How to Transform a Child’s Room into an Adult’s: A look at the details

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Welcome to the second part of my room transformation quest. If you want the backstory and process read the first part here. In this post I am going to give a detailed list of everything I put into this room remodel and how much it cost (as of March-June 2021). The middle of the post will include some detailed pictures showing how the bed and lower platforms were constructed for anyone that wants to replicate something similar. I am not a professional (yet), but it’s pretty structurally sound so far if anybody wants to try it for themselves!

This is a project that doesn’t need a lot of tools and some that I used could be replaced with cheaper ones, but this is everything that I used

• Hammer

• Level

• Measuring tape

• Laminate flooring install tools - sold in a kit wherever the flooring is sold or Amazon*

• Power miter saw - could be replaced by a handsaw if you are determined

• Miter box and hand saw - for trim, our power miter saw is old and doing by hand was cleaner

• Table saw - used to cut the plywood and desktop, could be replaced by a circular saw or jigsaw

• Jig saw - only used to cut the hole for the floor outlet

• Power drill/screwdriver - I used a hole paddle bit for countersinking the holes for the lag bolts, a drill bit for the pilot holes for the lag bolts, and a 1 1/2” hole bit for cord holes on my desk and nightstand. Beyond that it was completely used for screw driving.

• Pneumatic nail gun - for trim, you can use a hammer and do it by hand, nail guns are just faster

Let’s start at the beginning of the design. Flooring, paint and the light. These are arguably the most important choices I made; they became the foundation for the whole theme of the room.

• The first choice was the flooring. I went to Floor & Decor’s website, searched brown laminate and sorted by price. I loved the grain and color variation in the second one on the list. That choice was not hard. I am not intending to live in this room forever and my mom told me from the start she would probably change everything when I moved out, so I wasn’t going to worry about the potentially poor durability of a cheap flooring. It’s pretty, that’s what I really cared about. ($360 with underlayment)

• Next came the paint: I went with a Benjamin Moore basic indoor paint. Once again there are more expensive paints that can look nicer, but I was going for cheaper as it’s potentially temporary. It took exactly one gallon of primer and of green (misted fern) for everything in my room and I got a quart of grey that was color matched to the dark grey Ekets I went with (more on that below) for trim and other accents. I picked the green while at Ikea with a piece of the flooring, I originally meant to go lighter, but in the end I love this rich mossy green ($95)

• The light is a remote control ceiling light from Garwarm on Amazon*. I really love it for its unique design and it’s way brighter than my previous one. I love that it can change from a warm light to a cool light. I tend to have it on its neutral setting, it can only dim on neutral, but I change it to warm when filming. It makes the colors pop and look better on my camera. Little fun fact, I did learn that you can’t have a dimming switch attached to it (it dims from the remote anyways). The light and the switch will buzz when on if it’s not a special LED dimming switch. This is apparently something that happens with a lot of LED lights. ($100)

Next step was the platform that I first designed in SketchUp. This is everything that it took:

• Extra Flooring was purchased for the top of the platforms to match what was put down on the floor.

• Wood pieces:

  • 4”x4”x10’ - 4 pieces - Used for the legs ($70)

  • 2”x4”x12’ - 8 pieces - Used for the cross beams ($70)

  • 1”x4”x8’ - 12 pieces - Slats for the bed and leftovers were added as structural pieces around the Ekets ($48)

  • 23/32”x4’x8’ plywood- 2 pieces - Used for the top (floor) of the platform and above the Ekets ($104)

  • Cabinet side panel, 24 x 84 - 1 piece - Used at the foot of the bed and on the sides of the step - painted green ($40)

• Trim:

  • Standard room trim primed white- 5 pieces - we had to pick a taller one to cover the seam from the old trim being attached for so many years ($100)

  • 1/2 x 1/4 quarter round primed white- 3 pieces - Covering the crack between the walls and platform, it joins into the trim around the room - painted grey ($10)

  • Outer Corner trim unfinished- 4 pieces - Used around the edge of the bed platform, the stair and the front edge of the lower platform - stained to match the flooring (or close to it) ($50)

• Fasteners:

  • Hex Lag Bolts - 22 Pieces - Used to secure the legs to the cross beams ($20)

  • 2x4 Joist Hanger Brackets - 12 Pieces - Used for securing the cross beams together ($12)

  • 2.5” Torx Decking screw - A lot - Any long screw would do we just had a lot of these leftover from a previous project so they are what we used

• Ikea furniture:

  • Smasted bench with toy box drawer - The bench part of this is structural for the edge of the lower platform. Its not holding much and has plywood over it, so it should never have problems. I wanted that space to have some kind of storage. I almost picked a short dresser set, but this works even better for holding cat stuff. Never disregard options because they are in the “children’s” collections. Sometimes they work great with slight tweaks. I put wood grain contact paper* over the bright green the front had and picked my own handle*. No one would ever know it was kids furniture. ($113)

  • Eket cubes - these are my favorite discovery and I am sure I will end up using these in future remodeling projects also. I love the variety and versatility they come in. I choose to only use the deeper cubes, but there are shallower ones also if a more varied look was wanted. I needed to fill a 3 by 5 cube space, so went with these:

    • Open Cubes (1x1) - 6 Pieces - 5 Wood Grain, 1 Dark Grey (for the night stand) ($162)

    • Cubes with doors (1x1) - 3 Pieces - Dark Grey (one for the night stand) ($102)

    • Two Drawer units (1x2) - 2 Pieces - Dark Grey ($220)

    • Big Cabinet with shelf (2x2) - 1 Piece - Dark Grey - This one was put together without its back panel so that it could be used as the door into the under bed space. The shelf is easy to remove, so it makes a pretty good hidden area that I can still use for storage ($90)

• Other items that were used:

  • Floor outlet - Wired to a DIY Plug with house grade electrical wire and plugged into the outlet below it. We didn’t want to make a permanent new hole for an outlet so extended the current outlet this way. ($54 Outlet*)

Once the platform was made, the desk had to be custom because I wanted to fill the whole corner of the lower platform this wasn’t too difficult. This is what I used:

• Two black wood grain Alex drawer units from Ikea - one with a file drawer and one without as the main supports. Fair warning these aren’t actually the same height. You put feet on the one without the big drawer and there are spacers on the top of the one with the big drawer. I didn’t want a space under the one with smaller drawers, so I put its feet on the top of it. It’s technically still not exactly the same height but it’s close enough. ($240)

• 2 pieces of 24x72 spruce boards from Lowe’s made the top. I just had to cut one direction on both of them and finished it with a light sanding and coat of Danish Oil. ($104)

• 2 premade furniture legs and hardware - cut to the same height as the Alex drawers ($40)

• 1 corner metal strap - used for support at the front, so there wouldn’t be a leg in that space ($7)

• 2 straight metal straps - additional support along the seam between the two pieces ($7)

• An additional 4 short premade legs and hardware - used with an extra piece of desktop panel to make a shelf to put over my printer ($30)

I screwed up through the inside of the Alex drawers with a couple of screws each to help hold the top in place. I sort of wish I had put the outlet closer to one of the Alex’s to better hide cables, but it is what it is at this point and I am mostly just happy that it’s there.

Now we get into the fun part, with all the construction done it was time to refill all my stuff and add new decor items. This was a couple week process with multiple online orders for items to complete the look I was going for and to help with organization. I won’t get into how I organized drawers and my closet, it was heavily based on the KonMari method though. Below I will give a list of items and the reasons I picked what I did to tie it all together.

3 pieces photo ledge set* - I have a ton of 2d art and this way nothing is permanently attached to the walls, so I can change things up when I want. I am was also able to condense and overlap pictures. What was once chaos everywhere is now nicely contained mostly to one space. ($70)

Drawer shelf* - I wanted something near my door to drop my glasses on (I lose them if there isn’t a designated place) these drawer shelves are really cute and the second one fits under my monitor, so I have extra drawers on my desk too. ($25)

Wall decal*- I have never had walls that were all one flat plain color. I wanted simple for this project but added some pizzazz to the art wall with this nice wall decal. I have had multiple people ask me if I painted it on at this point, so it is working. ($24)

Pin display - I made this with a wood poster hanger from Ikea and a piece of random cotton I had. All I did was hem the two sides and fasten it between the frame. It looks like a cool tapestry and is super easy to attach and rearrange. I also got a magnetic version from amazon* to put up a long and skinny art print. I really love the look of these. ($8)

Corner Shelf* - I added this shelf to go with the corner desk and my monitor in the corner. This way the corner flows all together. ($27)

Bed Spread - The quilt was from target, I wanted a light colored one to offset darker elements in my room. The sheets are microfiber ones from amazon I have been using the twin version of these for years. Sometimes you just have to stick to what you love. ($80)

Antique letterpress drawer - I have always loved the look of old wood and I have a collection of little treasures, mostly dice, that needed something nice to contain and display them. ($110)

Window coverings - this was me combining 3 different things. I love to sleep in darkness, but my cat has a tendency to push blackout curtains out of the way. I like the look of curtains more than blinds though, so I decided to layer them. I got a custom sized light filtering blinds that had a natural style. I couldn’t find a patterned curtain that would cohesively make sense with the rest of the theme of my room, but while searching I came across this ivy curtain* that came with string lights. I picked plain curtains* in a color that seemed to match the bedspread as well as I could online. I had to hem them because of my desk, but in the end I love how it turned on and extra lights just add to the whimsical nature theme. ($180)

Foldable Wine Rack - For scarf storage! I found mine at a garage sale, but they are readily available on Amazon*. I attached it to the wall with two nails then I rolled up all my scarves to put them in the holes. I love this method, so I can see all my scarves at once and they are well contained ($14)

Wall hooks* - screwed directly into the wall under the wine rack to hang up jackets and purses. ($12 for 6)

Everything else I already had and are mostly small treasures that I have gathered over the years. I absolutely love how it all turned out and how everything came together. The total cost of this project came out just about $3,000 including a few other things that weren’t significant enough to mention. I did not include the cost of the mattress or the litter robot (the two most expensive items). Mattresses are really person specific and that cost shouldn’t affect a person’s ability to replicate what I did. The litter robot was a splurge and had nothing to do with my room I just got it at the same time to replace the other litter box that used to live in my room.

You have reached the end of this quest, thanks for reading! The video version is attached below and as always if you have questions or comments leave them below.