A bedroom renovation is about more than just improving your sleeping area. Your bedroom should be your sanctuary, where you can get away from everyday stress. The best bedroom remodels also improve everyday functionality.
It’s a place where you get dressed, and where you store your clothes and important accessories. This is why most bedroom renovations include closet and wardrobe organization systems. It’s also a place where you relax to do things like read a good book, or even watch the evening news in bed.
A proper bedroom remodel also needs to address sleep hygiene. This might include blackout curtains that tastefully match the décor or convenient ways to incorporate white noise.
There’s a lot to consider that goes beyond the cosmetic enhancements of the bedroom of your dreams. If you’re not careful, you can go so far overboard on your bedroom remodel that you end up over budget and over-capitalized.
Benefits of a Bedroom Renovation
Even a simple bedroom remodel can improve your home’s value. So, you really have to sharpen the pencil to not end up over-capitalized in the end.
Most people who embrace a bedroom renovation do so as part of a larger home improvement plan, rather than preparing it for sale. This is usually meant to optimize the livability of the room and give it a more personal feel.
Improved sleep hygiene is one of the lesser-talked-about benefits of a thoughtful bedroom remodel. Getting better sleep because of changes you make in your bedroom environment will carry over into other parts of your life.
Most bedroom renovations also improve clothing storage and dressing space. This can be done by adding or updating the walk-in closet, installing new closet organization systems, or incorporating a wardrobe closet into the existing layout.
Planning Your Bedroom Remodel
When planning your next bedroom renovation, you want to take a meticulous step-by-step approach. This helps you take a more objective approach to designing a room that will inevitably have a very personal touch. It will also reduce the chances of you going over budget and ending up over-capitalized on this home renovating project.
If you need extra inspiration, check out home improvement magazines and visit interior design showrooms. Wander through hardware stores such as Home Depot or Bunnings for inspiration on paint colors and finishes. There are even home improvement shows like Three Birds Renovations, Fixer Upper, The Block, and Dream Home that could help bring your vision for your new bedroom into sharp focus.
Identifying Your Needs and Wants
The first step in planning a bedroom remodel is to identify the needs and separate them from your wants. For instance, you might need more storage for clothes or a new bed, which has to be factored into the budget.
You might want a high-end duvet cover from Linen House. You have to make room in the budget for your needs and then hope that your responsible choices leave enough funds available for your wants.
Consider the following things when defining your needs and your wants.
- Storage space for clothes
- Storage space for accessories
- Storage space for seasonal items
- Current closet space
- Opportunities to expand closet space
- A new bed
- Window treatments
- Flooring
- Heating & cooling
- Lighting & electrical
- Access to your children’s bedrooms
- Privacy & soundproofing
- New bedding
- Cosmetic treatments
Once you’ve identified the things you need to improve with your bedroom renovation, you can start to explore your layout options. This will help lead you toward a thoughtful budget and might also help you come up with a reasonable schedule.
Explore Your Options & Laying Out a Floor Plan
There’s a lot to consider when designing a bedroom remodel. It’s best to research each individual need separately, starting with the things that take up the most space. I like to work with graph paper.
Draw out the dimensions of the room to scale on one sheet of graph paper. Make sure to note the location of all the electrical outlets, light fixtures, existing closets, windows, and doors. As well as how far the door swings.
If you’re going to be making any structural changes, such as adding a new door, expanding a window, or adding a walk-in closet, you should also note the studs in the wall. You can do this using a stud detector.
Closet
Most complete bedroom remodels add or include a walk-in closet, remake an existing closet, or install a new wardrobe closet. You should also investigate different closet organization systems before considering their cosmetic treatments.
Closet size is a major factor to consider when planning a major bedroom remodel. Especially if you’re adding a new wardrobe closet, that will take up additional floor space. In a case like this, you need to lean heavily on your graph paper mock-ups, and you should also stand in the bedroom with a tape measure to make sure you have sufficient space around the wardrobe.
Additional Storage
If you’ve identified a need for additional storage in your bedroom renovation, you’ll need to include that in the early planning stages. This could come in the form of under-bed storage, overhead walk-in closet storage or adding a built-in wardrobe closet. You should also consider alternative storage locations such as a nearby hall closet or attic storage area.
Bed
Most bedroom renovations also call for improving the bed or getting a larger bed. This will eat up a lot of floor space in your bedroom. So, it’s one of the first things you have to plan. Bed size and placement will also affect things like the location of electrical outlets, and where doors swing.
You also have to account for the bed’s proximity to heating and cooling vents. The absolute minimum distance between a bed and the nearest vent should be half a meter to 1 meter. This will allow for sufficient airflow and reduce the risk of heat damaging bedding.
Outlets and Lighting
The location of electrical outlets and lighting is of under-spoken importance when it comes to planning a major bedroom renovation. Especially if you’re going to add a larger bed or permanently install a wardrobe closet.
Ideally, you want an electrical outlet near each side of the bed, for nightstand lamps, clocks and charging stations. Yet you don’t want the bed covering up these outlets for fire safety reasons. If one or more outlets are covered when you upgrade the size of the bed, you might need to plan to move one or more.
Similarly, you want any overhead lighting to be centered on the bed or the primary window. If changing the size and location of the bed affects this, you might want to consider also moving the location of the overhead lights. An alternate solution is to remove the overhead lights, to go with lights on each side of the bed.
Windows & Window Treatments
When planning a bedroom remodel, you might want to replace the windows or make major changes to the window treatments. If you’re going to replace the windows, the budget-friendly option is often to replace multiple windows as part of a larger home improvement plan. Beware that new windows are expensive and will quickly eat in to your budget.
If you don’t like the color of your window frames, there are now great paint products on the market to re-spray those old out stated mission brown windows. We chose to re-spray window frames in our current renovation. It was very easy and the product we used has been far more durable than expected and we are now 12 months on since they were painted.
Adding black-out curtains or similar window treatments to improve sleep hygiene should be considered a need. Whereas cosmetic curtains that only enhance the appearance of the room should be classified as a want.
Coming Up with a Budget
Coming up with a budget for your bedroom renovation starts with accounting for the money you have available, and what you can finance through a home improvement loan. To help you calculate the renovation cost, you should also ask yourself the following questions.
- Can I handle this bedroom remodel myself?
- Should I hire a professional builder?
- How much will the builder cost?
- Can I finance this home improvement project?
PRO TIP: For a bedroom renovation on a budget, keep and eye out for second hand items in Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree. This can include unused wall paneling, curtains and decorative items. It has saved us thousands!
Draw Up a Schedule
Like most home improvements, a bedroom remodel usually takes longer than you expect. So, don’t set your anticipated completion date to be anywhere near other major plans or special events.
Account for things like the time it takes for paint to fully cure and adhere to the walls. Dry to the touch usually isn’t sufficient for a bedroom remodel, if something like a bed or a box touches the walls after painting.
You also to allow for leeway in your bedroom remodel schedule for things like electrical installation. Even after wires, lights, and outlets are installed a licensed electrician will need to test all the features to ensure they’re up to building code regulations.
The local council might also require a third-party inspector for all electrical changes before you can move forward with things like drywall, or other wall coverings.
If you’re working with a professional builder, their experience will help them come up with a more accurate budget. This takes these problems out of your hands but also increases the cost.
Finding the Right Builder
Finding the right builder for your bedroom renovation starts with doing your research. Try to get a minimum of 3 quotes from licensed and insured builders.
Look up each builder’s online for reviews from past clients as well as their standing with your relevant building and construction authority.
Request itemized quotes from each builder and compare each one line by line looking for signs of inflated markup costs in particular.
PRO TIP: Investigate each builder and tradesperson online for reviews from past clients. Check their credentials and history with your local building and construction authority to confirm their licenses are current and valid for the work you are engaging them for.
Permits and certification
Demolition & Site Prep
If it’s a DIY bedroom remodel, you also need to have a plan for how to dispose of demolished materials.
Performing the Renovation
With a DIY bedroom remodel, you need to set up a plan that doesn’t proverbially paint you into a corner. You want to start with the things that are as far from the door as possible. This reduces the risk of accidentally damaging or messing up something that’s already installed.
You should also have a plan in place to protect any trim work. If you’re replacing the trim, you should do it last. Otherwise, the trim near the door should be protected from scuffs as beds, bed frames, and materials are brought in and out. It might make sense to take the door off the hinges through the life of the project.
Scheduling an Inspection
If your bedroom renovation makes structural or electrical changes, you’ll probably need to have it inspected. The wise move is to schedule the inspection a week or even two after your intended completion date. If they show up and you’re behind schedule, the inspector might double-charge you if they have to return later.
Wrapping It Up
When planning to renovate a bedroom, be sure to start with objectively identifying the things you need. You should budget for these first, before moving on to the things you want in your dream bedroom. This will help you stay closer to the original budget than if you go all-in trying to design and pay for the bedroom of your dreams.
You should try to draw inspirations for your bedroom remodel from multiple sources. Check popular home magazines and try to attend home improvement shows. You can use what you find to bring your bedroom renovation plan into sharp focus. Along the way you might even find new ideas to help you remodel your bedroom on a budget.
For a complete bedroom remodel, or adding something major like a walk-in closet, it’s best to hire a professional builder. Just be sure to get multiple quotes from three or more builders and compare them to see which one is offering you the most honest information.
Consider adding the bedrooms to your house renovation list for a quick and cost effective value increase to your property.