Older Teen Boy Bedroom Idea for Under $500

I recently had another serve with Love Your Neighbor, and I had the opportunity for the first time to design a room for an older male teenager, and had to come up with a older teen boy bedroom idea for well under $500. I hesitate to say “boy” because he’s actually in his first few years of college, but as any mom who has a college student knows, while they aren’t kids anymore, they certainly aren’t full grown adults yet. If you’re not familiar with Love Your Neighbor, it’s a charity I volunteer for. As designers we each pick a room and go into Habitat for Humanity houses and other organizations and we design and furniture homes with new and donated goods, so when they move in, they have a beautiful home to enjoy. It’s kind of like Extreme Home Makeover.

Small teen boy bedroom with gray blue walls before makeover with bed

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One of the challenges is that this boy’s room bedroom design is that it’s a really small space, measuring in at about 10 x feet, not including the closet. Is this makeover, there were a few things he requested. I actually had to draw this one out instead of eyeballing it to see if I could get it all to fit.

bedroom layout with bed, dresser and closet

One of them was a dresser to put his clothing in since he was currently using a borrowed piece of furniture, and the other was to have a lounge area in the older teen boy bedroom idea. Something had to go, so after talking about it, he decided he didn’t care about the closet at all, and since it was unfinished, that was going to become his lounge area with a chair for extra seating. I know this room feels tight, but sometimes function is just as important as design.

A small closet before turning it into seating area

I really wanted to make it a comfortable place for him to be when he wasn’t in school. Some of his likes were sports, his athletic shoes, and a gray and blue color scheme. I also wanted to give him cool bedroom with a place to put his belongings, and some extra storage where I could.

In teenage boy’s room designs functionality is just as important as decor and picking accessories that are useful.

I’ll admit, boys’ bedroom decor is really different than girls. It’s much more functional than girl’s and he needed furniture that worked. Luckily, in the warehouse there had been a nice wood bed frame with room for under the bed storage, a gray bedspread and blue plaid comforter, which were perfect for an older teen’s bedroom and didn’t seem too young. At his age, even thought he room is smaller, he really needed a full size bed.

a older teen's bedroom with wood bed frame, blue carpet, beige chair and blue plaid bedding in a sports theme

He already had his nightstand and wanted to keep it as a part of his bedroom furniture. The chair, drapery and throw pillows were all donated goods. When decorating because of the donated goods and his own shoes and hoodies, I was able to go with a subtle sports theme, which is perfect decor for an older teen’s room.

Teenage boy bedroom with plaid comfoerter, tan drapes and a leather pillow

Since he really likes sports, and the warehouse had these fun frames sports prints with basketball and baseball in them. I hung one that had a collage of famous players over the bed. The other was hung in the new “lounge area” in the closet in the older teen boy bedroom. One of the tricks I used was using a duvet cover as a coverlet, and then I turned the navy and blue quilted comforter sideways as covering that looked nice that would also be useful.

A vintage dresser with a mirror over it in a small teen boy bedroom with a lamp and TV

I managed to get a dresser from a neighbor who was selling it. It was a great vintage piece. Super solid, lots of drawers, and a spot not only for his TV to sit on that he could see not only from his bed, but the hair. It also has room to put any extras he wanted as well as a lamp.

Bedroom with closet turned into a seating area with a chair, and shoes on display and a blue gray wall

The real challenge was the closet area. Even though he said it was okay to take the entire closet for seating, I knew he needed some storage. The compromise was to add a board to act as a mini-wall with two shelves built in, and shelves on the other side to display his favorite shoes. The mini-built in cost about $23 in lumber.

Small closet turned into a seating area with a place to hang jersey's and shoes

I then hung two rod hangers that he could hang some shirts and pants on. I know the chair is big for that space, but we are talking about a 6 foot tall young man. I think if it makes it more comfortable for him to enjoy his room, then it’s ok that it’s not the perfect design, but a good option with a comfy chair to sit on. This was one that was in the warehouse, but he can always get a smaller chair later or convert it back to a closet or even put a smell desk in there and make a mini-office. The most important thing that is a small house, he had a quiet place he could hang out in.

A way to display shoes as decor in a closet on shelves

Using shelving on the other wall also gave a way to display his favorite shoes as decor. I used a smaller carpet in the room instead of a huge area rug because they had such nice flooring. The curtains were nice and neutral for a more grown up feel in the space.

eenage older boy bedroom with dark blue gray walls, a blue plaid comforter , tan curtains and leather pillow

The few items I purchased for the room were the blue rug, lamp and lamp shade from Target, the pillow is also from Target. The dresser and the lumber for the closet. Everything else was so generously donated! I hope this family really love their “new” home. For me, I know teen guys can be a tough audience, so I hope he liked it, and it filled his needs. Find out more about Love Your Neighbor here.