Ocean-Themed Boy’s Bedroom Makeover

For the Fall 2023 One Room Challenge, I gave my son’s bedroom a much needed makeover. It was the last room in the house with the original dusty blue carpet, and I couldn’t tell the last time the room had been given a fresh coat of paint. I wanted to create a space that reflected my son at this stage, but would grow with him as well.

He had been into deep sea creatures for some time (we’ve gone to several aquariums in search of seeing an octopus!) so I decided to take that theme and run with it.

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The first thing I did was rip up the carpet and decide what color to paint the room. This room is in a corner of the house with south and west facing windows so it gets a decent amount of light. I decided to paint it dark blue to emulate the bottom of the ocean and after sampling a few shades went with Sherwin Williams Mount Etna. While painting the walls, I started to think I needed to paint the ceiling as well. After all, if you want to feel like you’re in the ocean deep, you should feel it on all sides!

Most of the ceilings in our home have crows feet texture, and I wasn’t sure what painting it would be like. Would the paint roll on evenly or would I have to go back over every bump with a paint brush? Fortunately the roller worked just fine and we had a color drenched room!

With the painting done, I moved on to the flooring. I’ve been working on installing Flooret LVP flooring throughout our home, room by room. I chose their Nakan Signature planks. I love the wide planks, and I feel like any picture of Nakan I’ve seen never really captures the true color of these planks. Flooret’s website describes them as a beachy blond, and I would say they are warm without being too warm, light without being too light, goldilocks just right! In this bedroom, it feels like a sandy beach floor!

Now that the canvas was done with the walls and floor, it was time to have some fun! I wanted to break up the paint a little bit with wallpaper. I searched for quite some time trying to decide on a pattern, but because I want this room to grow with him, I decided against anything too theme-y. So no deep sea creatures, no ocean murals, etc. I landed on this Japanese wave wallpaper from Livette’s Wallpaper.

After installing the wallpaper (which went so quick by the way, it only took me an afternoon, and I credit that to the quality of the wallpaper and how much easier it is to wallpaper a rectangle over the angle of a staircase as I’m currently doing!), I had an idea for a fun DIY. I’d bought my son an IKEA Tarva dresser a few years back, and if you’re familiar with the Tarva line, you know it’s just asking to be customized! I had come across this inspo image, but knew I needed it to be budget friendly as we were getting to the end of this room makeover (and my budget). Lumber has become a bit pricier in recent years, and I didn’t want to spend a lot on trim pieces. One day I had the idea to use shims! I was able to get a pack for under $7 and only needed 2 packs for the dresser. And as a creative bonus, I thought alternating the slant on each drawer gave it a slight wave-like feel.

I chose the paint color ?? by Sherwin Williams for the dresser. It has a sea glass feel. I love details and was so happy to find these deep sea diver knobs to add. You can see my tutorial for this dresser here!

The other DIY I created for this room was a light fixture! There is no overhead light in the room, so I decided to make one. I picked up this basket from Target that felt a bit nautical to me, cut the handles off, and then used cup hooks to secure it to the ceiling with a pendant light kit. I think it adds a fun, custom detail to the space, while also providing functional light! I shared a video on how I made it here.

With the DIYs done, all that was left was styling the room! I wanted this Loloi cloudpile rug for the room because they are incredibly soft, but it came in sizes either too small or too large for the space. Layering a jute rug underneath was the perfect solution to give the room the appropriate sized rug!

Throughout the project I had been looking at prints from Etsy that would be fun for the room. I especially liked this Hawaii, bioluminescent squid, and this deep sea diver. We’d also picked up a few octopi decor, and I used all of that throughout the room in a little gallery wall and on shelves.

His bed doesn’t have a headboard, but I wanted something to anchor the bed, so I got this tapestry from Society 6 that added a fun touch!

I love that the room feels all in on the ocean theme now with the art and decor, but the bones of it – the updated flooring, blue walls, and a somewhat neutral wallpaper – will be able to grow with him. It will be easy to adjust the decor as his interests change, and even paint the walls. But for now, we’re enjoying being under the sea!