11 Stylish DIYs to Steal from Readers’ Own Bedroom Makeovers, Starting at Just $10

February is Bedroom Month on Apartment Therapy! We’re sharing stories all month about bedrooms — from how to decorate them, to the fascinating history of them, and so much more. Head over here to see them all!

Although February is bedroom month at Apartment Therapy, DIYers share their bedroom redos with us all year long. And we love rounding up them up all year long, and especially love reflecting on the best ones of all time.

It’s easy to see why bedrooms are so ripe for DIYs and stylish details. From nightstands to light fixtures to headboards to bed frames, there are so many elements that go into creating a layered, inviting bedroom that also functions well for daily use, and the bedrooms below prove that high function and high style definitely don’t require a high dollar amount. Check out these 11 stylish hacks from readers’ bedroom redos that don’t overlook a single detail.

This bedroom redo by Alexis Nicole (@alexisnicolemakes) gives a basic IKEA bed frame a new lease on life. Alexis wrapped her wooden headboard in egg crate cushioning and quilt batting, then sewed a canvas drop cloth over top for a soft, upholstered look that cost $35. “Upholstering the headboard really helped in softening it and making it seem to fit the space a bit more than it had before,” she says. The cover can even be removed for cleaning!

Emily Neal and her boyfriend wanted to up the storage in their guest bedroom and incorporate a desk, but when they were shopping for options online, they found that desks alone cost around $300. Emily realized that they could create the custom look they wanted for about $500 with some IKEA hacking. She mapped out and built her double closets over the course of a week using clearance IKEA PAX parts and plywood. The PAXes were shorter she’d originally wanted, but that was no problem for Emily. She added chic arched cutouts up top to fill in the space, and it actually makes the built-ins look even more custom. The best part? The units can be removed later by simply detaching two nails. The desk in the middle is an IKEA countertop piece.

Sag Harbor residents Shea Keating and Rich Lamiroult used wallpaper (Mariko’s Feather Flock, which is about $44 per roll) on the ceiling in their bedroom to add an element of surprise — and doubly surprising is that they even wallpapered the fan blades for a seamless look. Steal this wallpaper trick in your bedroom if you’re looking for a way to make a clunky ceiling fan a little less clunky and a little more artsy.

Although homeowner Megann Gresham (@Gresham_Houze) says she might add wooden fluting to the closet doors if she were doing her daughter’s bedroom redo again, we still think her trick for covering the mirrored sliding doors in the room were pretty clever, not to mention renter-friendly. She used white peel-and-stick floor tile as a durable, affordable way to better blend clunky doors into the wall.

It’s hard to believe this millennial pink floating nightstand was once a plain white basic IKEA VIKHAMMER. Designer Marcus Merta mimicked the look of some more expensive lacquered nightstands he’d seen for sale by removing the legs of his existing nightstand, adding half-round moulding to the front, spray painting it, and sealing it in a clear topcoat. He affixed it to the wall using a wall-mounting kit, and now it looks bespoke and high-end for a fraction of the cost of a fancy atelier option. “I love everything about it,” he says. “It’s so perfect, and it always looks better when it is a DIY!”

When DIYer Joana Bianchi was tasked with upgrading her friends’ bedroom, she was given a budget of $400. She relied on upcycles and hacks throughout the space to give the primary bedroom a totally new look. One of her favorites? The bed’s base, which is actually just a box spring wrapped in velvet. “I was really excited when I figured out that a thrifted $5 velvet curtain would be enough to cover it,” Joana remembers. The simple but expensive-looking headboard on the bed is another DIY: 1×3 pine boards nailed to the wall and wrapped with inexpensive burlap. And the nightstands? Those are made from plywood she rescued from a dumpster. That’s three stylish hacks to steal from this bedroom.

A bench at the foot of the bed is a luxurious addition to any bedroom — and it’s all the better when it’s an affordable DIY. Designer Cerrissa Fitz (@piranhadesign) added tons of texture to this once-builder grade bedroom, and one of the most budget-friendly ways she did this was by DIYing a boucle bench. She got the rounded bench on Facebook Marketplace for free and then wrapped it in a $20 Target blanket.

One great way to save space in a small bedroom is to forgo a lamp and hang a sconce (cordless or plug-in) above your nightstand instead. DIYer Alexis Nicole’s bedroom makes our list of stylish hacks to steal again because she wove her own rattan lampshades (using rattan reeds and $1 thrifted shades as a template) to mimic the look of some $200 ones she’d seen online that were not in stock. (Take that, supply chain issues and markup rattan prices!)

If you’re looking to add some wooden architectural detail to your walls, look no further than Sydney Lorence (@diysquid)’s bedroom feature wall. Before, “It was just your average wall,” she says. She added interest by adding shims, aka gap-fillers sold in most hardware stores. “Shims are super cheap, and I thought they could definitely used to make something cool,” Sydney says. She spent a little over $90 to give the wall some chevron texture.

Photographer Margaret Wright’s guest bedroom has a dreamy velvet headboard made of — wait for it — pool noodles. Wright used four styrofoam noodles from Amazon, one-inch pipe insulation, velvet, and a foam mattress topper to create the glam look, all for about $300. Wright even covered her box spring in the same green velvet as the headboard for extra cohesion. For more pool noodle headboard inspiration, check out this slightly different DIY version.

In her daughter’s bedroom, Ursula Carmona of Home Made by Carmona gave a cosmetic upgrade to a dated ceiling fan in the space. “It wasn’t in the budget to replace the ceiling fan, and we like how useful a ceiling fan is,” she says. “However, I wasn’t thrilled about the outdated look… so I came up with a little hack to easily update that fan. I removed the old glass shade and screwed on a drum shade in its place.” After the drum was screwed on, she strung some inexpensive faux crystals from the inside of the shade using a bit of clear thread for a chandelier-like look. “The results were pretty awesome!” Ursula says. “And considering I got the lamp shade from a thrift store for $3, and the crystals from a craft store for $5, I had a new fixture for under $10!!”