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Cool Kids Bedroom: How I Updated My Boy's Bedroom With Wallpaper and IKEA Hacks


My son’s bedroom needed updating. He’d grown out of the old decor that was too nursery-like for my now 9-year-old, while storage options were limited. I wanted to bring my boy’s bedroom up to date in a way that was quick, easy and as budget-friendly as I could. To do this, I used a pre-cut panelling kit, peel-and-stick wallpaper and paint to give it a new look, as well as doing an IKEA BESTA hack as an affordable kid’s room storage solution.

This wardrobe is an old hack using paint, wallpaper and decorative trim and you can see how I did it here.

The first thing to do was to change up his feature wall which I had previously painted when he was five. I still wanted a cityscape design, so I chose this colourful comic New York wallpaper from Rebel Walls. The wallpaper came in a peel-and-stick option, so I chose that for ease as there was no pasting required (it has a self-adhesive back, so applying it was like putting up a giant sticker!)

This blue bedspread is from the Marks & Spencer x Fired Earth collection.

I didn’t want eager little hands peeling away the wall mural; I also wanted to make sure that the wallpaper was protected from any knocks or dents, so on the bottom half of the wall I applied some MDF panelling that I painted in a vibrant brick red (the shade is Loving Orange by Yes Colours). I got the panelling as part of a pre-cut panelling kit in B&Q; it was a nice and easy way to have all the strips ready to attach to the wall, but I still had to cut most pieces down to fit the space.

I had a small gap in the room for storage between a radiator end and a corner, so I knew I needed to select storage that was deep rather than wide. The IKEA BESTA bookcase comes as a 40cm deep option for under £100; I ordered that and some different legs with a plan to paint the whole thing to look more bespoke and feel cohesive within the room.

This hacked IKEA BESTA has been a great storage solution.

I built the BESTA and filled any unwanted shelf holes with an all-purpose pollyfilla, adding a textured wallpaper to the back of the unit (but this was a total waste of time as it’s so deep you cannot really see it!) I primed the BESTA in two coats of Zinnser BIN (which is what I always use on IKEA furniture) as the primer adheres to the plasticky surface without any sanding and allows you to use a hard-wearing eggshell colour on the top. After three coats of Loving Orange, the BESTA looked totally different to how it started!

I painted all the woodwork in the room - including the skirting, door and fireplace surround - in the same brick red shade; I’m so happy with the end result! It really was a quick and easy budget transformation that is more suited to his age.

Cost breakdown:

  • 2 MDF panelling kits: £36

  • Made-to-measure mural: £200 (price depends on print size, mine was 310cm x 150cm)

  • Paint: £40

  • Besta: £90

  • Legs: £20

Total: £386

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