This Bedroom Makeover Has the Most Impressive DIY Murphy Bed (You’d Never Know It Was There!)
English cottage-inspired interiors are certainly trending in 2024, whether that’s a deVOL-inspired kitchen, a quilt-laden bedroom, or a room with vintage-inspired wallpaper. The style suits all types of rooms, and all ages. Homeowner and DIYer Caitlin De Lay (@caitlindelayblog) proves it in her daughter’s bedroom redo. (Soft colors, soft fabrics, whimsy patterns — it makes for the perfect children’s bedroom theme!)
At 122 square feet, the room didn’t have space for much. But the experienced DIYer was ready to tackle the challenge during the Spring 2024 One Room Challenge. “With no other bonus or flex spaces in our home, we knew this needed to be a relaxing room for our daughter and to double as a guest room occasionally,” Caitlin says.
Initially, the room was set up as a kids’ room with a mountain motif. “The blue and gray paint felt cold, unfinished, and dated,” she says. “Still, I had hope we could turn this bedroom into a cozy cottage oasis.”
After Caitlin and her husband, Jordan, bought the home, the room became a “dumping zone” for everything that wasn’t immediately needed. But with their second child on the way, it was time to get the room done. “We knew completing this room would force us to purge junk and have a designated play space and storage for our daughter’s toys, which were taking over our living room,” Caitlin says.
Built-ins (including a Murphy bed!) make the room more functional.
One of the biggest projects in the room was a DIY built-in unit complete with a Murphy bed, which Caitlin said made the biggest difference. Now, walking into the room, guests see a striking, floor-to-ceiling set of cabinetry on one wall that hides a bed.
“After scouring tons of Murphy bed ideas, I found the best way to hide the Murphy bed is to add faux inset cabinets to the front and have them blend in with built-in cabinetry on either side of the bed,” CaitlIn says.
With the help of the online resource Shelf Help Now, De Lay started the process by removing the baseboards and crown molding. Next were two firsts for her: “I had never framed a floor or built a cabinet, so I didn’t know what I was getting myself into!”
Even though the room will occasionally act as a guest room for grandma and grandpa, Caitlin didn’t want her daughter’s bedroom to feel multi-purpose, and she says this Murphy bed made the biggest stride in that direction.
Adding pasted-on wallpaper was a first-time DIY project.
Another big aesthetic difference-maker was the vintage-inspired floral wallpaper (Poppy Sprig in Aqua from Wallpaper Direct) that grounded the entire room’s muted color scheme.
Caitlin says using pasted-on wallpaper from floor to ceiling was a DIY “first” for her. “It was a learning curve to manage a huge, wet piece of wallpaper while trying to match up every little flower and ensure things were even,” she recalls. “After getting the hang of it, it went smoothly, but it just required moving slowly and being detail-oriented.”
To finish it all off, Caitlin and Jordan painted the trim throughout the room in a cozy golden color: Sherwin-Williams’ Whole Wheat. Once everything was done, Caitlin’s biggest takeaway was the following: “You can do hard things!”
“We are in love with this bedroom,” she says. “I am most proud of taking risks in this room because they all paid off!”
This project was completed for the Spring 2024 One Room Challenge, in partnership with Apartment Therapy. See even more of the One Room Challenge before and afters here.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.