Whew! I finally finished this small bedroom with lots of Ikea hacks (back in October, actually), and I’m so happy with how it turned out. This one was unusual because I did a lot of the work myself – something I have not done in quite a while. This was for a family member who doesn’t use this room much, so luckily, I could work on it as my schedule allowed. (Here’s the rest of the condo.)
In case you missed it, here’s the first post with the before pictures and the plan for the room, and the second post with details about the materials and choices I made to create a custom look.
In this post I’ll show you how everything turned out and tell you what worked, what didn’t and what I’ll never do again.
Table of Contents
What Went Right in this Small Bedroom Ikea Hack
I used some hotel design secrets when I designed this room to make the most of a small room without a closet. Think about it – the more rooms a hotel has, the more money they make, so even the most luxurious hotels in the world have some small rooms. Here are the tricks I used:
“Built-ins” mean no space is wasted.
This room had just enough room on either side of a queen bed for a small wardrobe. I considered having custom cabinets built, but in the end, I decided to use the smallest Ikea Pax cabinets and make them look built-in because they were already nearly the perfect size to fit in the space.
I included a framed panel above the bed and the headboard as part of the built-ins to make everything look connected.
To do all this, I had a carpenter frame out around the closets and the bed, and cover it with MDF (medium-density fiberboard) for a smooth, paintable finish. I then added trim and laser-cut details to the Ikea Pax doors and the front of the bed, and then primed and painted everything except the bed base.
Tip: I had the paint store color match the white Ikea furniture so that the painted and unpainted parts would match in the end.
A small space calls for multi-purpose furniture.
The queen bed base is Ikea, also. It’s the Nordli storage bed with six nice big drawers. When I drew up the plans for all of the framing, I used the exact dimensions of the bed base so everything would fit together.
A storage bed like this is perfect for this room because it is a guest room that isn’t used very often, so the homeowner can store things like extra linens and towels in the drawers. If this were a full-time Airbnb, I would NOT recommend a storage bed. That’s because 1) the room already has a dresser, and short-term guests don’t need that much storage, and 2) it gives them more places to leave things behind.
A limited palette minimizes visual clutter.
I wanted to use a color that would make the white built-ins look special, so I started with the hand-painted wallpaper above the bed to determine my palette. I chose a blue grasscloth paper that coordinates with the blue silk of the handpainted panel and a darker blue paint for the dresser.
The reason it all works in a small room is that all the blues are in the same family and that they all have a lot of texture. This is especially important for the main wallcovering which has a beautiful, natural sheen that bounces sunlight around in the room, which keeps it from feeling dreary.
Right-sized furniture allows people to use small spaces comfortably.
I knew a queen bed could fit in this room, and everything else needed to work around it. Want a cheatsheet for bedroom design? Check this out.
I was careful about how wide the dresser needed to be, but what I didn’t consider at first was that a standard depth dresser wouldn’t work. That’s because the bed is pushed away from the wall, so there isn’t much room between the foot of the bed and the dresser. A standard depth dresser would fit, but opening the drawers without slamming them into your shins would be tricky when you stood in front of the bed. Not the experience I was going for.
So, I revised my idea of painting a vintage dresser and decided on customizing the Ikea Tarva dresser instead because it’s only 16″ deep. (Read on to see why I don’t recommend this one.)
I added light, both natural and artificial.
The reading lights were a key feature of the built-in because the light on the ceiling fan was not very bright or pleasant. The sconces I chose come with the option to use them with a plug or hardwired, so I faked a hardwired look by running the cords down the space between the Ikea closet and the trim and out through a hole in the bottom. They plug into an outlet behind the bed, and the headboard comes off, so you can easily reach the outlet if needed.
I also added a smaller accent lamp to the dresser, but one of the most important things about this room is the natural light reflected from both the mirror above the dresser and the sheen of the wallcovering.
What Wasn't So Great About this Small Bedroom Makeover
It took way too long.
Because I stopped and started this project as my schedule allowed, it took nearly a year from start to finish. I think if I’d been able to work on it for a solid month I would have finished it, but that wasn’t an option.
To be honest, one of the things that slowed me down was the carpenter I hired. He finished his work really fast, but he cut a lot of corners to do so. Consequently, I spent quite a lot of time with Bondo, a sander, and extra trim to bring everything up to the level I wanted before I could even put down a layer of primer.
But before I started trying to salvage his work, I spent a long time thinking about whether I wanted to try or just tear everything out and start over. In the end, I decided to give it a shot and keep the option of starting over in my back pocket if I wasn’t able to get it to the level I wanted it.
The built-ins aren’t perfect, but I am happy with how they turned out after all that time and effort.
There’s a reason some things are cheap.
The only thing I’m disappointed in after all is said and done is the dresser. It looks good, but it’s pretty flimsy, as you might expect from a piece of furniture that costs so little. Because it’s made of pine, it’s very light weight and you can tell. Even though it’s anchored to the wall it’s wobbly, and the drawers aren’t flush or aligned. It’s fine for a piece of furnture that won’t be used often, but I would never put it in a full-time vacation rental, so I don’t recommend it.
If I had to do it again I’d keep looking for a vintage dresser to make over or even would have had my cabinet maker build something. I could have still used the cute legs, O’verlays panels and hardware to customize it, but had something more worth all the time and effort in the end.
What I'll Never Do Again
Try to do something special in a hurry.
It’s ironic that this project ended up taking so long because I started it last year as part of the One Room Challenge. That’s a twice-a-year challenge for designers and influencers to complete a project in their own homes in six weeks and document it week by week.
Of course, after I committed, life got very busy, I hired the carpenter who didn’t do a very good job, and I decided to drop out of the challenge rather than rush it and complete something I wouldn’t be proud of.
Since I was DIY-ing a lot of this project, I knew I would make mistakes. But when I think back on it, the major mistakes I made were because I was trying to do something too quickly, whether that meant buying a cheap dresser rather than spend more time looking or hiring a carpenter who might not have fully understood or respected what I was trying to do.
Whether it was choosing a dresser, learning to use a paint gun, or hiring a professional to help me, not taking the time to take a breath and do my homework ended up costing me way more time in the end. I will definitely do more DIY projects, and even the One Room Challenge, in the future. But next time, I’ll try to be better at paying attention when the little voice in my head tells me to step back, breathe and think things through.
Should You Try Something Like This?
The answer to whether or not I recommend trying a DIY project starts with some questions:
- Do you like doing stuff like this?
- Do you have time and energy to tackle the project you’re thinking of?
- Do you have anyone to help you?
- Have you done anything like this before?
