Stylish Teen Room Makeover with Loft Bed & Desk

The teenage years are bittersweet. It’s when kids start to build their sense of self and independence, explore their interests, and spend more and more time in their rooms. So many changes happen in these years, so it just makes sense to make a teen’s bedroom match their budding personality. Let me share with you the teen room makeover I did for my middle daughter: Little A!

My middle girl is going into Jr. High this year, so with that comes more homework and a greater need for a special space of her own. Little A’s always wanted a loft bed with a desk underneath to do homework and drawing.

Here’s what her bedroom looked like before

I love this room design, but Little A has changed A LOT since we made over this room when she was 7 years old. She’s no longer a fan of unicorns and gold sparkles… she’s now more of a movie posters & neutral colours kind of girl! (See this magical boho kids’ room makeover here.)

A loft bed is an exciting and practical element you can add to your teenager’s bedroom, so I was all for getting one for my daughter’s new room. This design maximizes space and functionality, while also adding a fun and modern element. If you’re working with a small space, this is an especially good choice so that you can fit both a bed and desk in your child’s room.

Watch the whole room makeover from start to finish

Watch my YouTube video below to see the entire room transformation from beginning to end:

The Loft Bed

The main new element in my daughter’s room makeover is the SMASTAD Loft Bed from IKEA. My daughter LOVES to draw and make clay creations, so we wanted to have a desk in her room. She’s also entering Jr. High this year, so she’ll have more homework. Because her room is small, we thought a loft bed with a desk underneath was the perfect solution. The IKEA SMASTAD is the size of a twin bed, and it comes in a few different configurations. We chose the one with the wardrobe, bookshelf, and the desk with the drawers. The more storage in a teen’s room, the better!

Measuring & Planning

Once we settled on the loft bed, it was time to measure the room and plan the layout. We made sure to take into account the height of the loft bed, the clearance for sitting at the desk, and the placement of the window, door, and outlets. Using a measuring tape and graph paper, we created a scaled drawing of the room, and experimented with different configurations until we found the most space-efficient and functional layout. We ended up placing the loft bed against the far wall, and removing the original window set and placing those shelves in the closet. Opposite the wall, we kept Little A’s vanity, and a shelf for her pet gecko. With this configuration, there’s still enough room to access the closet and the wardrobe in the loft bed.

Involving my Teen

Decorating a teen’s room is not a one-person task. It’s important to involve your teen in the process as much as possible, asking for their input and suggestions. Even though I was sad about it, Little A wanted to paint over the deep teal green feature wall and light green accent walls from her (younger) childhood room design. She loves cozy and moody spaces with a neutral color scheme so we ended up choosing a warm dark grey paint color for her walls called Barnwood Grey by Behr. To find inspiration, we scrolled through Pinterest together and she found some bedrooms she loved – they all had dark grey walls and cozy elements like twinkle lights, fuzzy carpets and plants. I also encouraged my daughter to go through all of her things and donate or throw out anything she wasn’t using anymore. It felt amazing!

Shopping for Furniture & Accessories

One we had our plan in place, we sourced a few items we needed for the makeover. The biggest purchase was the loft bed, and the only other purchases were the wall paint, this basket light from IKEA, and these cozy linen-look curtains from Amazon (I bought 4 panels for a full look). Everything else we used was already in my stash of decor or in the room already: the desk chair, the baskets, the picture ledges, the area rug and the twinkle lights.

Instead of a dresser, Little A will be using her baskets and shelves in her closet. I want to completely reconfigure her closet, but that’s another DIY for another time (soon)!

Installing & Decorating

The final step was to paint the room, install the loft bed and desk, add hardware to the desk drawers, swap out the old chandelier for the new light fixture, and to decorate the room with my teen’s favorite items. We worked together on all of this so that Little A could be involved with the whole process every step of the way. She organized all her items in spots that made sense to her, and we finished the room with touches like some book ledges, desk accessories, a gallery wall with favourite drawings and photos, hanging twinkle lights and some faux plants.

When decorating a teen’s bedroom, consider swapping out traditional lamps for twinkle lights – my girls are obsessed with them! One of our favourite strands is this one with the remote control and it can easily be hung with Command Hooks near the ceiling or along desk areas.

Little A loves her new room, and it makes me so happy that it matches her personality so well. There’s plenty of storage space in the new loft bed & desk, and it’s the perfect hangout space. The dark, neutral walls and generous desk space match her perfectly, and I’m so happy we were able to work on this project together!

Let me know what you think of this teen room makeover in the comments, and if you’ve ever decorated a bedroom with your teenager! Want more kids’ bedroom ideas? Click here!