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In this article, I share a tween boy bedroom makeover. I changed the ceiling fan, wall color, bed frame, and artwork. Our son has a lot of interests: everything from dinosaurs to drawing to pirate ships. It was a lot of fun to include his interests in his bedroom while also making the room more grown up.

I partnered with Hunter Fan Company and Sherwin-Williams on this makeover project. The Cranbrook ceiling fan design in black with light blue-gray Misty SW 6232 by Sherwin-Williams gives his bedroom personality and style—perfect for a preteen space.

The Process

We had his low-profile Cranbrook fan installed before I painted. Hunter’s Cranbrook design is fun and quirky–and the black is perfect for a boy or teen’s room! He enjoys having his remote for the fan and usually sleeps with the remote next to his bed. The single bulb gives off a good bit of light in the room.

I painted his bedroom Sherwin-Williams Misty using Harmony Interior in an Eg-Shel finish. The same paint color we used in our daughter’s room! I love how versatile the color is, it goes from grey to blue depending on the lighting. And Harmony’s quality is great–our son had previously drawn a picture on his wall in pencil and it was almost 100% covered with the first coat of paint! 

Our preteen requested a bed with storage in the color blue. I shopped around online and found an affordable twin storage bed with a matching headboard in the color Blueberry. It is a subtle blue with some wood grain, not a bright blue which I like.

He stores toys in the under-bed storage, and his alarm clock with books is housed on and in his headboard. I would rate the bed frame high for value and style, and score it a bit lower in the quality category. All that to say–he loves it, and I am happy with it overall and its a good fit for a tween boy bedroom.

Before taking over our preteen’s room, he had a huge collection of Legos next to his bed. His closet didn’t store much clothing, so I moved all his legos into the closet (victory!!) and made space for his new desk. 

He likes to draw and film stop animation videos. He eventually wants his computer to practice coding. A desk seemed like a great support for his growing interests!

We used the wood from our son’s old bed to build his new desk. The desk is taller than the chair height so I purchased a black gloss stool with an adjustable seat for the desk.

I went shopping for accessories with our 10-year-old after a field trip last week. He picked a dry-erase calendar and a few fun pieces including a shark sign. The preteen years for boys are tricky. It’s easy to decorate too young (nursery-style art) or too old (scary or dark teen art).

We found some good pieces that were meaningful to him. And the artwork is SO easy to swap out when a child’s style preference changes.

The Cranbrook fan in black pulls the room together. And while the black color matures the space a bit, the design itself is whimsical and lighthearted. The fan is perfect for a tween boy bedroom or a teen’s space and its style will grow with them as they get older! 

I added a vintage metal crate on the side of our son’s bed for easy access to his dinosaur lamp. And he keeps his favorite books in his headboard cubby, along with his alarm clock.

I worked hard to display our son’s favorite dinosaurs & legos while minimizing the overall toy clutter. Our preteen is a collector of all the things! The metal galvanized bins on his dresser help to collect the toys & mementos that did not otherwise have a “home.”

For the wall color in his bedroom, we narrowed it down to a blue because it feels neutral and still gives his room color.  Sherwin-Williams Misty goes from blue to gray depending on the light in the room and time of day.

Check out below how it looks in his sister’s room, the room just to the left of his space. Accent colors and textures make a big difference! And while both of their windows face north, her bed is on a west wall and his bed is on an east wall. 

Our son loves his new grown-up room, and we completed it on a small budget! We replaced his bed and ceiling fan and painted the walls. Repurposed his desk, and kept his original bookcase, curtains, and dresser. Changing the wall color (bye beige) and adding a new modern ceiling fan completed this tween boy bedroom!

This article was written in partnership with Sherwin-Williams and Hunter Fan Company. I received paint and a ceiling fan as compensation for this post. All opinions in this article are my own.

Julia Fain

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