Kids' bedrooms on a budget?

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you want but when we moved in our new house, I wanted to do up my son's room in a cool way so I painted one wall bright fire engine red (paint cost and supplies, $12 total) and bought several packages of Cars (Lightning McQueen) wall decals and a marked down Hot Wheels border. Cost so far is about $20.

Since he moved up from a toddler bed, he has slept in a twin bookcase bed that my grandparents bought me when I graduated from my own crib years ago. It's been stored at my parents and all I did to make it look great was to clean it with Orange Glo.

If you have questions or need/want details, pm me here!

I used to write budget decorating for One Economy Corp. (TheBeeHive.org) back in "the day" and children's rooms were part of that mix. I did a room that was "from baby to toddler." I found an old pink wooden bed frame that included the head and foot board - refinish and paint ($20). I painted the room a light blue (found at Home Depot on the "reject" shelf because it was the wrong color for another customer - 2 gallons for $30). Then, I used Bob the Builder decals and removable wallpaper borders ($15). I'm sure prices have gone a bit since then, but the room was finished off with a $30 "parking lot map" type throw rug. I edited the room's contents by taking out everything that was "baby" and leaving what was "toddler." Books were placed in more prominent places (in baskets and existing bookshelves), and the changing table was converted into a toy shelf (not all changing tables will convert well, but this one was a bare bones wooden style that converted well with basket and bin additions).

About two years ago, I redid my now-8-year-old twins rooms. For her, I painted the walls pink and purple (about $40 in paint), made some long pink curtains with lace underneath ($20 in fabric), and then I created a canopy over her bed with some purple tulle and a gold-spray painted frame made of pvc tubes (all stuff I had around the house).

In his room, I painted the walls two shades of blue and painted a giant treasure map on one wall ($40 in paint). Used two wooden crates on-hand to make a bookcase. Took some pvc pipe, 4", sprayed it black and then made a cross-piece out of 1 1/2", basically making a mast -- used pieces of canvas and rope to make "sails", and these are his curtains (about $30 in supplies). Hung his stuffed animals in a fishing net, attached a rope and pulley to a cleat, and stuck it up on the ceiling ($15). Finally, I found an old ship's wheel on Freecycle, and mounted that to the foot of his bed. He's got the coolest pirate room ever.

made some long pink curtains with lace underneath ($20 in fabric)

Click to expand...

Oh, that reminds me, I also put up a Bob the Builder valance ($10) in the window. Thanks for the reminder, Patti! Details, details . . . they slip my mind after a few years!

A few years back, when my son was mad on biking, I painted his room bright turquoise (his choice), and cut a stencil of a chain link from a sheet of acetate (the link was about 12" long, 6 inches high), and stencilled it in silver (with appropriate shading) all around the room at chair-rail height. I joined the two ends of the chain with a stencil of a big, gold padlock. (He'd lost 3 bikes due to not chaining them up.) I got two pieces of trapezoid-shaped foam--that together would be the length of the bed--covered them in silver fabric, and put them along the wall-edge of the bed to make it like a couch. It looked quite good, actually. Mind, it would have looked even better if he'd picked up his clothes, games, books, and if he hadn't covered every square inch of posters of yucky wrestlers and pop stars. Yuck. However, the stencil was an inexpensive way to jazz it up for awhile!

I did a room makeover when I was in high school, going from "Early Attic" to phony Japanese. Costs don't compute from that era to now, but I did it with my babysitting money over a period of a couple of months.

Carpeting was already cream/beige

1 - All furniture (desk, chair, chest of drawers, simple bookcase) was painted shiny black, walls painted cream with fake shoji panel frames painted on them in brown
2 - Drapes were replaced with bamboo roll-up shade
3 - Covered box spring with a quilted fabric
3 - Mattress and box spring went onto floor, bed frame went into garage

Assorted Japanese scrolls from an import store hung on walls.

It was totally bogus as far as authenticity, but my friends and I thought it was Little Tokyo

i stenciled my younger daughter's room with a stencil i found in a stencil book. it was a teddy bear with cupid wings. we did it in red and brown with oil stencil paints and the round brushes; just a shoulder high line of teddies. the room was huge and irregularly shaped. it had two dormers and two walk in closets. the line of winged teddies floating around the room was so cute we never changed it. i drove by the old house about a month ago. the curtains were up and the teddies were still there. the whole thing cost about 20$--the brushes were the most expensive part. oh, and i let my oldest daughter, 17 at the time, have her first wine cooler, for helping me. add another 3.49--s6

I buy linens at outlet shops; got two twin-size comforters, two sets of sheets, and two decorative pillows for $12. I got real lucky, though, that outlet was closing down so everything was uber-cheap. My husband built headboards for the boys using recyled wood from something we dismantled and a sheet of beadboard (about $15), we pulled a large dresser from another room, and add $40 in paint, and my two youngest boys have a new bedroom.

I'm a big fan of the Home Depot "Oops" paint. $3-$5 a can! Yeah baby!
Ive always had an artist friend around...themes come & go easy for my daughter We've had pokemon borders to an entire neopets mural. Gotta love talented friends