How to Makeover a Bedroom Into a Rustic Retreat

Our youngest son has been living in a very boring bedroom. He had four gray walls, gray carpet, and hand-me-down furniture that didn’t match. He goes to college in Montana but will be spending summers and holidays with us. He’s such a great student and hard worker, so I wanted him to have a bedroom he would love to visit and feel comfortable. I can’t wait to show you how I’m going to makeover his bedroom into a rustic retreat! I have to do something to get him excited about coming home to visit! Well, besides warm weather, theme parks, and beaches!

A boring bedroom

When I described his bedroom as boring, I was not exaggerating! Here are the before pictures to prove it!

We brought twin beds from Kentucky but other than that, Harrison had no other furniture for his room. I let him borrow this table from our bedroom to use between the beds. The lamp was from our family room in Kentucky.

He was using our camping table as a desk and one of our kitchen chairs to sit on. He added lots of pillows for comfort, lol!!

Poor kid has a mish-mash of items that don’t match and plain, gray walls! That’s about to change! Let’s get this makeover started!!

How to start a bedroom makeover

Before I decorate a room, I ask myself the following two questions. 

Do I have a decor style?

My favorite decor style is French Country Farmhouse. That is the direction I have taken with the main living areas of our home. But, when it comes to the boy’s bedrooms, I want them to feel comfortable and at home in their personal space.

So, I asked our youngest son what he wanted his room to look. He said he loves wood paneling and wanted his room to feel cozy. I knew then I wanted to do a feature wall with wood. He needs furniture, so I’ll look for something rustic! It’s going to be so fun to makeover this bedroom into a rustic retreat just for him!!

Do I have an inspiration piece or color?

We originally purchased the bedding to match the gray walls and carpet. It’s new, so I’ll use it as my starting point! I also plan to incorporate navy, tan, brown, white, and use black accents!

Seven steps to decorate a room

Now that I’ve answered those two questions, I have a definite direction to head.  But when a room is empty, or you want to change or update everything about it, where in the world do you begin??  Here is the natural progression I determined worked for me. 

I have seven easy steps to makeover this bedroom into a rustic retreat! The seven steps include window treatments, lighting, walls, floors, furniture, wall art, and accessories.

Window Treatments

When you have an empty room, the first thing you want to do is hang curtains to give you privacy. In the before pictures, you can see command hooks above the window that the previous curtains were hanging on. Those curtains were brown and would have matched the room, but they were too short. Harrison likes his room very dark when sleeping, so I bought blackout curtains. I chose white to match the white stripes on his bedspread!

The grommets of the curtain are a pewter color, and I found an industrial-looking rod in the same color!

Lighting

Lighting is a focal point when theming or styling a room. Harrison wanted a rustic, cozy feel, and this light gives that vibe! I love how it looks, but I must be honest and say that it does not provide adequate light. He liked it, so I kept it!

Since he needed more light, we decided to keep this lamp on his bedside table. It looks great now because I did a complete makeover on it!! Stay tuned because I will be sharing the DIY real soon!

Harrison did not want a desk lamp. But when I saw this lantern, I had to have it for his desk. It adds so much character to the room!! It doesn’t put out much light, so technically, it functions as a night light! Below are two pictures with the lights on!

It truly is a cozy retreat!!

Here’s the cute lantern giving off a warm glow in his room!

Walls

I am so excited about this wood feature wall! I love how it turned out!

Stay tuned for a DIY post on how we added this amazing wood wall to his room! It’s flooring, but we decided to put it on the wall instead!!

Floors

The floors are the only thing we did not change in the room.

We’re stuck with the carpet for now, so I worked around it!! Thank goodness it matches!

Furniture

Being the youngest kid meant Harrison got all the hand-me-downs, from clothes to furniture! I’m so excited he is going to get some new furniture for the first time!!

He opted for a desk and shelves instead of a dresser. This set-up is so functional for him! It gives him a place to display some of his favorite things. The drawers are great for storage, and the desk is perfect for his laptop!

If you remember the before picture, these beds were a very light wood color. I know light colored wood is coming back in style. But we’ve had these beds for twenty years. I was tired of them. I thought painting them black would tie them in with the black accents on his new furniture. To see how I refinished the twin beds with chalkpaint, click here!!

Wall art

These prints were in my salon in Kentucky. The rustic wood frames and navy blue and white design match Harrison’s room perfectly.

I gave this dinosaur canvas to Harrison years ago. He loved it when he was younger. It is not anatomically correct, so he refused to hang it in his dorm room. That’s a paleontologist for you!!

Harrison wanted to display his Disney pins, so we bought this corkboard to put above his desk. If you’re a Disney fan, you probably noticed he placed the pins in the center in the shape of a hidden Mickey!!

I bought the art above his beds before purchasing the wood flooring for the walls. I could not believe how closely it matched. At first, I thought it was too matchy and wanted to find something else to put above the beds. After looking at it for a while, it’s growing on me!

Accessories

Accessories are like the icing on a cake! They may be small, but they can make or break a room!

I added a rustic tissue holder and a small plant to the table between the beds. The coasters are mason jar lids with corkboard bottoms! Cute but very functional!!

He has some rustic pieces on the desk! He still can’t bear to get rid of some of the Star Wars Legos!!

A few of his dinosaur books and collectibles! Who knew he would never grow out of dinosaurs?? I can’t wait to see where life takes him as a paleontologist!

The finished Room

Here’s a look around the finished room!

Well, friends, after completing seven easy steps, I have a new room!  What do you think? Did I successfully makeover his bedroom into a rustic retreat???  Do you have a room you’d like to makeover?  Let me know in the comments below!! 

Blessings, Donna and Rich

want to see more makeovers

• Eat-in Kitchen Makeover
• Beautiful French Country Inspired Makeover
• No Demo Master Bathroom Makeover
• Amazing Table Set Makeover with a Stencil
• Four Beautiful Living Room Table Makeovers

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