Like most of you, I’ve been stuck at home for the past two months, staring at the same four walls and wondering when we will be able to resume normal life again. Now more than ever it is clear to me that the space we live in is important. It doesn’t matter if you’re renting (like us!) or if you own, your home should be a reflection of your personality and provide comfort and calm. Especially your bedroom.

Enter the problem. Since moving in, we were fortunate enough to work with Tastemade to refresh most of the house. The living room? Done. The dining room? Check! Even the kitchen got a mini-upgrade with a kitchen nook refresh. (Check out the episodes on IGTV to see the transformation) We are beyond grateful to love the majority of our space. The bedroom seemed to fall to the wayside, which I think is fairly common. Not many people besides my guy and I are in there, so it didn’t jump to the number one priority spot.

But now that we’re home so much, and looking for projects, I thought it would be fun to challenge ourselves to refresh the space for under $500. With new paint, a trunk refinish, and new nightstands, the space goes from drab to FAB! Read on.

Here’s what I was working with BEFORE. You’ll notice my Easy Wooden Headboard is on full display, as well as the Wooden Dresser Refresh, both of which I still really love. In fact, I loved a lot of what was going on in the room already. The main detractor was the dingy yellow paint color on the wall. It’s what was there when we moved in. I wanted bright white walls, so I went with Sherwin Williams Pure White. It’s so good. I highly recommend as a universally great white paint. Thank you to Style by Emily Henderson for introducing me.

BUT in the spirit of utilizing what I already owned, I remembered having almost a full can of green paint in storage, leftover from the kitchen nook. I thought using it as an accent wall opposite the green dresser would be gorgeous. It’s Sherwin Williams Greenfield, by the way.

The big debate over Stories was whether I should paint the crown molding and baseboards green too. I felt it was a more modern take on the accent wall, which can easily feel early 2000’s. Here were some of the photos that inspired me:

Pretty stunning, right? Feels fresh and modern. Ultimately, I decided to just do the baseboards, and keep the crown molding white. It was definitely the right call.

As I waited for the paint to dry, I moved right along to the next project - the trunk refresh. Here’s the progression:

What a difference sanding can make! I actually loved the way the wood looked raw and debated leaving it as is. It certainly got a lot of love on Instagram in it’s naked form. Ultimately I decided the room would look more cohesive if the trunk was stained the same color as the headboard. There were just too many variations of wood otherwise, in addition to woven and metal materials already in the room. I love the way it turned out! (I used ‘Dark Walnut’ by the way.)

Isn’t Walker just the cutest dog model? I swear, I pull out my camera and he automatically goes in front of it, expecting photos and treats.

Now for the rest of the room! We went with the Option 1 nightstands, which were under $100 from Home Depot. I decided not to get the dark grey velvet pillows because I loved the way the ones I already had looked! Actually, I fell more in love with a lot of the items I already owned - It’s amazing what fresh paint can do!

The sconces are plug-in ones from Amazon. All of the pillow are from Target - it looks like the oversize grey stripe ones are out of stock, but they still have other colors available. Cord management is always the bane of my existence and in all honesty, I just tucked my charging cables under the bed for this photo. When I feel motivated, I’ll do some research on how to contain them better - perhaps getting my iPhone cable to sit inside the top drawer? A problem for another day!

Not a whole lot changed on the other side of the room, except for the wall color being white. I also rethought my jewelry storage. I purchased this two-tiered tray, which freed up room on the shelves next to the black mirror for picture frames and knick-knacks.

We flipped the location of the laundry basket and the woven blanket basket, which made the flow of the room a lot nicer. The green dresser pops even more now that the opposite wall is also green (albeit a darker shade) and now the whole room just goes together. Even the curtains look nicer against the white wall.

Lastly, let’s talk practicalities. The dog crate isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing thing to look at, but it’s not going anywhere. We upgraded from a black towel covering, to this great crate cover.

Are you team painted baseboards? Did I convince you?? I hope this has inspired you to refresh your own primary bedroom. I’m telling you, it is totally worth it. Use what you have and get creative!