Sooo, last weekend we moved our oldest son back to college. You may have followed along on snapchat. If not, don’t worry. The room isn’t styled to perfection and the developing story in no way compared to jaw dropping before & afters we are used to seeing every day online. No, this was more of a “use what we have, clean, paint, move him in”. It had been a while since I had been in the house (last fall) & like I mentioned before, I had never seen the actual room our son would be living in. Without measurements of the space, my plan was to go with the “best case scenario” furniture for storage and take home what wouldn’t fit in the room. We knew the room had two windows (one in a dormer) and wood floors and that was all.
Let me start by saying the house was filthy. The guys who moved out left a huge mess and the cleaners had not been to clean yet so, just wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. Not even on hoarders. We came armed with paint & lots of cleaning supplies and went to work. The walls were blue. The window in the dormer was black and the other windows were white. Who does that? Paint had been dripped all over the floor.
After a few hours of scrubbing and painting….and painting and scrubbing it looked like this. A fresh coat of white paint made it look soooo much cleaner. I tried to convince my husband to purchase bamboo shades, but he opted for the blackout roller shades. I had to remind myself to let it go. Even though the room could benefit from texture and pattern, we kept it very simple. You won’t find accessories and pretty details here, but T loves his room.
The bed and night stands we used were actually mine from my childhood, a cherry set that needed an update. We had the bed painted glossy back several years ago. I wanted to change the night stands to contrast with the bed while still being masculine.
I painted the pair with a coat of Annie Sloan (white), then roughly brushed on walnut stain wiping it off as I went. The hardware came from Home Depot, ordered online and shipped to the store.
I was pretty happy with how they turned out. I also resorted to the oldest trick in the DIY book, black & white abstract art. We purchased one of the lamps two years ago when T was moving into the dorm. I wasn’t sure where we bought it, but luckily we found it’s match at Target. Even though I would normally go with larger lamps, these worked just fine.
We found this chest of drawers at IKEA for under $150 and the mirror came from our house.
I also printed a couple of photos from T’s travels to hang in a little corner of the room. I’m sure he will be adding to the walls with posters, etc.
I’m also pretty sure the room will never be this clean again ;).
I totally disagree René! His room looks amazing and if you did the DIY art, count me in as a fan and a buyer! Happy Wednesday!
Sweet of you – Thank you! We were in such a rush to leave that I didn't realize the flag was hung backwards when I took the pictures. 🙂
Long time reader here, Rene'. Great job and what an improvement! Where did you get the frames used for the travel photos? And did you print the pics yourself and what size are the photos? I need those type of frames for some picture ledges I built. Thank you for your help!
Thank you Brenda! The frames are from Micheal's. I printed the 8 x 10 photos myself on photo paper with Picassa. Hope this helps.
It looks wonderful Rene! I love that you repurposed your childhood bed and nightstands. It's nice to be surrounded by meaningful pieces. I'm such a sentimental person. I bet your son is very happy with his room and it is spic and span! I wish him a great school year.
Thank you Allison! You know I'm sentimental. The furniture is in great shape it just needed to be modernized a bit. I'm sure the room is clean as a whistle now 😉 ;).
I can only hope that my now 9-year-old son will let me decorate his college room one day! I couldn't help but giggle while reading this … I bet all the girls will swoon over the one boy with a nice room! It looks fabulous!
Thank you Robyn. He isn't very interested in decorating so he said "just do whatever". As long as he has the necessities he's happy.
Looking at this I am reminded of the room my husband lived in when we met in college- mattress on the floor, book shelves re-purposed as a dresser, desk in the closet…this room is amazing! And yes, I agree that you are likely helping his romantic endeavors:)
hehehe, I completely agree!!! I would say 99% of male bedrooms in college are complete disasters. but it's not like I ever visited a college frat house or anything 😉
Looks Awesome Rene'. My son and daughter in law moved into a rental house years ago that should have been condemned. None of us had seen it and they rented it because they were desperate for a place to move after military reassignment. OMG!!!!!! But as you say…..LOTS of cleaning and paint will do wonders.
I love the bedside chests….those turned out beautiful.
Hope T enjoys his new space.
Thanks Vanessa! Hopefully the landlord will follow through with his promise to clean the place and make repairs.
Looks great. I bet he has the best looking room in the house. Did you put some sort of finish on the nightstands after the chalk paint and stain?
Sorry about that. I used a satin water based poly coat on top. Hope this helps.