Middle school son’s budget friendly bedroom update

Who else has a hard time with big changes?! I am all about being comfortable, familiar, sticking to the same routine, with no surprises. So for me, change is tough. And right now, lots of changes are happening over here with our family and it’s just now hitting me.

We have a son who graduated high school and on to college. Another son who is now a middle schooler. A daughter who will be hitting the double digits in a few months and our baby who will be in tk next month. And to top it all off, we will also be back to officially homeschooling the 3 this year which I haven’t done for about 3 years now, so it’ll take a little getting used. While I am a little nervous about all these changes, I’m excited to see how God uses these changes in our lives to grow us as a family and separately in our personal relationship with Him! Those growing pains, I tell ya.. It doesn’t always feel nice, but man, the growth does make the journey so worth it!

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Speaking of growing, we actually had to work on this refresh because our boys were sharing this room, but it was getting a little too squishy for them so we moved our oldest to the guest house bedroom and gave our 11 year old a room for him to grow in. For reference both this bedroom and the girls shared bedroom are both about 10’x10′ spaces. Here’s what the bedroom looked like when we moved in:

We removed all the carpet upstairs right before Christmas last year and replaced them with this flooring. Below was the boys bedroom before they both got their own bedrooms and the first day they got their new flooring. At this point we added a light fixture, added these affordable blinds, did this ikea hack on their closet like we did with the girls room here, and installed the new flooring. Paint and design had to wait.

And here’s our son’s modern boho bedroom that, I think, he will be enjoying for a while:

Paint can make such a big impact in a space and is such an affordable update. We used the color Benjamin Moore Onyx and got it color matched at Home Depot. The boys both liked the idea of dark walls and said they would be happy with dark gray or black. I think this color is a great one because it has a warmer undertone compared to other black paints.

The other thing that really makes a big impact is adding a rug. It’s generally larger in scale, adds a nice layer for comfort and also for visual interest. You can find this rug here. It’s super cozy and exactly the type of rug my son asked for: soft and cozy. I love that it’s geometric, modern and perfect for that modern boho feel I envisioned for his room.

To keep things budget friendly for this update, I went to Ikea for the bed frame which was a lot cheaper than other beds I had my eye on. I actually have plans for an Ikea hack on this bed frame, and just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Will definitely share when I get there.

Then there’s the desk and chair. While the chair was a bit of a splurge, it was actually an extra chair we were no longer using at our dining table so that’s how it landed in here and I didn’t have to buy a new one. Shopping the home is my favorite! The desk is also an Ikea desk, but I wanted a desk under $50 and this was found on FB marketplace for $20. Score!

The difference with my boys is they’re pretty minimal. Unlike the girls, he doesn’t like clutter, and doesn’t like to have too many toys or books to where his room will get messy easily. He has one bin under his bed and that’s it. What?! He can clean his whole room in 15 minutes. Vacuuming and dusting included. The girls on the other hand, I don’t even know. What can I say, they get it from their mama ;P

Here’s a look at the closet Jason and I worked on. We hacked an old Ikea dresser, spray painted the knobs so we didn’t have to buy any, and used mdf for the shelves. I planned on spraying the hanging rods, but after thinking on it, I wasn’t sure if it would be wise since it gets a lot of use, and I’m feeling like it would look beat up right away. So for now, that’s still up in the air.

Speaking of shopping the home, the bedside table actually used to be in my bedroom. I’m so glad it worked in here!

Hope you enjoyed touring my sons fun space! He was so excited for me to share it here on the blog with you!

Shop the modern boho tween bedroom