Toddler Room Makeover Reveal – Paint, Decor, and More

I love a great room makeover. It’s so satisfying to bring new life to an old or overlooked space.

Our latest project has been turning our current guest room into a toddler room for our son. He’s outgrown his nursery, there’s no longer a need for the changing table, and his interests are well beyond the Winnie the Pooh decorations I hung around the nursery well before he was born.

So it was time for an upgrade.

In upgrading our son’s room to a toddler room, we wanted to use what we had and buy only what we needed. We usually will try to find the best deals on things we need to buy – and then try to make or find other things. That’s exactly what we did with this makeover, and the toddler room makeover turned out fantastic!

Before

Our plan was to move our son to our current guest room (more details on this below). Our current guest room was pretty ordinary – we just had a bed and a few nightstands on a pretty blue carpet. The walls were painted stark white – as the whole house was when we moved in. It’s very bright and severe, so we have been slowly changing this stark white to softer and warmer colors, but we hadn’t gotten around to this room yet. This toddler room makeover couldn’t come soon enough!

Here are a few before pictures prior to the toddler room makeover, when it was a guest room.

Another Before

Ash and I decided to convert the guest room to our son’s toddler room, rather than transform his nursery. His nursery had a very interesting accent wall – there were Charlie Brown zig-zags with colorful confetti squares over the middle of one of the walls. This wasn’t our design – it was there when we moved in, but we hadn’t had time to change it before settling in.

So moving our little guy to the guest room would give us time to makeover this room too. Or at least, that wall 🙂

As you can see, a toddler room was going to be a huge and much-needed upgrade.

After

And, here are a few afters of our son’s toddler room. He was beyond excited when he saw it all come together.

A Fresh Color

So, the first order of business in this toddler room makeover was to paint the walls. In prepping for paint, we took down the old black valance as well as the old vinyl blinds, with plans to completely replace these.

For the toddler room makeover, we partnered with Colorhouse Paint, whose paint we loved. They make extremely low VOC paint. The VOC content of their paint is the lowest I’ve ever seen which is 3 grams per liter (this is the amount for untinted painted), and their VOC emissions are zero after 14 days (also for untinted). As for the paint itself, it was easy to work with and the fumes were so minimal.

It was important to us to use a low VOC paint because we always try to keep any kind of chemical use in our home to a minimum. Colorhouse paint was perfect for us, and we love how environmentally-friendly their company is.

In choosing a color, we went with a light creamy color called Imagine .06. With a dark blue carpet, we didn’t want any color clashes – even though it was a kids room. Growing up, my bedroom had pink walls and an army yellow-green carpet. And, that was after the paneling that covered the walls was replaced – so I couldn’t go back there 🙂

Ash and I figured that we would do a light neutral color on the walls and then bring in more color with wall decorations, curtains, and other accents.

Perfect Compliment

The color Imagine .06 was the perfect compliment to the dark blue carpet. The previously-painted white that looked so severe was replaced with a warm color that beautifully softened the room.

In the below picture, you can see the white ceiling in comparison to the freshly painted walls. Prior to the paint, both the ceiling and the walls were the same bright white. It was a huge difference because it brought such warmth to previously stifled room.

The paint was great to work with. It was thick and creamy and covered the walls really nicely. We did two coats and made sure to stir often while painting.

Here is my pal Zeus, posing prior to painting. He saw me snapping pictures of the paint and jumped in the photo – he loves posing for pictures because he knows he gets treats afterwards 🙂

Furnishing the New Room

With the paint on the walls, it was time to make a plan for furniture. We definitely needed a toddler bed, so after tons of research and reviews, we found one on Amazon that we were comfortable with.

The toddler bed we purchased was the same size as a crib (so crib sheets will still fit), and it was low to the ground, the same as the lowest crib setting. The thing that stood out about this bed was we liked the railings it had. It was completely railed in, except for the middle of both sides.

As an added bonus, the bed turns into two chairs, when it’s no longer needed as a bed. It was excellent quality too – and not bad to assemble.

We also picked out a new dresser and a cubby bookshelf. I love cubby bookshelves in kids rooms because the cubes are the perfect size for holding books.

We have a few of these cubby shelves scattered around the house and love the versatility – they can be used horizontally or vertically. You can use bins or baskets to keep things organized within the cubbies too. We set ours up horizontally to keep everything low to the ground with a little one.

New Curtains

For drapery, I had my eyes set on thick navy and white striped curtains. Tons of stores have them, but I didn’t love the price.

I thought about making them myself – but the fabric came to about $50, which was around the same price as I was avoiding. I finally found them at Walmart for $13 bucks each! Isn’t shopping around the best?!

With the furniture in place, it was time to start moving in the decorations, books, and toys 🙂

Wall Decor

As far as decorations, I wanted to use colorful decorations since we painted the walls such a neutral color. After searching high and low for cute things to decorate with, I decided to make my own wall decorations out of canvas, wall stickers, and washi tape. Buying wall decor at fancy shops and even Etsy can add up – so in creating my own wall decor, I saved money and also made something my son adored.

And, I have a whole post on how you can make these DIY wall decorations too 🙂

The best part? Should my son get tired of the trucks, I can easily remove the stickers from the canvas and replace them with whatever he’s into next 🙂

Finishing Touches

Last, we added the finishing touches. We ordered a toddler bedding set on Amazon after reading tons of reviews. We are so happy with it – the bedding set is made of cotton muslin fabric and is very soft. The bottom fitted sheet is attached to the top sheet – so the top sheet can’t fall off in the night. The comforter is not heavy, but has about four layers, perfect for cold nights.

It also came with a toddler pillow and pillow case. All of these items can add up when bought individually, so we feel we definitely saved buying them together.

As an added bonus, this toddler bed also uses crib sheets – so we can use these too as backups. We’ve spent very little on bedding for our son – I don’t think we’ve even bought new sheets since he was born, so we definitely wanted another high-quality set.

Toys, Books & Other Decor

Next, in decorating, we wanted to use things we had – so we moved in some of his favorite toys. We placed his spaceship tent, that our son LOVES, in the corner of the room. It collapses into a thin circle for easy mobility – and it has survived rough toddler play.

For a reading spot, we moved his stuffed panda up from his playroom. It’s a huge stuffed animal that makes for a very comfy chair 🙂

Last we moved in a few toys and garage sale finds – like the toy garage, a toy fire truck, a few old cars to go with the vehicle theme, and of course, his tons and tons of books.

And, the red alphabet wall hanging (pictured above) is one of my favorites. It’s an alphabet board, where you place the item that goes with the letter in the pocket. It was a $3 flea market find – and I was able to make more items out of felt. I love a good educational tool 🙂

All in all, we are very happy with the toddler room makeover. It was a much-needed upgrade from the days of changing tables, rocking chairs, and cribs. Our son now has a room which fits his age – that he absolutely loves. Everything came together really nicely – the fresh paint from Colorhouse, the curtains, the decor, and the furniture.

If you are looking to do a toddler room makeover, you can definitely get by with the basics – fresh paint and age-appropriate furniture. Then, you can use DIY wall decor and the toys/books/knick-knacks you already have 🙂 It will come together perfectly!