One Room Challenge: Boy’s Bedroom Makeover
+ How to Style a Nightstand (for a Boy or Girl)
Hello! It is hard to believe it is Week #4 of One Room Challenge! I literally look forward to it the way my kids count down the days until their birthday (starting like 5 months before the actual day). One Room Challenge is a 6 week Challenge where hundreds of Guest Designers along with 20 Featured Designers make over their rooms in this short time frame. For me, it is the perfect excuse to actually work on my own home instead of just my clients.
If this is your first time here, I’m Kristin! I have never meet a cookie I didn’t like, live in my skinny jeans, and am currently binge watching Nashville. 🙂 I have three kiddos and that is why I started my E-Design company. Like many of you, I have a lot of my plate and it was hard for clients to find hours of free time to meet with me all over town. So instead I custom design their rooms virtually and then mail them their entire room-inside-a-box. They can order their whole room without ever leaving home. In their yoga pants. Which is my favorite combination.
Adventure Themed Boy’s Bedroom Makeover
So if you missed any of the past weeks, I’m making over my eight year old son’s bedroom. I hadn’t updated it since he was three and it was time. And as you can imagine, you can have a LOT of fun with kid’s decor. So for his bedroom makeover I am going with an Adventure-Woodland-Camping theme. The boy can’t get enough of being outside, so we are bring some outdoors in for him. In case you missed some of the past weeks here is what has been going on over here in makeover land:
One Room Challenge Week #1: Choosing a Theme + Free Mood Board & Shopping List Printable
One Room Challenge Week #2: Bedding + Free “How to Create the Perfect Bedding Combo” Guide
One Room Challenge Week #3: Choosing the Right Accessories + Free “10 Items Under $40” Mood Board
Plus, as big old thank-you to following along the process of my Adventure Bedroom Makeover, I have created a brand new FREEBIE for each week. You can find all of them (along with the Shopping Lists) right in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY (along with dozens of other free Mood Boards, Guides, Lists, and more…like my favorite sources to shop, bedding combo guides, top paint colors, and so much more). If you missed the Freebies I have shared so far, take a look. If you love it, just click on the image to take you right to my Free Resource Library:
So as you can see…it’s been a busy few weeks! Last week I showed you all of the cutie pie accessories I found for my little man. While I do have a Adventure Bedroom theme going, I didn’t want to be TOO themey, so I tried to find masculine items that I could re-use even if the theme changes down the road. And I saved oodles by buying inexpensive Etsy Instant Download prints. They were all under $10 so again, not spending a fortune on accessories that might get swapped out in the future.
So you have a pile of decor accessories…now what?
It’s one thing to FIND all of the cute stuff. It is quite another to figure out where to put it all. You want enough style to make it fun, but you don’t want piles of stuff everywhere (my kids are good enough at making that on their own!). Plus I have this week’s Freebie for you on that very subject. It is a Mood Board + Shopping List on How to Style a Nightstand. Every week during One Room Challenge I have created an exclusive Freebie just for my readers! I have made Mood Boards, Guides, and Shopping Lists. You can find them all (including dozens of other non ORC related ones) right here in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.
So going with this week’s theme of creating vignettes and styling a room with your decor accessories, this week is all about How To Style a Nightstand. You can use this for a kid’s room, but you can apply everything for your own bedroom as well:
How to Style a Nightstand or Dresser
Confession time. I don’t design a ton of open shelves for my clients because I really don’t want to create something that requires dozens of objects to simply fill up space. I don’t want to waste that space or their money. So whenever I style open shelves or tabletops (such a coffee table), I really like to use beautiful but simple vignettes. The same goes when styling a nightstand or dresser. So here are some tips to create a top that has “enough” without going crazy with “too much”. And while my One Room Challenge happens to be a Boy’s Bedroom Makeover, these tips can work for any bedroom.
And here is a Sneak Peek at the nightstand in my One Room Challenge Bedroom Makeover:
5 Items to Style a Bedroom Nightstand
Nightstand Item 1: Table sized lamp
Choose your lamp based on the size of your nightstand-the smaller the table, the slimmer your lamp should be. For kids’ bedrooms I like metal or wood lamps since they are less prone to breaking. If you have a kid that is hard on things, try a pharmacy style lamp that has no shade-it can take what your kid can throw at it! For any bedroom, if you are tight on space, try a wall mounted sconce. If you don’t want to bring in an electrician, I would recommend a plug-in sconce.
Nightstand Item 2: A shelf/drawer with a basket or bin
I know this isn’t part of the actual styling of a bedside table, BUT it goes a looooong way to keep that table looking clean and pretty. Let’s be honest-we all have junk that we want near us in bed but isn’t so pretty to look at. The nightstand in the photo above is from Target and has two drawers. Stash your glasses, the book you are reading, your kids toy in here. If you choose a style that is more open, I would highly suggest looking for a table with a bottom shelf, which leads to Item #3.
Be sure to add a basket or bin to that open shelf.
Again, this is to corral and hide all of those not-so-pretty items. At my house I’m always in the middle of about 5 different books, so I stash them all in a basket on the bottom shelf of my bedside table. If you love a clean, organized look, grab a basket with a lid on it. No one will EVER know how messy it gets inside of there! I found this gray metal bin for my son’s bedroom at HomeGoods for under $15.
Nightstand Item 3: Fun artwork
Above your nightstand is the perfect place to hang artwork. You can frame it, or be more creative and hang from clips, string, or even tack in the corners with gold thumbacks (one of my fav budget friendly ways to do it!). Like in my One Room Challenge bedroom, in this bedroom they stacked items above each other to create a longer vertical look. Hang a smaller object like this pennant above a framed print.
I like to keep my artwork low to the nightstand top and only hang 2-3″ above it, centered over your piece of furniture (see the photo from Tip #2). But another way to do it is hang your artwork above the top of your lamp (or tallest item on your nightstand) like in the photo above.
Also, feel free to swap out artwork with a mirror, tapestry, wall hanging, etc.
Nightstand Item 4: A dish, jar, or tray
I am a Chapstick-aholic so I always have to have one of these on my beside table at all times. For you, maybe you take off your jewelery here at night. Or for your kiddo, it could be a place to stash their glasses or little treasure. (My six year old loves to take “treasures” to bed with her every night). Grab something that is pretty and fun. I love shopping Anthropolgie’s dish collection-I use their cereal bowls or tiny serving dishes for this exact purpose.
I designed this Master Bedroom for a different client, but this clear glass vase is the perfect spot for corraling items. Or put fresh flowers or a candle in it….ladies choice!
Nightstand Item 5: Whimsical or fun decor object
This is a place you can have fun! For my son’s One Room Challenge bedroom makeover, I found a faux antler on clearance (at $3.50!) that I’m using in his Adventure Bedroom. In my own bedroom it is a small potted succulent. Make it simple and not something you always have to “rearrange” to look perfect.
I also fell in love with this simple moveable calendar…fun and educational, right? Wink, wink.
One Room Challenge Freebie of the Week
So that brings me to this week’s freebie! For every week of this One Room Challenge process I wanted to create a Free Mood Board, Guide, or Shopping List to go along with the theme of Kid’s Bedroom Makeover. I know you are busy, and as big fat thank-you for following along with my Boy’s Adventure Bedroom Makeover process, I wanted you to have something you could take and use in your own home! You can apply this to a girl’s bedroom, a playroom, a homework center, or even a grown-up space as well.
How To Style a Nightstand Free Mood Board
First, if you like the ideas I did in my own Woodland Bedroom nightstand, you can find that Mood Board + Shopping List HERE. BUT I also wanted to show you a whole different look as well.
This freebie has all 5 Items to Style a Nightstand from our chat above, and one version is styled with some masculine artwork and the other with some more feminine artwork (although either could be used for a boy, girl, playroom, or nursery!) You can find it, with all of the One Room Challenge Freebies (along with dozens of other ones for every room of your home in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.
And finally join me next week as we talk about headboards, bedding and more! You can follow along with the hundreds of other designers as well as the 20 Featured Designers taking part of One Room Challenge…have fun!
Cheers,
Kristin
Sheiila W says
Hi Kristin,
Love the design concepts you’ve shared. Can you provide details on the metal nightstand with the green drawers.please? I have been seeking a similar item for my three year-old grandson to have in his bedroom when he visits my son, I’m doing his space in Disney Cars theme.
PostboxDesigns says
Hi Sheila, Of course! It is from Target and it comes in several different colors. Here is the link to it: https://www.target.com/p/2-drawer-locker-kids-nightstand-pillowfort-153/-/A-51931463#lnk=sametab&preselect=50080611 Good luck pulling together your grandson’s room-what a fun theme! 🙂
Alma says
These are so fun!
PostboxDesigns says
Thanks so much! 🙂
Dana Tucker says
I love your design and your helpful hints. Excuse me while I go and spend hours in your Free Resource Library. What a fantastic source!! xoxo
PostboxDesigns says
Dana, Thanks so much! I love it…go grab a cup of coffee and go crazy binging on the Free Resource Library 🙂 I hope it helps you out!
Colette @ restyle it wright says
It looks so sweet already! I can’t wait to see the whole space! Great night stand tips!
PostboxDesigns says
Thanks so much! It’s been a fun makeover 🙂
Jessica | Petal + Ply says
That nightstand is so fun! Love the pop of green!
PostboxDesigns says
Thank-you! I figure a metal nightstand can hold up to an 8 year old’s wear and tear 🙂