Discover the coolest kids bedroom makeovers on a budget

The transformation

Homeowners: Amy and Aaron Sparrow, @TheSparrowHome

Location: Gippsland, Victoria

The project: A child’s bedroom makeover

The budget: $2500

Amy’s top tip for renovators: ‘Plan for nothing to go to plan: it’s not because you had a bad plan, it’s because you’re working on an old house! Don’t stress and remember that generally everything takes longer than what you expect it will.’

The opportunity

Breaking into the property market is no small feat for a young family. It takes careful budgeting, lots of patience, and, in the case of Amy and Aaron Sparrow, the courage to back their D.I.Y. skills despite the unique frustrations of renovating an old, lived-in property. A challenge they took on not once, but twice!

‘Why’d we get into D.I.Y.? Budget!’ Amy laughs, explaining that they knew that purchasing their initial small property (previously a rental for 15 years) would mean lots of work. “It was the start of Covid, so we spent a lot of time at home, soon realising that we had more skills than we thought. We started with little things, like caulking cracks in the walls, and grew more confident with every project we’ve done since. We’ve come a long way in the last five years. The Sparrow Home’s on a D.I.Y. journey!’

Creating a fun, cosy bedroom for their young son, Jackson, was their top priority, and ultimately lead to two gorgeous renovations: a calm, wallpaper-accented bedroom refresh sporting a reading nook in their first home (winning best paint project in Bunnings’ round-up of Australia’s best D.I.Y. projects in 2023), followed by a Lego-inspired kids bedroom makeover with green accents and striking wall panelling.

Small-space inspiration

Amy follows interesting Instagram and Pinterest accounts for sourcing ideas, but 8-year-old Jackson’s input was important, too. ‘The main thing was working out how he used the room, creating a mood board, and then roughly estimating the costs, step by step. In the first renovation, Jackson was younger, so the focus was on a more calming space with a reading nook.’

The ‘client’ brief for the second bedroom refresh was ‘everything green, a TV and PlayStation, and somewhere to display Lego!’ explains Amy. ‘Jackson has lots of Lego displays, so that needed to be a focus.” Amy also wanted her son to have space to create on his custom-made desk, an item that made the move from the first bedroom.

‘I like using things in a way that people wouldn’t necessarily expect. With the book nook, for example, having the shelving up on the wall created more space, so we could have both storage but also room for freedom of play. We’ve used the same concept in the second bedroom. We’ve always lived in small spaces, so we’re quite creative in making as much use of space as possible.’

 

Getting down to business

Other than electrical and plumbing work, Amy and Aaron do everything themselves. Both bedroom renovations involved ripping up the carpets to reveal the original timber floorboards, repairing damaged walls, doing some electrical upgrades and ‘so much sanding and painting!’ Amy laughs.

‘The flooring for both houses was all original – in the first house they were pine floorboards, in the second, oak floorboards. The process of refreshing them included removing many, many staples, using a drum sander and orbital sander to sand them, and then finishing with hand sanding as required. We coated the floorboards with Cabot’s CPF Floor in Satin – it gives the best result and doesn’t yellow.’

Unique finishing touches in the first bedroom makeover include a feature wall with forest-themed wallpaper, MDF wainscoting, and accents of ‘Vintage Denim’ by British Paints. Versatile Flexi Storage cube units and photo shelves and a custom-made desk (repurposed in Jackson’s second room) completed the picture.

The second bedroom renovation features Taubman’s Interior ‘Boston Ivy’ paint and striking Specrite wall panelling which Aaron carefully measured and cut to the length of the walls, before securing with black screws to fade into the felt backing. This feature covered the space where a rickety but unnecessary cupboard once lurked. Green strip lighting along the top of the panelling makes for a fun accent.

Embracing the ‘pivot’

Their biggest lesson learned? That nothing goes to plan. ‘Older houses were built to stay the same, so we were trying to create modern elements in a property that was never designed to be changed. Until you start working on an older house you really don’t understand quite how drastically your plans can be impacted. Nothing is square! Like, wallpaper: from far away the cornice looks level, but then when you start hanging the wallpaper you realise “oh, there’s a huge dip in that section!” You have to find a workaround, and you’re pretty much thinking on your feet for 90 per cent of what you’re doing.’

The couple also learned a valuable lesson about sticking with tried-and-tested methods. ‘In the first renovation, we used a specific product to lighten the timber floors for a weathered look, and it worked great. We tried a different product in the second renovation, but after putting down the liming white, it set so quickly and essentially looked like I’d painted the floor. I had to troubleshoot quickly to figure out a solution. But hey, you don’t learn if you don’t try, and we learned from our mistake. Trust what you know!’

A room of one’s own

Amy’s favourite of the two kids bedroom renovations? The Lego reno. ‘The first room is probably not as mature, and wallpaper isn’t to everybody’s taste … But the design concept of the second room has a clean, minimalist look that will stay fresh long-term, and could be used by anybody, boys or girls of different ages. You could even change the room into an office in a heartbeat, without tweaking anything. I think that versatility in the design of a space is important. Also, I’m a bit biased because I love the colour green!’

Discover more of Amy’s projects

To see more projects like Amy’s updated kids bedroom and her stylish master bedroom revamp, visit the Bunnings Workshop community.