Today I’m going to share a bit more son’s bedroom. This small space has gone from a baseball themed room when Josh was 8 to a cool pre-teen room with bright blue walls and silver metallic furniture, to it’s current status as a room with industrial modern elements!
Earlier in the year Mark and Seth built the pipe and wood desk in the closet space.
And, I recently shared the industrial light fixture we made from a vintage chicken feeder.
Then, a few weeks ago, Seth was away for a week on a missions trip and Mark and I took this opportunity to finish the space. The main problem with this room is it’s size – it’s tiny! It was a great size as a nursery, but it really takes some thought to make it workable for a young man and all his stuff!
MIDCENTURY MODERN DRESSER MAKEOVER
Seth has a LOT of clothes. For that reason, we needed a dresser that would have lots of storage without being too big for the room. It took some time to find just the right piece, but I finally found the perfect dresser at a local auction the week Seth was away – a blond midcentury modern dresser with great lines and lots of drawers.
Of course, the color was all wrong, but that’s an easy fix with paint. When I bid on things at auction, I usually have a fixed highest bid in mind that I won’t go over. For this piece, I did go a little higher because it was the perfect size and style for Seth’s room. I finally won it for $100.
I chose to paint the dresser a dark brown – I used Behr paint from The Home Depot in Expresso Beans. It’s a rich, deep, dark brown. We gave the dresser a light sanding, primed (because I wasn’t using a chalk based paint) and painted it with two coats of the Expresso Beans paint in an eggshell finish. I also gave it a few light coats of a water based poly in satin finish for protection.
I also picked up new drawer pulls at The Home Depot that are modern and work well with this piece. You know how everything old is new again! Earlier in the year, Seth was at a yard sale and saw an old Technique Stereo for $20. (Did you have one of these – I know I did and so did Mark!) Seth was sooooo excited when he brought his treasure home and has been building his vinyl collection. The new dresser is the perfect size for the stereo and speakers.
RETRO STEREO WALL DECOR
Seth found these cool posters. They are the patent drawings for headphones and a record player. I picked up some cheap frames from Michael’s and hung them above the dresser.
Seth also has a thing about headphones – we think he has a headphone problem! Like, how many headphones does one need? You can only wear one pair at a time! But, he loves them and wanted to hang them on the wall. We purchased folding hooks from Ikea and they work perfectly to hold the headphones and also work as a cool display element with the framed posters.
We had the framed posters hung and the headphones in place and then I saw these old speakers Seth had laying on the floor and thought they would look cool hanging above the framed posters. I had the vision – but hubs made it happen. He centered an eye hook in the ceiling above each poster and then used silver wire fed through the top two holes in the metal speaker frame and through the eye hook for hanging. The only problem was that the back of the speaker was heavy and hanging wasn’t going to keep that heavy part against the wall. So, we got some heavy duty Command Strips and that did the trick to hold this heavy part to the wall.
It was a fun week for Mark and I to work on this space for Seth. Near the end, we felt like we were on an HGTV makeover show hurrying to finish up before Seth got home for the big reveal! I’ll admit we had fun playing his records while we made the bed and did some finishing touches!
LINDA
Tuesday 7th of December 2021
Great modern remodel for a boy and you were even able to incorporate retro things that he loves! You did a great job making this tiny space so functional - storage and a desk. BIG WIN!!
Doreen Cagno
Wednesday 8th of December 2021
Thanks so much, Linda!
reFresh reStyle
Sunday 9th of August 2015
Love the room! And that floor!!Debbie
Lisa @ Fern Creek Cottage
Wednesday 29th of July 2015
The bedroom is so awesome!! The dresser transformation is amazing! I am so glad you shared the Etsy shop you got the cool posters from. I think I'm going to get something from the shop for my sons game room makeover!
Wendy Johnson
Tuesday 28th of July 2015
The room looks fabulous, the way you incorporated his things into the decor is great.
Charm Bracelet Diva {at Home}
Tuesday 28th of July 2015
Wow, you SHOULD be on HGTV! I know what you mean about boys' rooms needing to grow with them. My son is 11. As a little boy he had a vintage cowboy/western themed room. Now he has a space room (knock-off of Land of Nod, by me!) I'm already looking forward to the next change in a few years, the ideas are swirling in my head! Your room is gorgeous and different and ingenious......I'm sure he LOVED it! How could he not?:)xoKathleen