Teen Boy Bedroom Design Ideas

Carson’s new bedroom space is the last room we need to pull together some design plans for and it just might prove to be the most difficult room to design yet. At twelve years old, he definitely has some opinions about what he wants this space to look like and, while I’m not willing to hand over total control for each and every request (like the Oiler’s wallpaper he’s been asking for for months now), I absolutely want his vision for this space to be the driving force behind the design. Like his last bedroom, I’m hoping we can work together to come up with some design plans that will represent his fun & adventurous personality today, but will have enough longevity to carry him through the rest of his teenage years as well. It sort of feels like a tall order at this point, but I think we’re both excited enough to have some fun with this, I really have no doubt that we’ll be able to work together to create a bedroom space for him that we can both be happy with.

So, here’s what we’re starting with…

With the redesign of our own bedroom space (read more about that here), we were able to re-design the layout for much of this space from scratch for Carson – making the bedroom bigger, adding in his own walk-in closet and even a little nook for a built-in desk area.

He’s got a ton of really big ideas for this bedroom space that we’d love to bring to life with him. Read more about our plans for Carson’s teen boy bedroom design below.

Teen Boy Bedroom Design Ideas

Flooring:

We’ve already ordered up this white oak hardwood for all of the bedrooms and the main hallway on our second floor, but we will definitely be adding a rug to soften up this space. I’ve had my eye on this plaid rug for ages now and I think Carson’s new bedroom space might just be the perfect spot to put it to work.

The walls:

I would really love to add some sort of panelling all around this space. I rounded up all sorts of beautiful ideas in this post when I was designing C’s bedroom space in our last house, but I’m still just as in love with them all now. I think I’m leaning towards vertical tongue and groove in here again, but I’m eager to get Carson’s opinion on this.

If we add panelling to the walls, it’ll likely just be the bottom portion. I’d LOVE to add some wallpaper above the panelling, but Carson’s not convinced about that yet. I’ve ordered up some wallpaper samples of some of our favourite options (see them all here) to see if I can talk him into it, if not, I think I’ll likely compromise by just adding some fun wallpaper into his closet instead.

While it’s pretty tough to pick a colour scheme for it all just yet, I am leaning towards working with something in the grey-blue or grey-green family – something bold and sophisticated, yet subdued enough to grow with him.

the lighting:

We’ve already ordered up our lighting for C’s bedroom. We’re going with this linen textured light for his main overhead light, this little brass light for his desk nook and then a matching brass sconce in his closet.

The window coverings:

I think we’re going to run curtains over the window bench – a plain linen textured curtain if we go with wallpaper on the walls, a more bold patterned curtain if we don’t. There is also a window beside the bed, which I think I’ll likely also add curtains to.

We also plan to add some smart shades to all of the bigger windows. His room faces both South and West, so it gets a lot of hot, afternoon sun. Having smart window shades that automatically come down as the sun starts beating in, will help to keep the heat out. It’s also super convenient to be able to open and close them all with just one simple wall switch, which we can add to beside the main light switch at his door, as well as beside his bed to make things really convenient for him. We already have these smart shades installed around our main floor and absolutely LOVE them!

The built-in desk:

In the nook beside Carson’s closet, we’d love to add a built-in desk area. We’re not entirely clear on the design of it all yet, but it’ll likely also include some built-in shelving around it too. I’m hoping to start gathering some inspiration for it soon and, of course, I’ll be sure to share it when I do.

Secret book shelf door:

This was one of Carson’s first requests for his new bedroom and, while we can’t make the entrance to his bedroom a secret book shelf door (I’m worried it would be a safety risk, particularly if there were ever a fire or something), we can at least bring his idea to life on his closet door. Because it’ll be a door that sees a ton of daily use, we’ll have to come up with a design that is easy to open and close, opens smoothly enough that he can still store things on the shelves and can stand a lot of wear and tear. This will definitely take a lot of creative thinking on our end, but I’m confident we’ll be able to make this particular dream come to life.

Built-in Bed nook:

This was another request of Carson’s that we’d love to make happen, though we still haven’t figured out just where or how we can do that yet. I’m actually really excited about this idea – not only will if give C a cozy little space to curl up, but it would be a great extra bed for sleepovers. We’ve already gathered a ton of bed nook inspiration (see them all here), now we just need to figure out the logistics of how exactly we can bring it to life.

Seating area:

Depending on where we decide to put the built-in bed nook, we’ll likely have some extra space to fill and I’m thinking a little seating area might be just the ticket. I’m not sure yet whether we’ll have enough room for a little love seat sofa or just a big, cozy chair, but I love the idea of adding another cozy little corner in this space for him to curl up.

Furniture:

We’re planning to stick with a double bed, though I’m not sure whether we’ll keep his current bed or go with something new. I think it’ll depend on what we go with in terms of wallpaper and whether we want to bring in some different texture or colour with a fabric headboard instead. The same goes for his nightstands – if we keep his bed, we’ll likely keep his current nightstands as well, but there’s a chance we may find that we need to change them as the design evolves. Once C moves into this new bedroom space, we won’t need his dresser or stand alone bookshelf anymore as I’m pretty sure he’ll have more than enough storage in his closet.

the closet:

We’re just going with a simple IKEA Pax system in here, though unlike our own closet, I don’t think we’ll go to the trouble to build it all in to look custom. I do hope to add some wallpaper in here though, and may paint the IKEA closet pieces to match that.

Whew! I think that’s it. We’ve still got a lot to figure out here, but it always helps to gather up our ideas like this so that we can start to see how all of the different pieces can work together. I think the next steps for us are to get the layout for this space nailed down so that we can start designing the built-ins. We also need to figure out the wallpaper situation as that will guide the rest of the design choices such as colour, fabrics and even furniture. Here’s hoping I’ve got a mood board to share with you soon!