When I bought my 1969 fixer-upper, I knew it would take a lot of work — including the guest bedroom remodel on a budget.
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In this post, I’ll walk you through the full guest bedroom transformation, including before-and-after photos, a breakdown of what I bought, where I got it, and how I stayed under my $3,000 budget. I started the remodel with the guest bathroom. Give it a look and let me know what you think.
Before & After
I love a good before and after photo! As I mentioned, this house was a fixer upper and the guest bedroom was no exception. It had popcorn ceilings, no ceiling fan and very old carpet and drapes that all had to go.
Before
After
Budget and Shopping List
I set a $3,000 budget for the guest bedroom (not including paint, flooring, or ceiling work, since those were whole-house upgrades). Here’s what I knew I needed:
- Bed
- Mattress
- Bedding
- Nightstand (2)
- Lamps (2)
- Rug
- Ceiling Fan
- Accessories
- Art
- Plant
The bed…
After 20+ years of living with the same furniture, I sold it all with my last house. So that meant I needed some new guest room furniture.
I only have a few overnight guests a year so I didn’t want to spend much money on the furniture. I looked online and at a few furniture stores in town but didn’t really find anything that spoke to me. I decided to give Ikea a look. I usually go to Ikea more for storage solutions (and Swedish meatballs) but wanted to see what they have. I came across this simple white bed with a slat headboard that I thought might work well. I was originally thinking a fabric headboard, but this caught my eye. It’s solid wood and the price was right at $334 for a queen size bed!
Bedding…
Believe it or not, I ordered the bedspread from Home Depot! It was $111.99 and had a waffle pattern that I really liked. Unfortunately it has been discontinued but I found the same one at Living Spaces .
I like a little fun in every room and for the guest room I chose some fuzzy accent pillows that I love! They are actually pillow covers so I had to buy some inserts as well. The pillow covers were $12.99 each and the inserts were $19.99 for 2.
And here’s what they look like with the bedspread. The pillow in front is one I have had for a long time and just repurposed to this room.
Nightstands…
Once I had my bed picked out it was a pretty easy decision to include the matching nightstands. They were small but just fine for a bedroom that isn’t being used every day. They were $99 each at Ikea. Check out these cute little nightstands I made with Ikea tables a few years ago for another guest room.
You might be wondering why I didn’t buy a dresser. I lucked out in that a lot of older Del Webb homes have built in dressers. Love all that extra storage! The rocking chair in the corner was a wedding gift from my great grandfather to my great grandmother, in 1898! I love it so much but didn’t have a place for it in the living room, so at least for now it’s in the guest bedroom.
A rug…
The rug was also from Home Depot. They actually have a wide selection of home décor on their website. I paid $77 for the rug and it worked great with the bedspread. You can find it here.
Lamps
I wanted a set of simple lamps for my small nightstands and found these on Amazon for $56 for a set of 2. They are touch activated and have a USB outlet at the bottom. I thought they’d be convenient for an overnight guest. Of course you have to be careful. Don’t make it too convenient or they’ll never leave! 🙂
Ceiling Fan…
I needed 4 ceiling fans for the house so I opted to get 4 of the same. Since there were so many design decisions to make, this took one off my plate! I chose a simple Hampton Bay brushed nickel with a remote.
Greenery…
There’s something about greenery that warms up a room. I much prefer real plants but I don’t have the greenest of thumbs so chose a palm that I got from Amazon for $40.
Artwork
In some bedrooms, I like to put the artwork over the nightstands instead of above the headboard. I found these 12×36″ canvases online at At Home.
A little extra for guests…
I tease that you don’t want to make it TOO comfortable or your guests will never leave, but I bought this luggage stand years ago and have just stored it in the guest room from house to house. It makes it convenient to have a place for them to put their suitcase and folds up nicely when they leave.
In the end, I was almost $1,000 under budget, mostly because the bed was so inexpensive. Since I was over budget in other rooms, this was happy news!
I hope you enjoyed my guest bedroom remodel on a budget. This was a fun room to decorate. I’m sure I’ll tweak it a little over time. I might add some side panels to soften the room a bit more, but overall I’m happy with it. On to the next room!
Happy tinkering,
Susan
