Mum creates amazing dinosaur bedroom for her son for under £250
- Vanessa Keebler, 32, transformed her son’s room into a dinosaur haven
- She made her own vinyl stencils, built a bed from scratch and bought Amazon plants
- The transformation cost Vanessa under £250
If your child is obsessed with dinosaurs, the lockdown might be the perfect time to transform their room into a Jurassic Park haven.
Vanessa Keebler, 32, from San Antonio, Texas, transformed her 18-month-old son Maddox’s room into an incredible homage to his favourite animals.
Vanessa told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "I’m a stay at home mum to a wild little 18-month-old with a huge imagination.
"My husband and I thought it was time to introduce a 'big boy' bed to Maddox. I thought giving him a whole room makeover would be setting the stage for transition.
"We were blessed with Kota the dinosaur from my sister, and every day Maddox would greet Kota with a huge roar and we’d constantly find him playing with his toy dinosaurs.
"I figured why not re do his room to where he can let his imagination run wild and make the transition to a big boy bed welcoming.”
Vanessa set about transforming the room on as tight a budget as possible, managing to pull together the whole look for $300 (£241).
“We are like many families where there is only one income and I try to do things within our means,” she explains. “At first, I debated about having wallpaper in his room as an accent wall, but while looking at wallpaper I found that it was a bit too pricey and not ideal for the texture walls I currently have.
“Thinking outside the box I am a Cricut owner and thought to make my own stencils to achieve a wallpaper ‘look’, as I already had vinyl which typically runs anywhere from $15-$30 (£12-£24) for a roll.
“I used my Cricut machine to create my own stencils using vinyl, and drew with chalk first before buying red and brown sample paint from Home Depot.
“My husband built the bed from scratch, and we spent about $100 (£80) on materials for the bed such as a power drill, sandpaper and a table saw.
“I bought faux plants on Amazon, wood dinosaur cutouts on Etsy and chalk paint from Amazon.”
Vanessa says the transformation is the perfect project to complete during the lockdown, when many of us are stuck at home.
"This project would probably take two to three days total to complete,” she adds. “It’s a way to keep busy, get creative and think like a child. What better time to do a room makeover than now?
"You can mostly find everything online nowadays. Amazon is my go-to for everything and anything. Etsy is a great way to support creative artists for unique finds!
“When Maddox saw the room, he had a big old grin on his face and looked around and of course climbed into his bed. His eyes are really expressive because they’re so big. I can definitely tell he approved.
"I felt so happy once it was completed to have accomplished something that allowed me to be creative and was thrifty, all done by my crafty hands!"
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “Many of us have DIY projects we’ve been putting off, but the pandemic means that keeping costs down is more important than ever.
“Vanessa has so many great ideas for keeping a transformation on a budget - making your own stencils and building your own bed is genius, and will also help pass the time productively during the lockdown!"
What to read next?