We’ve been eager to share this delightful before-and-after makeover, and it’s finally complete. This cheerful pink transformation was created for an eight-year-old girl named Olivia. While we often work on adult spaces, kid’s rooms are especially fun to design. Best of all, we reinvented thrift-store finds and shopped Ikea to complete the room on a strict budget — $200 total. Here are the before photos:
Olivia’s home is in a new-construction neighborhood, and her mom — who happens to be John’s sister — wanted a playful, personality-filled space for her fun-loving daughter. The room already had great features, including a large picture window and built-in shelving behind the bed, so we focused on maximizing those strengths while staying budget-conscious. Our first find was a classic thrift-store desk with open shelving and clean lines. It needed some TLC, but the $15 price made it an instant yes.
We primed the desk with an oil-based primer and finished it with two coats of a vivid pink (Benjamin Moore’s Milano Red). The transformation took the piece from tired to joyful, and it now anchors a cheerful corner of Olivia’s room:
To protect the desktop from daily wear and give it a modern edge, we added a custom-cut plexiglass top. It’s an affordable, practical upgrade that keeps the painted finish looking fresh. We also found a $5 thrift-store chair to pair with the desk. Two Ikea magnet boards were covered in playful wrapping paper — a quick, inexpensive way to introduce pattern and texture. A $20 Ikea desk lamp added another pop of color and completed the layered, pattern-on-pattern look. Olivia now has a stylish nook for her serious office-supply obsession.
To balance the space and carry the punchy pink throughout the room, we painted Olivia’s hand-me-down dresser the same bright hue. A small green round rug from Ikea added contrast, tying in the bed skirt’s color and the playful sign above the bed. The rug also brings freshness and helps define the dresser area.
We dressed the windows with breezy grommet curtain panels from Ikea to frame the view and soften the light. The headboard was upholstered by hand for a personalized touch, and we swapped the old duvet for a bold, graphic Ikea option to finish the look — an inexpensive change that makes a big visual impact.
To make the space feel uniquely hers, we placed a few of Olivia’s namesake books on the architectural shelf above her bed. It’s a small, meaningful detail that adds personality and makes the room feel truly customized.
For transparency and inspiration, here’s the itemized cost breakdown so you can see how the $200 budget was allocated. We rounded prices up to keep the math simple and still managed to stay within budget while making big visual changes.
Olivia’s Cost Breakdown:
- Thrift store desk: $15
- Thrift store chair: $5
- Custom-cut plexiglass desk topper: $30
- Pink dresser: free (reused from Olivia’s brother’s old desk)
- Two grommet curtain panels from Ikea: $39
- Two Ikea magnet boards: $26
- Orange wrapping paper to cover magnet boards: $3
- Ikea heart duvet: $13
- Hand-upholstered headboard: $40
- Round green rug from Ikea: $9
- Ikea desk lamp: $20
GRAND TOTAL: $200
What do you think of Olivia’s transformed bedroom? Cozy and cute are exactly the goals we aimed for. If you have simple, budget-friendly decorating hacks for kids’ rooms, we’d love to hear them—share your ideas and inspire others looking to create big impact on a small budget.