My daughter turned four this year and it was time to make the transition to a big girl bed and a room that can grow with her for the next several years. I was so happy with how it turned out!
Shop this room:
Twin canopy bed, only $250!!!
Area rug - Similar option, Similar option, Similar option
Similar Dresser, matches nightstand
Charlie is obsessed with Disney princesses but I wanted to make her princess room more classic, mature and glamorous than a typical princess-themed room. I wanted it to grow with her for years. I also wanted this room to be budget-friendly so I saved everywhere I could and made her feature wall myself.
DIY Board and Batten / Wainscotting
I started the project by making the board and batten on the statement wall. I measured the back wall's width and height. I determined that I wanted the wood trim to be 5 feet tall. I then used this awesome free wainscoting calculator to determine how wide each rectangular panel needed to be. I decided I wanted 8 panels across the wall and would use 1X3 pieces of mdf trim.
The calculation (shown to the right) showed I could make 8 panels with a width of 15 3/8 inches each. This would require 9 vertical 1X3 pieces of mdf trim to make the tall vertical sides of the panels. I used two 1X4 mdf pieces across the top and two 1X1's across the bottom, on top of the baseboard. The bottom board is important because if you have the vertical boards meet the baseboard directly, they are thicker and thus will hang over the baseboard. Adding the thin piece at the bottom will make the entire wall look much more complete and give the true facade of board and batten.
My walls have light/medium texture but not heavy orange peel texture so I only used wood trims and then painted the entire inner area the same color to make it appear to be true board and batten. If you have heavy texture, you will want to put large mdf boards over the entire area to cover all the texture and create a smooth surface and attach the trim pieces to these boards.
Next, I made measurements and had my husband cut the pieces of trim to the lengths I needed (stores like. Home Depot can make these cuts for you). I painted these trim pieces with one coat of the dark pink paint (Behr Cherry Juice) and I also painted the wall area that the trim would be on, up to the 5 ft mark (see picture below).
It's more difficult to paint the wall and trim pieces once the trim is up so painting your first coat beforehand saves you time and ensures that all the original wall color is covered and the trim pieces have a solid first coat.
Once the wall and trim pieces were dry, I used a stud finder and marked where studs and electrical ran in the wall. You can use painter's tape to mark these spots. Avoid nailing into electrical and try to nail into as many studs as possible. I used a nail gun to attach the trim, it helps to angle your nails to get a better grip into the wall.
First, I nailed the top horizontal trim pieces and the bottom horizontal 1X1's (it took two of each to cover the wall). Then, I nailed the far left and right vertical pieces to make the full border of trim (see image to the right).
Try to only use the minimal amount of nails needed to secure the trim to reduce the amount of nail holes. It's important to use a leveler during this step to make sure the trim is not slanted. It's also important to continue to measure the distance between the vertical trim pieces to make sure your panels remain the same distance apart and to stay on track with your calculations. Boards are not always the exact width so sometimes numbers can get thrown off quickly and you might need to adjust to get the end result you had planned on. I did not use liquid nails (glue) since brad nails with a nailgun will do the job just fine and liquid glue will ruin your wall if you ever want to remove it.
Once the trim is in place, you will need to calk all the edges where the trim meets the wall and use wood filler where wood trim pieces meet other wood pieces. You will also need to use filler over the nail holes (Thus, why I said before to minimize the amount of nail holes you create). This step takes time but will make the difference between a professional-looking project and a messy one. These steps will help create a clean board and batten look.
After you're done calking and filling, it's paint time! I used painter's tape around the edges and between the bottom board and the baseboard. I used a combination of brushes and rollers to paint. I ended up doing three coats of paint including the initial coat I did before the trim was up. Read your paint instructions to know how long you need to wait between coats and how long after your last coat you should wait to touch it. When the last coat was complete I took off the painter's tape before it dried.
Wallpaper
Now it was wallpaper time! I used this removable peel-and-stick wallpaper and was very impressed with the quality and ease of the product. I chose this company after looking at a few other trendy companies that cost more than double, this saved me hundreds for just this small amount of space above the wood trim. The wallpaper comes with instructions and it was easy to handle and very easy to reposition if I needed to. The only issue I ran into was that our walls/ceiling were not straight so I had to adjust the wallpaper to compensate for that. I got up all the wallpaper in about two hours and it would have taken less time if my walls weren't so slanted. Putting up the wallpaper mostly just entailed lining up the pattern, using a shower squeegee to push out air bubbles, and using a razor cutter to cut the excess off where the wallpaper met the horizontal wood trim piece.
After the wallpaper was hung, the space had truly transformed! It turned out even better than I had imagined and I was so glad I went with a deeper pink paint color and coordinating classic wallpaper.
Furniture and Decor
Now it was time for the furniture and decor! We placed a large area rug (here is a similar beautiful rug) in the center of the room and built the gold canopy bed on top of it. I was so impressed with this affordable canopy bed! It's such great quality for an unbeatable price.
I used these beautiful velvet ottomans at the foot of the bed and they really help complete the look.
One of my favorite finds was this chandelier. Compared to other lighting options I considered, this was a steal and I was so surprised at the quality and large size of it. It makes a beautiful statement in the space. We replaced the original flush mount light that was in her room with this chandelier and it made such a big difference.
I used this princess bedding which was my daughter's favorite part and made the transition from her toddler bed a piece of cake! She's in love with the matching princess pillow too. Though the bedding was a splurge, it is embroidered and such an elegant and beautiful touch for a princess-themed room. Most importantly, it's Charlie's favorite part!
I hung three framed princess art prints that coordinated with the bedding perfectly. I printed them at Staples for about $2 on heavier-weighted paper. This is such an affordable way to add custom art to a space!
In addition to princesses, I wanted to carry the theme of bows through the design. So I replaced the knobs on the nightstand and dresser with gold bow knobs. This was such an affordable custom touch. The nightstand was also a great budget-friendly find!
I found a $14 jewelry box from TJ Maxx (in-store) that had a small gold bow as well and placed that on the dresser. I centered this gold mirror on the dresser.
This gold mirror is a beautiful and much more affordable look for less of the expensive trending Anthropologie mirror.
I also used this $55 lamp on the nightstand which is an adorable and almost identical dupe of a $1,000 designer lamp.
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