Your bedroom should be one of the coziest spots in your home, but ours hadn’t been touched since we moved in. The goal was to bring in more warmth, charm, and personality without spending a fortune. This small bedroom makeover on a budget was all about creating that collected cottage feel using vintage furniture, warm tones, and thoughtful details that make the space feel both timeless and personal. I hope this post gives you some small bedroom ideas and inspiration!
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Planning Our English Cottage Bedroom
The first step in any room makeover for me is creating a mood board! It’s a great way to help visualize everything all together. But before I can start on that, my process begins with flipping through my favorite design books and scrolling on Pinterest. This bedroom (by one of my favorite interior designers) was my biggest inspiration, especially in regards to the wide plank vertical paneling.
My mood board dives a little deeper and includes some items I already own as well as some specific items I plan to purchase or find something similar to! PS everything I ended up using in our small bedroom makeover is linked at the end of this post 🙂
In order to fully appreciate this small bedroom makeover, you have to see the before! We moved into our new home almost 2 years ago and hadn’t touched our master bedroom.
The first thing we did that made a huge impact was changing the layout. As you can see in the photo below, we had our bed up against a small window. This wasn’t ideal because we weren’t able to use a headboard and the window sill was right where our heads were. You’ll notice in the after photos that we moved the bed to a different wall. We like it much better this way! It feels like we have more floor space and I love having the window fully exposed.
DIY Plywood Vertical Shiplap
Since this was a bedroom makeover on a budget, I decided to make “faux shiplap” using 1/8″ plywood! The vertical shiplap not only added some extra dimesion and interest, but it also made our room look bigger. It really does make such a big impact when you’re designing a small space.
We saved hundreds by doing it this way and you would never even guess! If you’re working with a tiny budget, you could always do an accent wall instead of the entire room.
My full tutorial: Budget Friendly Vertical Shiplap
Paint Colors
Let’s talk paint because for a budget bedroom makeover, this is the easiest way to add personality!
Our cottage bedroom makeover was in partnership with HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams, however this post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own! I used their 2026 Color Collection, Honest Essentials, and I cannot recommend it enough! It has the most beautiful, earthy colors and you’ll see how I incorporated many of them into this space through both paint and decor.
For the walls and trim, I chose their 2026 Color of the Year, Universal Khaki (HGSW6150). It’s a gorgeous mid-tone tan that’s very calming and cozy! It’s also one of those chameleon wall colors that looks different throughout the day. A fresh coat of paint really gave our bedroom a whole new look!
For the ceiling, I used Neutral Ground (HGSW7568). This is a perfectly creamy off-white. Although, I’ll admit, I’m very tempted to do a full color drench with the Universal Khaki! If you’re curious to learn more about color drenching, check out this post: 19 Inspiring Color Drenching Ideas for Every Room.
I decided to do a fun pop of color with our nightstands! For those, I used Cordovan (HGSW6027) which is a rich, wine red with violet undertones. This was my way of paying homage to our beloved burgundy bedroom in our previous home!
As far as paint types and sheens, I used:
If paint sheens are confusing you, this is one of my most popular posts: How to Paint Trim and Why Satin is the Best Finish
Cottage Bedroom Furniture
The key to designing a beautiful bedroom on a budget is shopping secondhand! It’s always a great idea to take advantage of your local thrift store or Facebook Marketplace for high-quality furniture pieces. Let’s face it—new furniture costs a small fortune (and typically aren’t made well) while older pieces offer excellent craftsmanship, timeless silhouettes, and simply make a space feel more collected.
All of the furniture in our bedroom is vintage. My personal favorite piece is our Drexel Heritage headboard which is the definitely the focal point of our cozy cottage bedroom.
Layered Lighting
Lighting is often overlooked, but it’s so important when it comes to creating a cozy, calming atmosphere. I used a layered approach to make sure our bedroom feels soft and inviting!
By the bed, we installed swing arm sconces which add the perfect touch of both charm and function. These also save us space on our bedside table which we really needed!!
We replaced our old ceiling fan with a more aesthetically pleasing fandelier. Yes, believe it or not, there are fan blades in there! This is my third fandelier purchase- I love them. If you’re interested, check out this post: 5 Reasons You’ll Love Having a Fandelier.
This particular fandelier is my favorite so far for two reasons: it’s beautiful and you can use your own light bulbs!! The previous fandeliers I’ve had used LED strips which you can’t replace. The only con with this fandelier is that the blades are very tiny so it’s only ideal for a small room!
Every room needs a cute lamp or five 😉 We have a vintage crystal table lamp on our dresser and a cordless lamp on one of the nightstands! Lastly, we have some battery operated candle sticks that always add a nice ambience to any space.
Window Treatments
Just like with lighting, I love a layered look when it comes to window treatments! I did this for our sunroom and it just makes for such a cozy, functional space.
Similar to our sunroom, I did a combination of bamboo blinds and linen curtains, but I parterned with a brand for that space and therefore the window treatments were gifted. For our bedroom, my goal was to find some budget-friendly alternatives. I went with these bamboo blinds and these linen blend pinch pleat curtains. I’m so happy with both!!
Bedding
The one thing I splurged on for this budget bedroom was new bedding. Sleep is so important! I’m definitely still working on mastering the layered look, but i’m really happy with how the bedding turned out!
There’s so many different ways to layer a bed, but I’m a hot sleeper so the formula that works best for me is a quilt, a large throw blanket, four sleep pillows, and one lumbar pillow. That’s it! You can also consider getting some of fun throw pillows, but I personally like to keep it simple.
The star of the show is of course the reversible quilt I got! It brings in some pattern and contrast which I love. But the real MVP would be the bamboo sheets. After seeing so many others share how amazing these sheets are, I had to give them a try and they did not disappoint. They’re soft, luxurious, and keep me nice and cool!
Vintage Bedroom Decor Ideas
When decorating for a vintage aesthetic, layering and mixing is key!! You don’t need everything to match perfectly. If you mix textures, finishes, and patterns, it will make your space feel effortlessly collected over time. I’m still working on collecting decor for our primary bedroom- it takes time!! Be patient and I promise it will pay off.
If you’re going for that lived-in cottage feel, focus on pieces that have character! It could be a patinaed mirror, unique hardware, or vintage embroidery art. Those little details are affordable ways to make the room feel like a story, not just a space.
Here are some fun ideas and diy projects to get a vintage cottage bedroom on a budget:
- DIY headboard (cover an old headboard in a printed fabric!)
- Chest at the end of the bed (bonus: extra storage space!)
- Add fabric to your picture frames (like this!)
- Create a gallery wall with a variety of thrifted frames
- Try making a blanket ladder (like this!) to display your quilts and throws
- Use a vintage dresser tray to display jewelry, perfume, or candles
- Design your room around a vintage Turkish rug (they have some great ones on Etsy!)
- Create a vanity area with a small table, vintage mirror, and chair or ottoman
- Use old books as decor- stack them on the dresser or nightstand
Shop Our Cottage Bedroom
Click here to shop our cottage bedroom decor!
