Last year John’s younger sister Carrie moved to Philadelphia for work and ended up in a cute high-rise apartment that needed some affordable updates. For under $200 we hit Ikea, picked up art and accessories, and transformed her place in an afternoon (here’s that story). A year later she was transferred back to Northern Virginia — closer to family — and moved into another plain room that needed a serious refresh. With the same tight budget, we took on the challenge again and turned a sunroom-turned-bedroom into a cozy retreat.
The room is almost entirely glass — sliding doors that make the space feel like a fishbowl and five tall windows forming an irregular five-sided back wall. We weren’t deterred. Armed with $200, another Ikea run, and a few items from Home Depot, we set out to solve the room’s problems: privacy, awkward angles, and a lack of usable surfaces. Four hours later, this is what it looked like:
We wanted to reuse as much of Carrie’s existing stuff as possible to stretch the budget. From last year’s makeover she already had two black Lack side tables, colorful pillows, and textured striped curtains. The black tables were too low to function as bedside tables, so we repurposed them. Can you spot them in the after photos?
Three of the black Lack tables happened to match the bed width, so we bought a fourth one (in a wood tone for interest) and created a DIY headboard. The tables were inexpensive — about $7.99 — and we used a few metal brackets and a 2 x 4 cut into three 26″ pieces from Home Depot to assemble them. The process was straightforward:
Step 1: Remove the legs, flip the tabletops upside-down, and align them. Step 2: Use heavy-duty metal brackets to connect adjacent tabletops in multiple places. Adding a long 1 x 3 across the back adds reinforcement. Step 3: Flip the headboard right-side up to admire your work. Step 4: Attach the pre-cut 2 x 4 legs to the back with right-angled L-brackets for stability. The whole headboard cost under $20 to make and solved a practical problem: the angled glass behind the bed had been forcing pillows into the window crevice and vertical blinds.
One of the biggest design headaches was the vertical blinds covering the five glass panels. We wanted soft, billowy curtains to create a cocoon-like bedroom, but there were several constraints: the back wall was all glass, the blinds were permanent, and the ceiling turned out to be an impenetrable concrete-like material that flat-out refused screws or anchors. That ruled out suspending a full curtain track from the ceiling.
We did clip one striped curtain panel above the headboard to soften the look, attaching it directly to the vertical blinds with curtain clips. This meant those particular blinds couldn’t be opened, but Carrie was okay with losing access to that window. For the rest of the windows, the verticals had to remain functional, so we left them as-is while we kept brainstorming better solutions.
To create privacy across the sliding glass doors and add texture, we found a clever, budget-friendly option at Ikea: grasscloth panels sold like oversized rolls. They worked like a textured, inexpensive alternative to wallpaper. We cut the panels to size and used heavy-duty clear packing tape to adhere them to the metal frames of the sliding doors, seaming panels together where needed. The result was a warm, textured privacy screen that reads like custom window treatment without permanent alteration. If tape isn’t an option, strong magnets on either side of the glass could hold the panels in place as a less permanent method.
We also added lightweight curtain panels on a tension wire across the sliding doors for a layered look — the grasscloth provides texture and daytime privacy while the billowy curtains bring softness when drawn. Ikea’s Dignitet curtain wire kit is perfect for situations where you can’t drill into ceilings or walls.
Lighting and bedside surfaces were next. We found rounded triangular glass-topped side tables that fit the triangular space beside the bed and cost $29 each. Hanging pendant shades at the bedside eliminated the need for bulky lamps on limited surfaces. But again, the ceiling prevented traditional installation, so we used heavy-duty 3M ceiling hooks to swag the pendant cords and plugged them into nearby outlets — an easy, renter-friendly workaround that created dramatic overhead interest.
Decorating leaned heavily on Carrie’s existing items: pillows, a blue throw, colorful books, and a red canvas artwork leaned against the wall behind her childhood dresser. We added a gold-green pillow to tie together the green pendant shades and the curtain stripes. Small details made the space feel cohesive and personal without repainting or major renovations.
Budget breakdown (items not listed were existing):
- Striped curtain panels (two sets): $30
- Curtain clips and curtain wire: $20
- Hanging lamp shades and lighting kits: $26
- 3M hooks for ceiling: $6
- Third Lack table for headboard: $8
- Wood and brackets from Home Depot: $12
- Gold-green pillow: $8
- Glass-topped side tables ($30 each): $60
- Grasscloth panels for sliders (two rolls): $30
- Grand total: $200
We’re thrilled with how cozy and inviting the 9 x 11-foot room feels after the makeover. It’s proof that a small budget, a clear plan, and a few creative hacks can transform rental spaces without permanent changes. Have you tackled a glass-walled room or faced an impenetrable ceiling? We’d love to hear your solutions and DIY headboard experiments.