Ella's Bedroom Makeover Part 1: Budget

My daughter has now hit a point where she no longer is a little girl, not quite a tween; but as we are moving her to her own bedroom we want to do a bedroom makeover that will keep the sweetness of the girl she is, whilst being adaptable to grow with her as she develops into a tween. To do this I have been researching bed sheets – she particularly loves flannelette sheets – and bedroom makeovers and dreaming (and dreaming) of what we can offer her to make her room a special, magical place without spending a fortune.

We have a realistic budget of $1500 to make improvements to the room. The budget is higher than we would’ve liked, however we have chosen to change the built-in wardrobe which will improve the overall use and long term return of the room. This alone is taking $1,100 from the budget, leaving us only $400 for new furniture and accessories. We will be utilising the existing bed as it is in great condition.

Follow our progress in the upcoming blog posts to see the final bedroom makeover. The key aspects of our bedroom makeover budget are dedicated to the following:

ella_bedroom_makeover 1. Maximising the space. With a small house and a big family we are continually looking for ways to maximise our space; to take better advantage of what you’ve got. We decided to redo the built in wardrobe to modernise it and to make it more functional. The current wardrobe has doors that open out and take up most of the space, limiting the amount of furniture, things you can do with the room. There is also only one top shelf and a hanging rack, making it impractical for a little girl. Although most of our budget ($1,100) will be spent on this one feature; by improving the built in wardrobe we will gain space and avoid spending money on other furniture such as a new tallboy. For the new wardrobe I have chosen to have sliding doors – 1 with a mirror (which every girl needs) and the other, a plain white door which she can stick her pictures and notes on.

2. Simple to change. As Ella grows, her interests will change and I have no desire to redo her bedroom every few years, so I chose to paint the room 1 colour and use accessories to create the look and feel of the room. This is ideal to keep her room suitable for a young girl at the moment with the ability to make simple amendments as her interests change. Ella chose the paint colour (and the cute Owl Quilt Cover and Pillow Set (from Fantastic Furniture)

toddler_lounge_pink 3. Good Furnishings that cater to her interests. Ella loves to read, so I wanted to create a space that allowed her to read during the day and then also at bedtime. After some online therapy, I feel in love with the idea of creating a reading corner where she can sit in her own special reading chair next to her bookshelf and read during the day. The MiniBeanz Toddler Lounge ($79.95) was perfect for this. It offered a comfortable chair that she can sit and read in that also will complement the look of the room, is functional when friends come over and more.

She also really wanted a bedside table and a lamp so that she could read at bedtime. For a year or so she has ‘secretly’ read in bed at night using her Dreamlite (or any light she can find). With more space and no other children in the room, a bedside table and a lamp will allow her to continue doing this without hurting her eyes. Now that she is that much older I am also more confident that she will not break the lamp. We chose the Fantastic Furniture Hayman Bedside Table and a mix and match lamp option which gave Ella so much satisfaction as she could choose the exact look, style and colour to suit her. I loved the price ($170 for both) and the fact that I could purchase them online with delivery to my door. Thanks to the this, I didn’t have to take the children shopping.

So the total budget for Ella’s bedroom makeover is broken down as follows:

Built in Wardrobe: $1100
Paint 4L: $70
Bean Bag: $80
Lamp: $55
Bedside Table: $115
Quilt cover set $40
Total: $1460

Leaving us an additional $40 for any extra decorating touches we choose as we undertake the Bedroom Makeover.
That also means that without the Wardrobe, you could do this Bedroom Makeover for only $400!

I would love to get ideas and inspiration from bedroom makeovers you have done. Comment below with any questions or suggestions you have in relation to kids bedroom makeovers.

P.S. Keep following our bedroom makeover journey as we will be offering the opportunity to win something great for your child’s bedroom at the end of this!