Small Bedroom Makeover: 9 Best IKEA Ideas That Actually Work for Renters

Hey there! Some links on this page are affiliate links, if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I greatly appreciate your support!

This post is all about small bedroom makeover ideas.

OK, so I’ve been putting this off for way too long. I moved into this place 3 years ago and honestly just… lived with it.

White walls, dark carpet, a bed in the corner, and absolutely nothing on the walls. It didn’t feel like my bedroom. It felt like a room I was borrowing.

Which, technically, is true. I rent!!!

And that’s exactly what made me nervous about touching anything.

But I finally hit a point where I couldn’t keep waking up in a room that felt like a budget hotel.

So I gave myself a budget, a rule (nothing that damages walls, everything I can take with me, when I move), and made it happen.

All IKEA. All rental-friendly small bedroom makeover. And honestly? The result shocked me.

Here’s the full breakdown: what the room looked like before, the 9 small bedroom makeover ideas that actually moved the needle, exactly what I bought, and how I pulled it all together without touching a single wall.

A complete before & after transformation in a rental bedroom, every step, every piece, every price.

The “Before” — Let’s Be Honest About It

These are the actual before photos, taken the day I decided something had to change. No filter, no editing. Just the reality of a blank rental bedroom.

What you’re looking at:

One window with a blackout roller blind that came with the rental
dark grey carpet
a king-size mattress with no frame (the base was sitting directly on the carpet)
a tiny wooden cube as a bedside table
a box fan sitting on the floor next to the wardrobe.

There was also a completely empty wall on one side and a big sliding door wardrobe that honestly looked fine; it just looked very plain.

The problem wasn’t the size.

The room is small, sure, but it’s not tiny. The problem was that nothing connected. No colour story, no storage that worked, no visual anchor. It just felt unfinished.

My Rules Before I Bought Anything for a Small Bedroom Makeover

I’ve made impulse buys before that I regretted. So this time, I set three rules before I even opened the IKEA website.

1. Nothing that permanently damages the rental

No painting, no drilling into walls, no adhesive that pulls off paint. Command strips and freestanding furniture only.

2. Everything has to be movable when I leave

If I can’t take it with me or easily sell it, I don’t buy it. That ruled out built-ins and custom shelving.

3. Stick to a colour palette before buying

I picked warm white, natural wood tones, and dusty sage before I added a single thing to cart. Everything had to fit that before it came home.

The IKEA Shopping List (With Prices) for Small Bedroom Makeover

I did one big IKEA run and one top-up order online. Here’s every single thing I bought.

My IKEA Small Bedroom Makeover on a Budget Shopping List

MALM Bed Frame, Low, Queen — White Stained Oak Veneer	VIEW ON IKEA
HEMNES Nightstand x2 — White Stain	VIEW ON IKEA
Duvet Cover Set — sage green	VIEW ON IKEA
DVALA Fitted Sheet x2 — Beige	VIEW ON IKEA
SANELA Curtain Panels 1 pair — Light beige	VIEW ON IKEA
HUGAD Curtain Rod + Hardware — Black	VIEW ON IKEA
KINNAHULT Floor Lamp — Bamboo	VIEW ON IKEA
SKURUP Work/Clamp Lamp x2 — Black	VIEW ON IKEA
FEJKA Artificial Potted Plant x3	VIEW ON IKEA
MOSSLANDA Picture Ledge x2 — White, 21″	VIEW ON IKEA
HUMLEMOTT Throw, off-white	VIEW ON IKEA
Small jute rug — Target	VIEW ON IKEA
Assorted decor (vase, SMYCKA stems, etc.)	VIEW ON IKEA
LAGKAPTEN Desk, 55″ — White	VIEW ON IKEA
LÅNGFJÄLLConference chair with armrests	VIEW ON IKEA

I also picked up three A4 art prints from Etsy (digital downloads, printed locally for a few dollars each), neutral botanical line drawings.

The 9 IKEA Small Bedroom Makeover Ideas That Actually Made the Difference

1. Get the mattress off the floor

This sounds almost too obvious to include.

I’m including it anyway because it made a bigger visual difference than anything else on this list.

The MALM low bed frame sits close to the ground; it’s not a tall, chunky platform, but even that small amount of clearance changed the room.

There’s visual breathing room underneath now.

In a small bedroom, which reads as actual floor space. The room looked bigger the same day the frame went in.

Bonus: under-bed storage. I grabbed a few flat SOCKERBIT bins from IKEA and slid them underneath. Extra bedding, off-season clothes, gone from sight.

2. Two nightstands, not one

Bedroom makeover ideas — small bedroom makeover ideas

I had a single wooden bedside table on one side and nothing on the other.

Swapping to two matching HEMNES nightstands was one of the best decisions I made.

They’re not big, but they have a drawer and an open shelf, which means phone, lamp, book, and water bottle all accounted for, without the surface looking like chaos.

And having one on each side made the whole bed look deliberate rather than just placed.

Matching doesn’t mean expensive. It just means matching.

3. Hang curtains wider and higher than the window

This is probably the most widely repeated small-space trick on Pinterest, and it’s repeated that much because it actually works.

I used SANELA curtains in a dusty light beige, hung on a HUGAD rod positioned about four inches above the window frame and several inches wider on each side.

The curtains pool just slightly at the floor.

For renters worried about drilling: I used the HUGAD mounting hardware against the window architrave (the trim around the window frame) rather than drilling into the drywall.

No holes in the wall. The rod is secure. This approach works on most standard US window frames; just check that the architrave is wide enough to seat the bracket.

Result: the window looks bigger, the ceiling reads as taller, and the room has an actual color story now.

4. Overhead light

bedroom makeover ideas before and after — small bedroom makeover ideas

Apartment ceiling lights are almost always the enemy of a cozy bedroom.

Mine was a single flush-mount dead center in the ceiling, fine for a kitchen, genuinely bad for a bedroom. I stopped using it.

Instead, the KINNAHULT bamboo floor lamp in the corner by the wardrobe provides ambient warmth, and two SKURUP clamp lamps are clamped onto the back panel of each HEMNES nightstand for reading.

Three light sources, all warm-toned bulbs (2700K).

The overhead light has not been switched on in weeks. The room went from flat and bright to actually inviting.

5. Layer the bedding properly

Old setup: a pastel patchwork duvet that didn’t match anything.

New setup: duvet cover in sage green with a subtle texture, two euro shams from Target, and the HUMLEMOTT Throw, off-white, at the foot of the bed. That’s it.

Cohesive bedding sounds like a minor thing. It’s not a minor thing.

It pulled the whole room into a single visual direction that nothing else could have done as fast.

As you can see, I removed the floor lamp as I don’t like it.

6. Picture ledges instead of nails

Two MOSSLANDA picture ledges, mounted with large Command picture-hanging strips.

I leaned prints, a small mirror, a dried pampas stem, and a few fake plants against the wall on the ledges, nothing nailed directly into the drywall.

The whole thing is removable, rearrangeable whenever I want, and leaves zero damage.

Prints came from Etsy (digital downloads), printed at a local shop.

As you can see in the image, it’s the first thing anyone comments on when they see the room.

7. Put a rug on top of the carpet

Dark apartment carpet is rough.

A small jute rug layered on top of it near the bed completely changed the temperature of the room, visually lighter, warmer, and more intentional.

I used a non-slip rug pad underneath so it doesn’t shift.

If your landlord won’t allow rugs (some leases specify this, worth checking), even a large woven throw draped over the foot of the bed and floor-side achieves a similar softening effect.

At the end, I added this boho rattan TOLKNING Bench with storage because I feel it looks incomplete without it.

The Empty Corner: Turning Wasted Space Into a Home Office

Now for the part that honestly surprised me most. That corner to the right of the window, the one with the baseboard outlets and natural light coming in from the left, was sitting completely empty.

No furniture, no purpose. Just floor space is being wasted.

Personally, two things make this corner ideal for a small home office:

The window brings in natural light without glare hitting a screen directly (the light comes from the left side, which is ideal for right-handed setups).

And those baseboard outlets mean no extension cords running across the room. It was the obvious place for a desk, and I somehow ignored it for months.

8. Home Office Corner

Home Office Desk

The LAGKAPTEN desk (55-inch, white) fits this corner almost perfectly.

It’s wide enough for a laptop, a monitor, and still has room for a small plant and a coffee without things feeling cramped.

The black legs keep it from disappearing into the white walls; it looks intentional, not temporary.

I am writing this blog about a small bedroom makeover before and after from this home office setup.

Home office chair

For the chair, I chose the LÅNGFJÄLL Conference chair with armrests in beige, which is perfect for a small bedroom makeover on a budget.

It’s an ergonomic office chair that doesn’t look like a gaming setup exploded in the bedroom.

The warm beige tone works with the room’s color palette instead of fighting it.

When the workday is over, rolling the chair fully under the desk makes the whole setup recede visually; it stops reading as “office” and goes back to being part of the bedroom.

9. Organize the wall above the desk without drilling

Small bedroom makeover pinterest — small bedroom makeover ideas pinterest

The wall above the desk is prime real estate, and the temptation is to drill shelves straight into it.

Resisting that temptation here. Instead: a SKÅDIS pegboard leaned against the wall behind the desk (Command strips keep it from sliding, but it’s not weight-bearing against the wall), with a few pegboard accessories, a small shelf, a couple of hooks, and a paper tray.

Everything that would normally pile up on the desk surface now has a vertical home.

A TERTIAL work lamp clipped to the edge of the desk will handle task lighting.

It’s adjustable, takes up no desk surface, and it’s one of the best value pieces in this whole makeover.

The result is a corner that functions as a full workspace during the day and blends into the bedroom at night.

No cable chaos, no damage to the walls, and it’s budget-friendly to set up from scratch.

Renter-Friendly Bedroom Tips Worth Saving

Things I’d tell anyone doing this in a rental

Your ceiling light is working against you. A floor lamp under $100 changes the room faster than anything else.
Picture ledges + Command strips = the cheat code for rental walls. Rearrange whenever you feel like it.
Two matching nightstands matter more than one statement piece. Symmetry reads as spacious.
Curtains wider than your window make windows look bigger and taller instantly. That’s the whole trick.
Fake plants work. IKEA’s FEJKA range looks genuinely good, and there’s no shame in it.
Get the bed off the floor. Seriously. Even a low frame makes a visible difference.
A jute or natural fiber rug over dark carpet changes the room’s mood more than I expected.
Check your lease before drilling anything. Most US leases allow small picture hooks but not large holes — Command strips sidestep this entirely.

Same carpet. Same walls. Same wardrobe. Same window. What changed: a bed frame, two proper nightstands, wall sconces instead of overhead lighting, a picture ledge with leaned prints, coordinated bedding, a jute rug, a wicker bench, linen curtains hung wide, a desk in the corner, and a pegboard keeping that desk organized. That’s the whole list.

Final thoughts on small bedroom makeover ideas

This post was all about Small Bedroom Makeover: 9 IKEA Ideas That Actually Work for Renters.

FAQs

Can you really do a small bedroom makeover without painting?

Yes. Curtains, bedding, layered lighting, and a rug do more than paint in most rentals. Paint changes the wall color. Everything else changes how the room feels. Those are different problems, and renters mostly have a “how it feels” problem, not a wall color problem.

Does a desk in the bedroom actually affect sleep?

It can, if the desk is visible from the bed or facing the bed, and the work isn’t put away. The fix: keep the desk in a corner rather than facing the bed, roll the chair under at day’s end, and if possible, position it so you’re not looking directly at it when lying down. The SKÅDIS pegboard helps here because an organized desk surface reads as calm rather than unfinished-work chaos.

What’s the best IKEA desk for a small bedroom office?

For this corner setup, the LAGKAPTEN at 55 inches hits a good balance, enough surface to actually work at, and small enough to fit a bedroom corner without dominating the room. If the space is tighter, the MICKE desk (41 inches) is a step down in size and also has built-in cable management.

Is IKEA furniture worth it if you’re going to move again eventually?

For most of it, yes. The MALM frame, HEMNES nightstands, LAGKAPTEN desk, and ALEX drawers all hold up to a move or two. I take with me, rather than spending nothing and dread my apartment for the next two years.

What’s the single best thing to do in a small bedroom on a tight budget?

Buy a floor lamp. Under $100 at IKEA. Plug it in, switch off the overhead, and see what happens. It’s the fastest way to change a room without touching anything structural — and it makes the whole space feel intentional instead of just occupied.