Amazon Challenge Part 1: Designing A Girl’s Bedroom

I wanted to challenge myself to design an entire house using only things from Amazon (read more about the challenge here). So, today I am starting with the girl’s room. I imagined her to be a preteen who loves books, make up, clothes and hanging out with her friends. She is a self proclaimed girly girl who likes pinks, pastels and flowers. She needs a desk for homework and make up, storage for her electronics, books and clothes. Her parents want her room to grow with her into her teen/early adult years.

The bedroom I designated for her was rather large at 15 ft x 11 ft. It has two windows and a small walk in closet. I noodled around with the floor plan and came up with what you see below. The bed was placed between the two windows and it’s flanked by night stands. On the wall to the right of the bed, has her dresser, hamper and mirror (hung above the dresser). The left wall contains her vanity/desk and the door to her walk in closet. The wall across from the bed contains the entry door from the hallway and several hooks to allow her to hang clothes, purses, hats and all kinds of things on.

The aesthetics of this room is definitely girly with a floral wall paper that covers all 4 walls and a pink velvet bed. However, I think it will be nicely balanced with natural elements in the room including bamboo blinds, sea grass basket and a wood toned vanity/desk that brings warmth and texture. White, pink and blue are the main colors, but the added pop of yellow/gold makes it feel more alive.

I tried my best to model this room in Homestyler, so I could get a feel for how the different elements would work together. You’ll notice that the room has a mixture of things from the mood board and sometimes similar looking items (the dresser, night stand, hamper). I love doing this because it really helps me visualize how the different elements work together.

I created elevations for the other three walls and usually added more accessories and tried my best to replicate the furniture in the mood board (that’s available at Amazon). When I couldn’t use the exact item I found items that looked similar and I modified their dimensions to reflect the true size of the items. I did my best to keep sizes accurate.

Wall 2 was kept relatively simple with only a very large mirror hung above the white dresser. The hamper is placed in the corner closest to the window. There is room on the other side of the dresser for a small chair, if desired. I felt this room needed some breathing space, so I left it empty. I could not find a picture of the dresser straight on, so I did my best to adjust the dresser to give that appearance (although it does look a little wonky). I, however, really wanted to include it in the design, so I could get a feel for the color and shape with the other elements.

Wall three is to the left of the bed (wall 1). This is where the vanity/desk will live. This desk is not the Amazon vanity but It has the same qualities (size, wood tone) and I’m using it as a place holder (I really need to learn 3D design). Anyway, I paired it with the vanity chair and tried to utilize the space above it to maximize usage. The two shelves are mounted around 20-22 inches above the top of the desk and the magnetic board is placed vertically next to the shelves. Since part of the vanity’s top lifts up to reveal a mirror/make up, it was essential to keep the desktop clear. For this reason, I recommend using two pencil cups that mount to the wall. For the elevation, I used black cups they could easily be seen but I would prefer to use white or even a colorful pencil cup (perhaps gold or pink). There is space under the shelves for wall-hung calendar and this one was too good of a match to not include. I also included an adorable pinkish blue tooth speaker on the shelf. I don’t know about you, but when I was preteen and high schooler I listened to music non-stop.

I imagine that this young lady will use this area a lot for getting ready in the morning (make up/hair stuff) but also homework. The two drawers and open center part of the vanity will allow for good enough storage, but I would recommend a small rolling cart be added to the space. It could be placed right next to the desk. I found this one on Amazon and thought it would work well in this space. The cart could easily be rolled into the closet to eliminate visual clutter when not in use.

The wall across from the windows/bed (wall 4) was designed for hanging storage/visual interest. It has 6 wood knob-like pegs on the wall, so the young lady can hang her accessories, clothes or jackets on. Above the pegs is a floating shelf. This is the only thing in the whole design not from Amazon. This is a relatively long shelf and can be DIYed using plans found on the internet. Alternatively, you could purchase a shelf from a hardware store and mount with brackets. I imagined this shelf to be narrow and used mostly for decorative items like pictures. Next to the shelves and pegs, in the corner closest to wall 2, are two blue abstract prints. They fill that space and make it feel more balanced.

True to the challenge, I kept all the accessories from Amazon, too. I calculated the total cost of this room for everything minus a mattress, bed pillows, small accessories not related to design (hat, purse) and the large shelf that wasn’t on amazon. The cost came out to just over $3,200.

Item	Cost	Notes
Bamboo Shade	56
Bamboo Shade	56
Bed	485	Out of Stock
Sheets	18
Quilt	44
Blue Decor Pillow Covers (2pk)	14
18 x 18 Pillows (4 pillows)	40
Pink Decor Pillow Covers	13
Yello Decor Pillow Cover	14
12 x 20 Pillow	10
Night Stand	142
Night Stand	142
Lamp	145
Lamp	145
Basket	10
Hamper	30
Mirror	377.59
Dresser	190
Vanity	229
Vanity Chair	68
Magnetic Board	38
Pencil Cup Holder	9
Pencil Cup Holder	9
Shelves	55
Book Ends	12
Calendar	7
Flower Prints	16
Dum Light	75
Abstract Prints	13
Pegs	45
Wall Paper (16 Rolls)	536
Rug	233	Out of Stock
Total	3276.59

This first room was a ton of fun to design– next week I’ll share the little boy’s room.

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