A girl’s bedroom gets a Swedish cottage style look with thrifted vintage makeovers, Scandinavian wallpaper, and bedding pattern play.
Olivia’s Swedish cottage style blue teen bedroom is finished and is SO DARN CUTE that I just want to move in myself!
Isn’t this bedroom so much more quaint than the day we moved in?
When she was in kindergarten, we gave Olivia’s room a pink makeover with butterflies all over, but now that she’s approaching 5th grade, she requested a “big girl / teen” space. However, she wanted it to look “old school” or, in other words, “vintage”, so a cottage style bedroom felt like the right direction.
Olivia chose the paint color, wallpaper, art, and curtains and then asked me to create the rest to be surprised by the end result. So I ran with it!
Designing girl rooms is one of my favorite things since it takes me back to my years growing up always redecorating my own room when I had a million room ideas in my head and did interior design sketches at the age of 16.
Our cousin made that pencil sketch of Olivia when she was 3, so it seemed right to hang it at the door to give it a little spotlight.
Wallpaper
The Sandberg Ragnvi wallpaper from Scandinavian Wallpaper definitely adds all of the wow factor that almost feels like a wall mural. The vintage print is a 1920s revival from Sweden, which feels extra special to us since part of our family is from Sweden.
I kept envisioning lots of pattern play in here, so I added a block print faux wallpaper to the ceiling using inexpensive bird decals as a nod to Olivia’s nursery as a baby.
We added beadboard below the chair rail and painted the doors and trim with Sherwin Williams Smoky Blue. It’s such a pretty color!
Rug
To contrast the floral, I wanted to add a punch of geometric print, so this multicolored plaid rug balanced the vintage wallpaper with a modern touch. It’s so plushy soft and low maintenance, so it’s perfect for a bedroom.
There are so many colors in this rug: dark blue, olive green, rust red, blush pink, amethyst purple, so it allowed me to introduce other colors in the room.
Bedding
Since this kid’s room is for a 10 year-old girl, I didn’t want to create a space that takes itself too seriously. So I had fun with lots of pattern in the bedding.
This stitched geometric quilt looks and feels like a real vintage coverlet that I paired with this subtle floral duvet cover and down duvet. The taupe gingham pillow and mauve pillows incorporated some warm tones against all of the blue. These yellow embroidered sheets were the perfect final girly touch.
Windows
To balance the blue tones, I hung these mauve velvet curtains and blackout Roman shades in Bonaire Flaxen.
Even though Olivia was adamant that she wanted absolutely no pink, apparently mauve doesn’t count as “pink”. That’s her logic at least. 😉
Nightstands
I looked everywhere for a pair of secondhand nightstands with absolutely no luck, but this pair of classic stained nightstands provided plenty of storage with the modern function of a space in the back to run cords and chargers to a power strip.
These modern brass and rattan lamps added a hint of Scandinavian style too.
I found this sweet vintage style Bluetooth radio that Olivia has loved cranking up to have dance parties in here with Regan.
Homework Station / Vanity
I found this little desk for $50 on Craigslist, but it needed a lot of love. Once I patched it up, I painted it Sherwin Williams Anew Gray as a much needed neutral against all of the color.
This $15 chair I found at the Habitat Restore and instantly fell for the cute shape and tulip carving detail. I restored the wood, made a new chair seat, and upholstered it using an inexpensive kitchen towel.
The black and brass desk lamp is great for having on study nights, but this setup work well as a vanity whenever she wants to play with makeup too.
Doors
The closet doors still had 80s style lacquered brass knobs, so we swapped them out for these antique style door knobs. I discovered an easy way to update the old hinges by brushing the hinges with a layer of Rub n Buff.
Fandelier
Olivia is a total fan girl. And by fan girl I mean she HAS to sleep with a ceiling fan on every night. I found this pretty wicker fandelier, and it works every bit as good (if not better) than a traditional ceiling fan.
Art
I didn’t want to hang too much on these walls so that the wallpaper could shine, but Olivia picked out these antique altered portraits with a girl blowing a bubble and a girl making a silly face. Aren’t they so cheeky?!
They have huge personalities like Olivia does, that’s for sure.
For the rest of this dresser space, I Rub n Buffed this mirror I found secondhand for $7. I painted this $15 thrift store lamp to become an Anthropologie dupe lamp.
By the way, these faux hydrangeas are the best super low budget fake flowers I’ve ever seen!
Related: Where to Find the Best Fake Flowers That Look Real
Room Decor Sources
You can find every DIY tutorial and decor source below.
It’s safe to say Olivia loves this sweet cottage bedroom just as much as I do! It’s so totally a reflection of her, and that’s the best part of all.
More Girls Bedroom Decorating Ideas
