Modern Vintage Boys Bedroom Refresh

I know, we’re well into February now, but I’ve finally snagged some time to get this all out on paper (so to speak) and share the full reveal of our Modern Vintage Boys Bedroom Refresh. I am so thrilled with how my January House to Home Project turned out!

Now that we’re finally settled into how the space will be used – our boys will share this bedroom for the foreseeable future – it was time to freshen up the space and take it from basic to big-boy status!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you purchase an item using a link in my blog post, I may earn a small commission. This comes at no extra charge to you. Thank you for helping to support my blog.

Before we get too far, let’s look at a before photo; it’s always so fun to see the transformation!

I’m sharing many photos of the finished space here, but you can also find reels and photos on my Instagram account, too!

Inspiration for the boys’ shared bedroom

Modern take on the chair rail wall treatment

I drew inspiration for this modern take on a chair rail wall treatment from a couple different projects. Emily with Small Stuff Counts recently did a similar treatment for her little boys’ nursery, and Angela Rose Home and Making Pretty Spaces have teamed up before to complete a similar look.

Each of them have used the same concept for a wall treatment, but I wanted to give it a little spin of my own! I love the look of fluted pieces in design. I think it provides great dimension and texture, while still remaining traditional and versatile. So, I went about my search for something that could work!

Vintage Sports Theme

I’ve had these Norman Rockwell prints for years, just waiting to be used for a boys room! I love Norman Rockwell artwork, and these sports prints were a huge inspiration for this project. I love the colors, and I like that I’m able to bring something old to the space while also keeping the youthful tone that these silly prints portray. Some things never change, right? Boys will be boys!

Those were my main inspiration points that I went off of for the boys’ bedroom refresh. I wanted clean lines on the walls with simple and fun decor and accessories to bring warmth and youthfulness to the space! I also love that this color scheme and design can really grow with the boys and their changing interests throughout the years. You could go in so many directions – farm theme, race cars, construction… the possibilities are endless.

Vintage Wall Pendants

As I got farther along on this project, I began visualizing a wall of vintage pendants! I knew it would really warm things up in here and play off of the Norman Rockwell prints so well – again adding a bit of vintage fun to the room.

Budget for this Modern Vintage Boys Bedroom Refresh

As you may recall, I’ve challenged myself to only spend $200 each month for these House to Home Projects, so I definitely had this in mind when researching.

As you can see, I landed on the fluted casing typically used for door and window casing trim work! I totally thought I’d hit the jackpot when it came to the price. I was seeing about $15 per 12′ board on-line. Once I was in-store (Menards), they only had 7′ boards available at about $15/board. Whomp-whomp-whomp. I kind of freaked out that my budget was done-zo, but this is the part of DIY where you just gotta pivot.

Wall Treatment Details:

I ended up with 7′ primed pine, fluted casing boards at $15/board
I needed roughly 5 boards to cover this roughly 11×12′ room
I’ve made a mental note to double check board length on-line in the future! Ha

I really didn’t want to let my vision of the fluted chair rail go, so I moved forward. I bought eight, 7′ boards and cringed as about $120 of my $200 budget left my wallet. The good news is, after it was all said and done, I had three full boards left over! So, I am totally adding that $45 back to my budget. While they are already painted, I will definitely find a use for them in the future!

Paint

Okay so I’ve got $75 in my boards, now I needed paint! I’ve been wanting to use Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams somewhere in my home, but I got a few samples anyway just in case. For whatever reason, my gut just said to go with Tricorn Black, so I did. I used the Valspar Signature with Scuff Shield line from Lowes (because boys room, duh). I love the crisp contrast between the white walls and the black wall treatment.

Paint Details:

White Walls: Alabaster, SW 7008, Satin (we had leftover)
White Trim: Alabaster, SW 7008, Semi-Gloss (use throughout upstairs trim and had leftover)
Wall Treatment: Tricorn Black, SW 6258, Eggshell

DAy 1: Boys’ Bedroom Refresh Process

As with any project, the first step is to clean out and make space so that things can move more efficiently. There were multiple items that needed tackled in this room to make it feel finished, which is the main goal of my House to Home Projects. In the boys’ bedroom refresh, this meant a lot of painting.

The first thing we did was wood fill all of the nail holes from the trim installation. While that was drying, I went ahead and got the first coat of white on the upper half of the walls. For this, I loved using my Wagner Sidekick Power Paint Roller! It makes painting so quick and easy with less mess!

Then we started cleaning up the nail holes by wiping them down with a damp paper towel just to get any excess off. I then began to paint the trim, which did not take very long. I then went in and got a final coat of the white paint done on the upper walls. Eric switched between helping me and getting the boards painted downstairs. This was all done in one day.

Day 2: Boys’ Bedroom Refresh Process

We woke up feeling ready to tackle the fun part of this project – the wall treatment! As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to use the fluted boards to create a chair rail treatment. But I like the more modern look of the stripe underneath it, so we added that and then painted the remaining bottom portion of the wall in black!

You can read about how we tackled this modern take on a chair rail wall treatment here.

Decor for the Boys’ Modern Vintage Bedroom

I had the frames and the Norman Rockwell prints already, so there was no cost there. But, as we got into this project, I had another vision for the space that I needed to come to life. And that is where I spent the remainder of my budget for this project – pendants!

Big thanks to my Mom, Beth of Burlap and Roses, for the recommendation of B’s Knees Vintage and More for bringing my pendant collage to life! I think these are so fun and definitely play off of the Norman Rockwell prints perfectly. Each pendant was $7 and I got eight of them total. She has a great/large selection, so if you need any definitely check her out.

My Mom came over and helped me get them all put up. You can read more about doing a vintage pendant wall collage here! It turned out so well!

I had the metal “S” from years ago, and the boys’ name banners were a gift I got them for Christmas this past year (from Etsy). I’ll be keeping an eye out for a few vintage pendants that speak more to our personal past, but I love the colors, warmth, and fun that these all bring to the room.

Cost Breakdown for January’s House to Home Project:

Fluted Boards: $75
Paint: $45
Pendants: $56
NR Football Print: $4.89
Miscellaneous paint supplies (many of which will be used again): $20 (ish)
TOTAL: $200.89

Not too shabby! I love that these projects will challenge me to use what we already have and get a bit creative with things!

Okay, now on to February’s House to Home Project: IKEA Boaxel Closet Resets!

Thanks for stopping by to read about my modern vintage boys room refresh. It was a fun start to the year, and I’m excited to keep tackling spaces as part of our 2023 House to Home Project!

Let me know what questions you have in the comments.

To the Chaos!

Modern Vintage Boys Bedroom Refresh

Modern Vintage Boys Bedroom Refresh

Inspiration for the boys’ shared bedroom