Room makeover on a budget! Painting over wallpaper and refinishing hardwood floors?! This room makeover is amazing...

$100 Room Makeover – Master Closet Edition

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Has a room ever had you in tears? Made you question your sanity? Want to throw entire projects out the window? Made you sleep in the guest room for forever because it stunk so. very. very. badly?

Yep, you guessed it. This room did all those things. I hope the rooms in your house are nicer to you. This one needed a stern talking to before it was done. (oh wait, maybe that was me)

The beginning is always a very good place to start, so let’s go there.

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Room Makeover – Intervention Needed

Friend, before I show you the before pics, I feel it necessary to warn you to have a seat and brace yourself. You thought the garage before photos were nasty (well, they WERE) – these pics are nasty on a whole new level. I’m talking this room could have won a spot on Hoarders. It was the catch-all and indeed, it CAUGHT IT ALL. Bless it’s heart. I’ve since apologized to it.

Are you sitting down?

BEHOLD.

Completely horrific!!! I’d had enough. It was about to get real up in here. Ginormous heavy duty garbage bags in hand, I got to work.

After all was said and done, anything that was still in good shape was donated (including about 75% of my clothes) – hello, capsule wardrobe, and the rest was thrown away. It felt so good to be rid of that mess.

Painting Wallpaper (oh yes, I did)

The wallpaper in this room HAD to go. The darkness of it made it feel very cave-like in here. However, I didn’t want to deal with ripping off wallpaper again (like we have in every.single.one. of the rooms on the second floor of this house) – so I decided to paint it. My beloved Aunt Judy had done so with spectacular results and I was willing to give it a go.

After the wallpaper was done (it took four coats because I’m stubborn and don’t usually prime), it looked great.

(this pic is after the carpet came up, but it’s a good shot of the walls, so I’m putting it here.) 🙂

Hardwood Floors Uncovered

At some point along the way, I got a wild notion to take a peek at what was underneath the carpet. As I suspected, HARDWOOD!

It was in horrible shape, though.

I thought about painting it or leaving it and putting down a rug – because I did not want to deal with the work of sanding down and refinishing hardwood floors. But the more I thought about it, I knew I would love it best with gorgeous, newly refinished hardwood floors.

When all was said and done, the one thing I thought I DIDN’T want to do was the exact same thing I errrr….we ended up doing. My sweet Mr. 1915 is the most amazing man out there (sorry, ladies, he’s mine) and he sanded the floors *on his hands and knees* (remember, we’re on a $100 budget, so renting a floor sander was out of the question).

Is that true love or what?!

The floors cleaned up beautifully. All the spilled paint and nail polish (NONE of it from us!) disappeared and the floors were ready for stain. I chose Minwax English Chestnut and I love the depth of color.

The Stench

OK – here was the stinky part. The temps here in MN at the moment are NOT conducive to staining and sealing a hardwood floor. I’d never stained anything before – much less, an entire floor – and the fumes were SO bad. I was literally crying to my friends, wallowing in MAJOR project regret. Mom guilt weighed on me like a ton of bricks. “All the fumes are so bad for the kids! For you!” Finally, in a fit of panic, I opened almost all the windows in the house, had a fans going and said 1,389,235 prayers of forgiveness for subjecting my family to the hellish fumes. And immediately took the kids to a park for a few hours while the house aired out. Sigh. Chalking this one up to experience- of what NOT to do.

After the poly dried and I had wiped away my bitter tears of regret, I had to go back around and touch up the trim, where I had painted next to the carpet. (yes, I totally did this in the wrong order, I KNOW)

Boob Light GONE

A dear sweet friend BLESSED me with a chandelier she no longer wanted. I thought about painting it, but I’ll be honest, I both ran out of time AND kind of liked it as is. I figure if I decide I don’t like it “as is” down the road, I can always paint it later. But for now, I love my new/old chandy.

Here’s the room, all completed and ready for use! I brought my dresser back in; a chair I got from my Mom (which I will recover one of these days), and a few other items I’ll use. I even had Mr. 1915 hang this mirror my Dad made for me years ago as my full length mirror – even though it’s not really full length because of the wood pieces in the middle. 😉 Can you guess what this piece used to be?

I’ve been wanting a Fiddle Leaf Fig plant for forever now and a sweet Instagram friend, Cynthia, shared her secret with my about getting faux banches and arranging them to look like the real deal. Yay for a plant I can’t kill! 😀

Here’s a close up of the floors. You can find similar sheepskins (real and faux) here.

Instead of hanging my scarves, I decided to roll them and place them in a basket – I hate the visual clutter of a bunch of scarves hanging off those special hangers. Maybe a weird quirk I have?

Yes, this is actually my wardrobe. Remember up above I said I loved a capsule wardrobe? I wasn’t kidding. 😉 And no, my dresser is not overflowing with clothes. It actually has a couple drawers that hold craft supplies and my painting clothes.

These cute hooks I’ve had for years and never used until now. They’ll hold items I use most often…my grab-and-go things.

The little white cabinet holds the shoes I don’t wear as often. And the dresser has quite a story (I’ll spare you the details) but to be perfectly honest, I almost edited out the flaws on it – the scratches and missing pieces of veneer, but I decided “No.” – this is real life – imperfections and all. So it is what it is and I love it.

The “do it scared” sign is from the sweet Jenny from Down Grace Lane. She custom-made this one for me and I could not love it more. Such a perfect reminder to step out and do what makes your heart sing…even if that means doing it scared. My friend Rebecca (visit her shop here!) said those words to me one day and they immediately took root in my heart. So powerful.

Thank you, Jenny, for making the sign – and thank you, Rebecca for first speaking these words to me.

Room Makeover Final Cost

Items I already had (shop the house!)

Paint: leftover from my guest room makeover
Chair
sheepskin rug
baskets (for scarves and plant)
side table (found on curb and painted)
dresser
cabinet
hooks
sign
thrifted pitcher
faux flowers
Chandelier (gift from a friend) still can’t get over that 😀

Items I purchased:

Sanding belts for sander (coarse and medium): $9
Mouse sander pads for finish sanding: $6.44
English Chestnut stain: $7.88
Polyurethane: (gallon was $26 – used 1/4 of it) = $6.50
bulbs for chandelier: $2.98
clip rings for curtain (not pictured) $9.48
Fiddle Leaf Fig branches (didn’t really buy for this room, but I’ll include it here) $24

Total Cost breakdown: $66.28

Was is easy? No. Refinishing the floor was extremely labor intensive and way more fume-y than I anticipated. But if I had not decided to tackle that project with my oh-so-sweet Mr 1915, then yes – this room would have been a piece of cake. Do I love it? Absolutely. Just wish they made a not-so-smelly-poly. But I digress. 😉

So don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t complete a room makeover for under $100. It CAN be done (this is my third room that I’ve made over for less than $100). The home office, which I’m using at this moment, and my guest bedroom are the ones I’ve documented for you here. But there are others in my home that just didn’t make it onto the blog…yet. 🙂

I LOVE the challenge of seeing how much of an impact *just* a hundred dollars can make. Oh, and that “full length mirror” in my closet? It came off the front of a piano. It used to be the piece that runs along the front to hold music. ;)Fun, right? 😀

I’d love to know: which $100 room makeover here on the blog is your favorite? I’m all ears…and don’t forget to check out more fantabulous makeovers below!! So much you can do with $100!

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