Awww…you’ve waited long enough. I’m just too busy to finish it all for a “final” reveal. Looks like it’s gonna have to be in stages. You ok with that? Figured as much.
So this part’s done! Do you want to see what it looked like before? It was perfect…for a younger boy. My tween was starting to like “edgy-er” things, so it just wasn’t suiting him anymore.
With the darker colors, the more significant contrast in textures, and of course the new wall…it is a match made in tween heaven.
What can I say? I like before and afters. Before…
After…
As you can imagine, I have some details to give, eh? The quick version is that we built a wall out of FREE pallet wood, and I painted his furniture.
The not-so-quick version will have to come in a series of posts to follow. It’s no mistake that you’re only seeing one side of his room. The other side currently has another dresser all torn apart with plastic lining it. Not too photo-worthy to say the least.
**Update** Here is the shot that Better Homes and Gardens took for their magazine. Obviously their photography skills are just a liiiiitle bit better than mine.
Dianne says
it looks fabulous!!!!!
Allison says
I die. DIE. It is straight perfection!
Chris says
Ha! Great comment, Allison! Thank you!
Chrissy says
Love this! The orange is amazing, I love the way it pops! And, the wall is really such a focal point, it is so cool!! Awesome work!!
Carolyn@Sweet Chaos says
Very cool!! I love the rustic look of the wall and the orange accents. Your son must be in tween heaven! Can’t wait to hear how you did the wall… I may need one of those in my future 🙂 Great job!
Andrea West-Antoun says
I LOVE IT!!! nothing else to say!
Chris says
Thank you, Andrea!
cassie says
WOW! that is so awesome- the colors are fantastic and it is just edgy enough- love it!
Chris says
Thanks so much, Cassie! I appreciate it!
Comeca says
Great space for a tween! I love the pop of orange!
Carmel says
LOVE it! It’s perfect for a tween! I really love those orange locker pockets on the wall too!
Alicia says
It looks amazing!! I can’t believe what an impact that wood wall makes. Great job!
Niki says
I love this room!! The wood wall is such a nice, masculine touch!!
Cheryl says
LOVE it!!! Very nice. The wood wall is super cool, and i love the orange accents 🙂
Can you PLEASE tell me where you got the orange metal magazine holders that hang on the walls? I need those in black for my kitchen, for the kids school papers..they would be perfect and i can’t find anything like it around. Thanks!!
Carli says
I LOVE it. I started working on my tween son’s room and completely lost motivation and inspiration while in the process, that Pallet wall is to DIE for! It looks FAB! I love the pops of orange as well! Very Well Done!
Chris says
Thanks so much, Carli! We all go through those inspiration/motivation ruts, eh? Don’t worry. You’ll get it back! Even if he is in college by the time that happens! 🙂
katie @momslrb says
I’m totally pinning this. I LOVE it! When my little guy gets a little older, I could imagine doing this to his room. Thanks so much for the great ideas! You rock!!
Chris says
1. Thank you, Katie! 2. Don’t you just love Pinterest! 🙂
Jenny@EvolutionofStyle says
I love it!!! What a great “tween” room – definitely way cool. Love the color palette too – pops of orange just make me happy. 🙂
Chris says
Thank you, Jenny! I need to e-mail you–I tried to leave a comment this morning, and it wouldn’t let me. That kitchen??? HOLY FANTASTIC, Batman! Seriously, so gorgeous!
Jennifer @ Dimples and Tangles says
Wow! There are no words but perfection! Would love a source for the locker wall pockets. Absolutely fabulous!
Chris says
Thank you, Jennifer! What a great compliment. I’ll be doing a resource list soon, but I bought the locker pockets at Jo Anns about three years ago. 🙁 However, I have seen ones like it since. They have lots of that stuff at back-to-school time.
Kathy says
Wow – looks great. I think the pallet wall makes the room look bigger than it actually is. I don’t know if it’s the contrast in the wall color or what, but looks fab. Great job.
Chris says
Well, alright. I’ll take the “room looks bigger” idea. Perhaps it’s because there aren’t any Star Wars action figures all over the floor right now. 🙂 Thank you!
Emily @ On the V Side says
This. Looks. AWESOME!!!
Great job!!
Chris says
Thanks so much, Emily!
Laura W. says
That looks amazing!! I can’t wait to do my sons’ room someday. Right now it’s white walls with 2 little beds in there. No dresser even, because they were climbing it, tossing clothes around, etc. we had to take it out.
Chris says
My girlfriend had to do the same thing with her daughter the other day. She is now “earning” her items back. 🙂 SO glad I’m past those days! Thank you, though!
melissa*320 sycamore says
Ummm…..WOW. I love it, Chris! We’ve been thinking of doing something similar for my son’s room, and I can’t wait to see how you done did it 🙂 Good luck with your classes!
Chris says
How cool! I can’t wait to see it! I’ll post the tutorial on it. Then you can see if it’s a love or hate relationship with it. 🙂 Classes….ugh.
ToTheMoonandBack says
SERIOUSLY! OMG Chris! I LOVE IT!
Chris says
Ha! Thank you! A high compliment coming from you, lady. Have you SEEN that bathroom of yours? 🙂
Jessica says
OH ME GOSH! This is amazing. I am absolutely in LOVE with the wall. I have three tween sons and I’m totally going to try to convince the hubby that this is a must in all three of their rooms! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!!!
Chris says
Awesome, Jessica! Thank you! I’ll be posting the tutorial in the next couple of days. Maybe that’ll convince you even more (or less). 🙂 Thanks again!
Barbie says
LOVE it! You are quite talented!! Where did you find the orange locker wall files? I have been looking for something like that everywhere.
Chris says
Thank you, Barbie! I found them at Jo Anns. Unfortunately, it was three years ago, and it was at back-to-school time. I’ve seen them around that time every year though. Good luck!
Teresa (Our Corner House) says
This is fantastic! Looks like a completely different space! Love the colors and textures. Thanks for sharing!!
Chris says
Thank you, Teresa! It does look quite different, doesn’t it? Just glad it turned out ok!
Kathryn says
Looks great! I love the pallet wall but doubt I’d be brave enough to do it myself.
Chris says
Believe me, Kathryn. Six months ago I would have said the same thing. Sometimes you just have to convince yourself that you CAN do it. 🙂
Sharon @ Ms Magpie Designs says
I love the room!! I too am in the process of redo-ing a 12 year old’s room that he has outgrown. I hope mine turns out as cool as yours! I’m sure your son is very proud!
Chris says
Oh man. Now I have to know what yours is going to look like! Can’t wait to see pictures! Thank you!
Kimberly says
WOW! You are so freakin’ awesome! This is FANTASTIC!
Chris says
Ha! Thank you, Kimberly! I appreciate that.
Erin @ His and Hers says
It looks awesome! I love how it’s all coming together so far! Can’t wait to see the curtained side of things.
Chris says
Yeah, me too, Erin. 🙂 At this point, I just want this thing DONE. 🙂 Thank you!!
Michelle says
I love this room!! I seriously can’t wait to read about the pallet wall. I want to do one in my master bedroom asap!! Share soon!!
Chris says
I’m typing up the tutorial as we speak, Michelle! It’ll either be tomorrow or Wednesday. Thank you!!
Richella at Imparting Grace says
The room is absolutely, positively AWESOME, Chris. As the mother of three boys who have already passed through the tween stage, I am certain that a boy would love this. Maybe he’d even make his bed!
Chris says
Thank you, Richella! Fingers crossed that your suggestion is right. However, I don’t know that the bed will get made. 🙂
Elaine says
Great job, Chris! I am in love with the wall! Congrats on your Grad work. I’m a 51 yr old grandmother raising my 14 yr old grandson AND a second yr undergrad student. So I know how how busy you must be with family, work, school and the DIY.
Chris says
Congrats to YOU, Elaine! It’s not always an easy balance, is it? I commend you for what you’re doing! Thank you for stopping by!
Gloria @Potentially Beautiful says
Love, love, love that wall!
Amber Filkins says
Oh my gosh, Chris! It is amazing!! Magazine worthy. Amazing.
Beth@A2Z says
Yay! I’ve been waiting! Looks gorgeous. Excited to see the tutorial…or series of tutorials.
jessica@hillcountryhomebody.blogspot.com says
Wow! Love it! Lucky boy!
Mara @ Super Savings says
Holy Bananas Chris! That’s a great before and after! The before wasn’t bad by any means, but I love how the room just “grew up”! We have our 3 boys in one room — ages 12, 8, and almost 2 — trying to figure out how to help the room be grown up enough for our “tween”, but not too grown up for the younger boys…..our 12 year olds solution is to get his own room….but we’re fresh out, so we get to be creative. =)
~ Mara @ Super Savings
Marti says
Very nice! It’s a very grown up look too. I like a lot of before & afters too. How big is the bedroom? The after looks so much wider with the boards that way.
Jamie says
Love the transformation. We are embarking on making our son’s room more “mature” and I love the idea of painting his honey colored wood: would love to know what steps you used to paint over the bed!
Michelle says
Finally! Been waiting with patience for these pictures. Looks fabulous! Best wishes in your studies and keep creating. I really enjoy the projects you work on.
Anne says
Looks good to me! I really like it!
kaye says
WOW, that is amazing!!! Pallet wood…..there is a pile of them for free around the corner from my house!! Thanks for the inspiration!
Jessica @ Home and Faith says
Wow! I am impressed! This room looks so good, and I think it makes the room feel bigger!! Can’t wait to see the rest!!
Mel says
This is just awesome! I love the depth and texture that the pallet wood brings to the room. Looking forward to the behind-the-scene details.
Eliesa says
This is fabulous! My ten year old is wanting a change to his bedroom too, and this gives me lots of ideas for changing what we have (bed, dresser, etc). I don’t know if I’d be able to pull of the pallet wall, because I don’t have the most patience in the world, but I LOVE it! My hubby does have a week off in January…hmmmm…
Tanya H. says
Stunning, really stunning. You have a lucky young man in your house!
Question about using pallets: I love the look, but have always been worried about off-gassing from insecticide residue with real wood pallets, and formaldehyde in engineered wood pallets. Did you treat or seal the wood somehow to make it safer? I’d love to replicate this look for my kids playroom!
Shirley Corwin says
I can’t even express how much I LOVE this idea. This would be perfect somewhere in my 160 year old farmhouse!!
Amy says
I love this. I am not sure if anyone else asked, where did you get the grey bedding? My teenager would love something like this in his room. I love how it is simple and spacious.
Chris says
I haven’t done a resource list yet (I will), but the bedding is from Ikea. It was $20 for the full/queen! Awesome, right? It actually has a blue/yellow/black ribbon as the border, so it forced me to tuck it in until I can figure out what I want to do. It’s really soft, too!
Amy says
Wow what a great price. My son’s school colors are orange and black, so I am always drawn to orange. I love it with the grey. I like the blanket tucked I am so in love with this room. The pallet wall I want to do too.
Chris says
Our school colors are orange and black, too, Amy. It was a no-brainer when it came to accessorizing some things. 🙂
Funky Junk Interiors says
I kinda had to share this on my FB. I mean… it’s so me! 🙂 LOVE this!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150451640721141&set=a.192514281140.164586.175378011140&type=1&theater
Donna
Chris says
Ha! Thank you, Donna! You’re right–so you! 🙂
Taryn @ Design, Dining + Diapers says
I love this! I have a thing for pallets and this is beautiful. Really great job and I love the room transformation. It’s great for a tween 🙂
Jessica@fourgenerationsoneroof says
This is gorgeous! I just saw funky junks facebook page & hopped over! You guys did a great job 🙂
Pam {simple details} says
Amazing! It is just perfect ‘boy-ness!’
Tracy says
This room looks great! Congratulations! Would love to know where you got the wood (looking) storage bins inside the bookshelf. Thanks.
Chris says
They are from Ikea, Tracy. They are almost like a faux hide material. Really cool!
cassie {hi sugarplum} says
holy frijoles!!!!! that is one amazing, perfect and awesome tween boy room!!! No way am i letting my jackson catch a glimpse of it. I hope yours is worshipping the ground you walk on, and kissing you goodbye in public after giving him this amazing room!!!
Victoria K says
Are you stinkin serious!!!!!! This is incredible!!! Totally blown away!!!
Layla says
O. M. G!
The room looks INCREDIBLE, Chris! Way to rock that redo! 😀
mindy says
It looks fabulous! I’m amazed and inspired! What a lucky boy to have such an awesome room (and mom!)
A Mother and A Daughter says
WOW! Love it! ~ Barbara
Laurie Raymond says
I want to “PIN” this but I don’t see the little red word anywhere. What am I doing wrong?
Chris says
I have since added a “pin it” button, Laurie, but you can also get the pin it button from Pinterest. That way you can pin anything you see!
Brenda says
Love the pops of orange in the room! Any chance you could tell me where you found the orange throw on the bed? Wanting that exact throw on my couch! Thanks so much!
Chris says
I found it at Ikea for $6.00, Brenda. Good luck!
Robin says
Hi, I found this while looking for DIYs to post on my blog. There were a bunch of pallets in my loading dock area this past week which got me thinking. I knew I’d seen a wall or two, but had not seen this one prior. It came out great. I just have one comment – I love the wall soooo much I want to lose the headboard! I just pinned a bunch of “pallet” ideas and as an fyi yours has already been repinned 14 times!
Julie says
What is the brand/paint color you used? Thanks!! Love the room!
Amber says
I love this room! I’m trying to plan out a new room for my son and shared your project on my blog today.
http://jroxdesigns.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/its-time-for-a-change-its-time-to-update-that-room/
Thanks for such a great source of inspiration!
Amber @ jRoxDesigns
Dori says
Would love to know what color you used on the walls. The room looks great!
frankie michelle dennison says
I love this look!! bringing nature into your own private sanctuary… and the orange brings just enough “pop”.