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.

boys bedroom decor blue red — *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!)

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.

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