
When planning a room makeover, I like to focus on the functional aspects first. This helps me make sure that the end result isn’t just pretty, but actually works for how we use and live in the room.
As I mentioned, the worst part about this room isn’t the non-cohesive design, it’s the clutter. The last place I want clutter is in our bedroom. So, functionally, the solution is to make sure everything has a home. This means, we need more storage, especially hidden storage to put all the random things (like my husband’s racing gear).
The second functional aspect of our room is creating a non-toxic, restful environment to sleep in. I’m focusing on using quality brands and materials to ensure our room is healthy for us, promotes deep sleep, and feels good because I know the products in our bedroom are good for both us and the environment.
Do you need storage? Do you want to read in this room? Do you need seating? Think about how you and your family use this room and build out a list of what you want this room to provide space for.
Here’s my functional list for our bedroom makeover:
- Add storage for a clutter-free bedroom (linens, racing gear, suitcases, etc.)
- Source high-quality, non-toxic materials for a healthy room
2. How to Plan a Room Makeover – Create a Mood Board
Deciding on a style is one of the hardest things for me to do. I have an appreciation for many different interior design styles, and like to mix things that I love. Because of this, I tend to struggle with picking things that flow together in the same room. To help you plan a cohesive, well-designed room, I highly recommend creating a mood board.
There are tons of different ways to do this, but I have come up with a sort of process that helps me narrow down my style and then see it all together before I buy anything.
- First, create a Pinterest Board (here’s mine!) for your room and save anything you love to this board. When you look through the things you’ve saved, you will start to see a trend. For me, this trend is full of natural elements, layered textures, soft lighting, with hints of rustic and vintage to soften a modern room.
- Next, search for the products you actually want to use and paste clips onto a single page. This helps me to visualize the different elements in one place to see what styles fit well together.
- Once you have an idea of the general vibe and products you want to use, create a mood board! I like to take that same page I created and convert it into a complete room. Start with your background colors – make your wall colors, feature walls, and flooring into a background. Then add photos of the elements you want to use on top – Furniture, lighting, bedding, décor, accent pieces, etc.
Sources: Ceiling Fan | Linen Blackout Curtains | Rug | Bedding | Throw
3. Determine a Budget for Your Room Makeover
Now that you know what you are aiming for as far as function and style, it’s time to create a budget! This is crucial when planning a room makeover to not let things get out of hand.
Before I start anything, I like to determine how much I ideally want to spend on my room. For our bedroom, I’d like to stay close to $2,000. That’s not a lot for a bedroom, so I’m going to have to get creative and make/sell some things to make this work!
Once I have my ideal budget, I like to break it down, starting with big items and all the way down to the nitty gritty details. List out everything you need to buy, the things you plan to make/DIY, and then list out what you can sell to help offset the costs.
Here’s my estimated budget breakdown for our primary bedroom makeover:
This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but many of the other items I will source from things I already have at home. This list also does not include tools I may need to buy because I was planning to buy them regardless of this project, so I don’t count that. I’m hoping between the things I make and some thrifting, I can stay close to my budget, but we shall see!
4. Create a Schedule to Plan Your Room Makeover
A schedule is crucial part of planning a room makeover. It’s my secret to actually finishing a full room! I’m someone who works best against a deadline because I notoriously start and don’t finish my projects. A schedule helps me move forward with a plan.
Here’s my schedule for our primary bedroom makeover:
Week 1 – Create a Plan & Source Large Items Needed
Week 2 – Hang & Hem Curtains, Get Started on Built-In Storage
Week 3 – Continue on Built-In Storage, Source Wood for Feature
Week 4 – Complete Built-In Storage and Wood Feature, Start on Headboard Feature Wall
Week 5 – Complete Headboard Feature Wall, DIY Headboard, Replace Ceiling Fan
Week 6 – Refinish Dresser, Source Nightstands
Week 7 – Final Details, Complete Anything Leftover
Week 8 – Final Reveal!
Now that we have a plan for our room makeover, let’s go for it!
Be sure to check out the other room makeovers on the One Room Challenge Blog for loads of inspo and DIY’s!
