A chalk painted desk and white walls are a great start to this room makeover! With simple touches and better organization, this room is on its way to becoming a great escape for a five-year-old boy!

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555 Room Challenge week 1

WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3 | WEEK 4 | WEEK 5

Chalk Painted Furniture and White Walls

When you can’t find a piece of home decor you want, do you just give up!?

Never give up!

I’ll admit, sometimes I get a little discouraged, but then I just start thinking creatively!

I wanted a desk for my son’ room, but the wall space is limited in his room. There are three windows and two doors, and his room is small.

I’m trying out a new layout for the 555 Room Challenge, and I’m loving it! The new arrangement left room for a desk along with his bed and dresser.

Small desk options are hard to come by. I even looked back at my post, “Small White Desks for an Office Nook!” Most of the desks were just too wide! I started looking at vertical wall desks, because I knew that they would allow for more places to organize and display things.

Eventually I stumbled on THIS vertical wall ladder desk! It was the perfect width, and had two shelves above the desk surface.

I pinned it and decided that I would come back for it later. When I did, the white desk was out of stock and not due back in stock until March…and then until April!

Related: “$100 Room Challenge Reveal”

Noooooooo! After all of that searching and finally finding the right size, it could not be backordered for months!

I did a quick new search and realized that there were two other colors available in the same desk. However, the other colors were much darker than what I had wanted.

Not a problem! Paint can solve just about any issue!

I used my Wagner FLEXiO 3000 paint sprayer and a can of leftover Rustoleum chalk paint to change the look! Since the desk had engineered wood and metal, chalk paint was my go to! The paint sprayer is key when painting furniture, because it is such a time saver!

Check out the dressers that I painted using my paint sprayer in my post, “One Room Challenge Week 2!”

I had to paint the ladder desk inside because it was so cold out! I was worried that the paint would not cure properly. Thank goodness Wagner was generous enough to send me their awesome spray tent! This tent can be used indoors or outdoors and protects your piece, as well as, your surroundings when using a paint sprayer. You can’t beat the price at $39.99!

It was the first time that I set it up, but it went up pretty quickly. I didn’t read the directions at first, so it probably would have been even faster if I had! Clean up was a breeze. I just took down the tent and packed it away in its carrying case!

Overall, the process of the chalk painted desk is fairly easy. I’ll be writing a post on how to paint furniture using chalk paint!

Chalk Painted Desk

This might not be the final way that the chalk painted desk is styled, but I wanted it to have some accessories when I took the pictures! I’m sure my son will come in and add a million random things to every square inch of the desk.

I can’t blame him though. I was the same way!

He really needs to keep things simple and organized for his space. Although I love neutrals, I wanted to have some color when styling the desk!

I placed some of his books in the wire gym basket for extra storage, but he will most likely need even more storage items for his chalk painted desk. I’m trying to take advantage of as much organization as possible!

Theglobe is from his nursery. I seem to have a thing for globes! I love it when people collect them! Here are a few other old and new ones that I found!

Related: “DIY Playroom Storage Ideas”

Related: “Simplify Your Home-FREE 30 Day Checklist”

THIS cash box is where he stores his money and precious Pokemon trading cards. I found the rainbow math facts thing at the Target dollar spot!

I enjoy mixing current pieces with vintage pieces, especially ones that have some meaning!

The vintage picture on top of the desk is of my father when he was about the same age as my son is now! My son is named after him, and I love having this piece in his room. He’s standing in front of the hardware store that was in his family for generations! My dad was the first one to leave the business and became a dentist!

The “BOYS” pennant flag makes the space! Who can resist a good pennant!? Using them to style a boy’s room is one of my favorites! He already had this one, so I hung it there for now. Here are a few (a ton) other pennants that caught my eye! They are all so cute!

I’m a sucker for bentwood chairs! I found this one in a neighbor’s trash!!! It was in great condition. All I had to do was wipe it down, and it was ready to be used! Here are some other ones that I have looked at over the years:

White Walls

I chose Benjamin Moore chantilly lace as the wall color for my son’s bedroom. I wanted white walls or at least a light color, and I already had a whole can of flat wall paint and trim paint leftover from the One Room Challenge!

Using a little bribery, I finally got my son to agree to the paint I already had!

Our house is small, so light bright colors are a great choice. The spaces feel larger when painted white. The white walls also give a crisp clean background for pops of color…or pops of neutrals!

The color scheme for my son’s bedroom is gray, white, black, and a pop of blue. Tiny bits of color from toys and books also work in the space because of the white neutral background.

Who doesn’t like looking at some inspiration photos on Pinterest!? Here are three gorgeous rooms that caught my eye when planning for my son’s classic star wars bedroom!

The Cost

Here’s the cost breakdown so far:

One gallon of Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace wall paint and trim paint $0 (leftover)
Bamboo blinds $145.17
Ladder desk $137.55

Total: $282.72

The Plan

Things have gotten a little mixed up over here mainly because my brain can’t compute the number of weeks! I can’t figure out if I’m ahead or behind, but I painted the desk this past week instead of hang the blinds.

Week 3:

Hang these bamboo blinds from Overstock
Add this woven rug (I found it brand new at Restore for $12!)
Layer it with old Serena & Lily rug from playroom
Put up this accordion arm wall sconce
Hang these book ledges
- Star Wars print
- Stormtrooper print
- Boys pennant flag
- Star Wars pennant flag
- Hang printers drawer for Lego figures
Add these wall decals to accent wall

Week 4:

Make DIY Lego wall using these gray Lego baseplates

Week 5:

Accessorize for REVEAL WEEK!

Here are my 5 DIY projects:

Paint ladder desk-DONE!
DIY Lego wall
Reupholster camping stools-DONE!
Swiss cross wall decals
Darth Vader bookends

Check back next week for more progress, and you can always tune into my Instagram stories to see some behind the scenes! Now, make sure you go take a look at the projects that the other talented bloggers are working on below!