Before and After: This $500 Bedroom Redo Has The Easiest-Ever Gallery Wall Trick
When Sandy Jandu and her family moved into their home, they had enough projects to take on—at home and otherwise—that the spare bedroom became an afterthought. “The room before was a pink and purple collection of storage, a mishmash of everything else in our home that didn’t have a spot,” Sandy says. “It used to be a child’s room for the previous home’s owner, and we just didn’t have any capacity to change it!”
But, Sandy says, she needed a dedicated office space as her business grew, and this room offered the ideal spot for a work area that could also house guests when needed. So she and a few Instagram pals created a challenge to transform a room in 30 days for just $500—a true feat!
Sandy made the timeline and budget work, taking just 30 days and just under $500 to make this room a guest retreat and a home office space. To do it, she got super clever with her materials: The bed is the same one as before, with a chopped-down headboard that’s capped with wood for a more modern look; the nightstands were brought in from elsewhere in the house.
To give the room a warm feel without turning it into a black hole, Sandy painted the wall only partway up using black paint from Clare that she already had on hand. (Some advice on this part: “Don’t ever use an old sheet as a drop cloth because paint WILL seep underneath,” Sandy says. “Enter a scraper and some baby wipes and it was all cleaned up.”)
A wood ledge above the bed gives the simple accent wall even more oomph. Sandy created a beautiful and easy gallery display above by hanging her collection of artwork so that all the bottom edges of the different-sized frames are aligned. So smart! The black sconces on either side of the bed almost blend into the wall—a seriously smart trick for making a room feel more spacious.
The closet became Sandy’s new workspace. After removing the wire shelves, she added bold buffalo check wallpaper on the back wall and a pendant light in the ceiling for extra function. Fitted with a desk, chair, and wall-mounted shelf, it’s both a practical office and a beautiful escape—a hard combo to nail!
“I love everything about the space, but especially the horizontal gallery wall of collected art, both thrifted and personal items,” Sandy says. “I honestly wouldn’t change a thing!”
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