5 Bedroom Remodel Ideas That Pay Off

Transform Bedroom Into a Primary Suite

Carving out property to expand your home's footprint is always outrageously expensive, since a new foundation, walls, roofing, and a host of other elements are required. Turning your existing bedroom into a primary bedroom is a far less expensive project, but is one that can pay you back handsomely. But where do you get the space for this?

Catherine and Bryan Williamson are the husband-and-wife design team behind the popular blog Beginning in the Middle. They created a primary suite without laying down a single square foot of foundation. They did this by merging two bedrooms and a hallway into one, large area. The result is a gorgeous top-floor living-sleeping area that is bathed in light during the day, yet remote and cozy at night.

Expanded Bedroom from Beginning in the Middle

Improve Bedroom Mood With Lighting

Most homeowners focus their attention on kitchen lighting or bathroom lighting. Bedroom lighting often falls to the wayside, being relegated to a dismal switch-controlled ceiling light and a lamp on a nightstand.

Instead of thinking of single set-pieces, think in terms of a combination of light sources. Start with the ceiling light—a switch-controlled light is typically required by code—and replace the old shade with a fun, eye-catching new shade. Or grace your high bedroom ceiling with a chandelier or an oversized shade.

Rewire the wall behind the bed for space-saving wall light sconces that are perfect for reading in bed. Putting the bedside scones on a dimmer switch helps set the mood when you're done reading.

Contemporary style bedrooms look fantastic with retro track lighting. ​Track lighting is flexible, allowing you to slide the fixtures down the track as well as swivel them to the perfect position.

Sputnik Lighting Fixture from Genevieve Garruppo

Improve Bedroom Comfort With New Flooring

Bedroom flooring should communicate a sense of warmth, safety, and coziness. Hard flooring options such as ceramic tile are recommended only in areas that experience high humidity and moisture. Otherwise, think in terms of soft floors that are friendly to bare feet, such as wall-to-wall carpeting or an area rug over wood or laminate flooring.

Engineered wood flooring, a hybrid of dimensionally stable plywood and a hardwood veneer, can be installed with feet-soothing radiant heat coils underneath. Wide plank flooring, available in solid hardwood, engineered wood, and laminate, adds an air of dramatic grandeur to any primary bedroom. 

Favorite bedroom flooring options for warmth and comfort include wall-to-wall carpeting, wood or quality laminate flooring with area rugs, and cork flooring.

Another upcoming bedroom flooring choice is a vinyl plank. Vinyl traditionally has been a thin, cold material best reserved for kitchens or bathrooms. But thicker vinyl plank flooring with a solid core feels warmer. Plus, it's friendlier to bare feet than ever before. Deep embossing also gives some types of vinyl plank flooring the look and feel of real wood.

Quality bedroom flooring sets the tone for relaxing evenings in bed, followed by deep, restful sleep. Home buyers place a high premium on good bedroom flooring, but always make sure that the flooring also works for you.

Primary Bedroom Flooring Reveal from Addison's Wonderland

Add Personality to a Bedroom With Character Touches

Do you want your bedroom to have character? While overtly themed bedrooms are for children, bedrooms with nuanced personalities turn heads and turn the room from a sleeping-only zone to a destination. With most bedrooms, only a light touch is needed to create a certain look.

Creating a tropical bedroom can be as easy as buying a canopy bed, adding bamboo window shades, and adding a ceiling fan. For a sophisticated island look, keep it simple with plants and pillow accents, like this clean, beautiful themed bedroom featured by Bri Emery at the design blog Design Love Fest.

Other popular bedroom styles include shabby chic, Tuscan, Hollywood Regency, and contemporary. With bedrooms, it's easier and lower cost to follow the latest bedroom trends than trends in rooms like baths and kitchens with pricey materials that are difficult to change out. Or keep it simple and stick with tried-and-true favorite bedroom styles.

Liven Up Bedroom With New Paint Scheme

Following color trends can be frustrating since they don't always match colors that you love. So what should you do?

For a newly purchased home or a home that you don't expect to sell for a couple of years, paint your bedroom interior any color that speaks to your heart. It's not worth painting the bedroom a certain color just for the sake of trends or a sale that might happen years from now. Bedrooms, along with hallways, living rooms, and dining rooms, are the easiest room in the house to repaint.

But for an upcoming sale, consider following the latest color trends when painting your bedroom. It's an easy, low-cost project that will take only a day or two to complete.

If following color trends does not suit you, aim for darker, more relaxing colors in large bedrooms. Small bedrooms benefit from space-making light color schemes that use pastels, grays, or neutrals–just like blogger Anita Yokota did in her primary bedroom.

Removing the wallpaper that her husband disliked so much, Anita repainted the room with a light neutral tone and updated her accessories, resulting in a minimalist Scandinavian-inspired bedroom. Now, this bedroom can easily transition to any style with its new wall color.