I love everything except I'm not quite feelin' the ceiling treatment. It seems like it would make it feel more crowded.

Less than $100? Beautiful and very crisp. Good job.

Wow! I'm seriously impressed. I love the bedspread - anyone know where it's from?

Can anyone share any insight about how difficult it is to sand and paint wood paneling? Ideally I'd take down mine but I feel like that would definitely be the most complicated.

Well, making the bed was free, so no money spent there!

mkay42484

We just painted straight on to the wood paneling. I certainly wouldn't suggest doing that if you're going to live in the space for more than a year, but it worked just fine.

Turns out, there's a paint primer meant to adhere to stained wood so you wouldn't have to sand before painting. Sherwin Williams makes an Adhesion Primer.

The bedspread is from Target circa 2006.

mkay42484, I've painted many a wood-paneled wall, and it's easier than you'd think. As long as you use primer, no sanding is required, and painted paneling looks great. Especially in white.

The room looks great, except for the bedsheets hanging from the ceiling. This screams fire hazard to me. If that were to ignite, the entire place would go up in flames in two seconds flat.

Such a great transformation! And so many great ideas! I am completely in awe!

Bin-itis. My pet peeve are those damn plastic bins (4th pic off to the right). Get a second-hand wood dresser, heck, get one from Ikea, just get rid of the bins. It would give the room a more sophisticated look. Other than that -- looks great!

For the painting onto wood in a basement: you want Kilz. It's kind of awesome, actually: you get to walk around your awful space declaring that you Kilz everything in sight. The Kilz helps seal against moisture. I used it in an office renovation where the office was built directly onto the back of a church, complete with exposed stone (which was awesome, but susceptible to moisture).

Looks great. Some good, quick solutions for a rental property.

OMG...you PAINTED over perfectly good wood? Horrors! But wait...it looks gorgeous! My first reaction was quickly replaced by admiration. Don't care for the ceiling and for sure the bins are creepy. But the pops of color are great. That was a bold step all the way around, good on ya. Second the Kilz. Works great at sealing moisture and on wood over knot holes.

No, she painted over wood that looked like a 70s porn set, or some place you'd keep a hostage.

Or so I've heard, on both accounts.

I actually thought the plastic bins were a great solution - not a lot of money, get something honest and functional - and a nice clean white.

It looks fab. agree about the bins, would prefer to see something more "permanent" you could get a cheapo old dresser off craiglist, paint it, and it would look great

I love it! And i love the bins. I prefer something modular and creative over a dresser any day! Plus you can add to the arrangement if need be. Really great job.

I love the IDEA of the fabric ceiling, but here it just doesn't seem right. The already low ceiling is dropping another foot...making me want to duck my head looking at the picture.

Maybe if they'd stretched the canvas taut instead? Then it's match better, style-wise, to that tailored headboard and duvet while giving more head room... But definately an idea to ponder for rooms with more head room!

i actually think the bins are kinda cute! but i also think the ceiling would look amazing just painted like the walls.

I think the after is much preferable, however I don't like the bins either. But I totally get that they're functional and clean.

I also like the ceiling treatment in theory. I would have been interested in seeing it from the angle of laying on the bed. I bet it's pretty that way.

Though, I can't see past my own paranoid vision of dust. And SPIDERS. But clearly, I'm smokin' my own brand of crazy with that one.

I agree, everything looks amazing except those ceilings. They remind me of insulation, and it definitely is the first thing you notice in the room. When the time comes around, I think painting it would look great. Maybe even like a light gray just for contrast, but the fabric hanging is just too much.

Bravo though on the rest of the place, Natural looking Wood panelling only looks good in rooms with a lot of light. The white looks great. It looks like a little beach house now!

At first when I saw the ceiling, I had thought you were trying to cover up ductwork. Not working for me so much...

On the other hand, I give you immense credit for painting all that paneling, looks absolutely fantastic.

Great transformation on a great budget!

[Love the comment, Patrick (the other one)!]

Painting the ceiling wasn't really an option I wanted to consider because the wood paneling on the ceiling is laminate that was STAPLED, yes stapled, to the ceiling by our genius of a maintenance guy. There's also no moulding and the ceiling panels have nasty gaps between them.

I thought about stapling the sheets taught, but that just made my brain explode. It would've looked cool, though.

As for the ceiling height, you can't really tell from the pictures but the natural ceiling is about 10 feet, abnormally tall for a 1930's bungalow basement. The draped bedsheets only lower the ceiling to be just taller than 9 feet.

Stunning - the additional pictures on her site show the 'true' height of the ceiling. It looks fantastic!

Gorgeous! An amazing transformation on such a limited budget.

Melissa has awsome good taste the room is magical !! I love the flow around the room with the shelf and art I've never seen pictures hung so casual with such creativity and balance before. The ceiling fabric is like sleeping under a cloud I love the look for a bedroom. I bet the rest of Melissa house is amazing too !!

everyones freaking about the ceiling but i think the ceiling rocks.

I'm surprised at all the critics. This little project shows great creativity....all on a minimal budget in a basement room. I wish I had this much flare.

Wow. It just goes to show that you can do a hell of a lot with a little spit and polish if you're creative enough. What an inspiration! Your landlord should be groveling in thanks.

Cute! I like the drapes on the ceiling, for a bedroom (not sure I'd want to do it elsewhere).

We painted the same style wood paneling in our family room about three years ago. No sanding, but I did wash the walls to get any old smoke residue off and then two coats of primer. It takes longer than painting regular walls because you have to get in the nooks and crannies - we used small rollers. But it looks SO GOOD. We kept thinking we shouldn't paint wood, but I've not regretted it for a second.

I like the room...much improved. The down comforter on the ceiling?...not so much.

now this is what apartment therapy is supposed to be about, i am so tired of looking at the same loft done with mid century curiosities over and over and over again, good job

A really fresh and simple makeover. I really admire your sense of style,Melissa, and I love your blog.

This is lovely, such a great example of painted wood, it makes such an incredible difference. And I love the little touches, especially that vase of roses inside a side-less box (bad description on my part, but it's in pic 3), I love it

Not sure which is worse: "roses inside a side-less box" (!?!?!?) or billowing fabric stapled to the basement ceiling (!?!?!?), but the best thing I can say about this makeover is that the room looks CLEANER and BRIGHTER. Still, there's more to design than cleaner and brighter with tacky fake flowers, bright yellow accents, and a hanging lamp from IKEA ... Someone with a sense of creative adventure and a better eye than patrick (the other one) might have had fun with the '70s porn set idea ... and why would stapling the sheets taught make melucipher's brain explode? I think I'd rather see cracks in a white painted ceiling that that low-hanging, wrinkled fabric, which will have to come down in a few years anyway ...

Hey, why you dragging me into your crazy rant???

it's amazing what little paint can do....great transformation!!!

I think some of you guys are missing the fact that this was a temporary 6 month solution until they moved out of the rental. It doesn't matter if hanging drapes would need to come down "in a few years," they'll be coming down in a month anyway.

I love this except the ceiling. The ceiling was panelled too and it would look great painted white. It makes it feel like it is a basement with the sheets.

I think it's great.... as a temporary solution. But, yeah, that ceiling is really weird. I'd love to know why they opted for sheets rather than paint. Seems like an odd (and dusty) choice.

Love the bright yellow rocking chair!

I'm a fan of everything except the ceiling... makes me feel claustrophobic!

I did a similar ceiling treatment years ago with bright batik in my hall, and liked its look. However, I became unwilling to take down, launder, and rehang the fabric often enough to control dust. I eventually removed it.

I like the *idea* of the ceiling treatment. I think in this space it feels claustrophobic. Maybe if it was less puffy?

oh that is hideous, makes that $100 look like $10

I realize I just copied someone elses comment.

Great minds think alike, lol

I *LOVE* the transformation. I wish AT would show more of these high creativity-low budget ideas.

I think the new bedroom looks great! But yeah, bit iffy on the creative ceiling treatment. I think simply painting the ceiling would have looked nicer and taken less effort... seems like there wasn't anything weird or ugly hanging out of the ceiling in the first place, but the sheets make it look like they are trying to cover up water damage or exposed ducts or something. That said, I really appreciate these posts on ultra low-budget projects. I'm rarely so impressed when someone has tons of dough to throw into a space. That they did this with $100 is truly inspiring!

Aw, totally could have kept the wood if you'd gone for a hunting-lodge theme.

The ceiling is a bit odd, but given the budget and what you had to work with, I think you've done a great job. If it makes you smile, and if you can't wait to get back home after a long day to get snuggled in, then it's a good design: it's your home. :)

D'accord with all the previous posters about it looking great except for the ceiling. I'd like to know what inspired the draped fabric there? Was Melissa trying to simulate clouds or...?

You guys is all crazy - that ceiling is DELISH!
Being the only reason I navigated here from a "Best of" post, I have been wanting to do a soft, textured ceiling for a while but was too scared to try.
Thanks for the out of the box thinking Melissa! Inspiring!!

I love it!!!!! I wish my Bungalow basement had 10' ceilings. Our basement ceiling is just under 7'. Good thing we are a short family.
@Jodochop; we used to have an Italian restaurant in my town that had a fabulous fabric ceiling. It's since closed and has been replaced with yet another trendy rustic localvore (i.e. -food you can make your own darn self at home). Some may call it stuffy, but I miss the Bella Ciao.

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/BqLuS-7jgAvzovpIlhz_Vw?select=_FM1lx6jcuE25-csRQ53oA