With just a few months to spare before we move, I’ve finally put the finishing touches on Sam’s superhero-themed bedroom! With its patriotic red, white, and blue color scheme and a subtle-but-adorable nod to Sam’s favorite action figures, this room is honestly one of my favorites of all time. I love how much I was able to repurpose from his nursery, while still giving it a “big boy” feel; and many of the choices feel both modern and timeless. We packed a ton of storage and style into this tiny room, and I’m so excited to give you the full final tour today!

Blue and white wallpaper behind a black bed with red, white, and blue linens and superhero stuffed toys

Before Photos

Despite my very best intentions, I somehow didn’t grab true before shots of this bedroom. At 9-months pregnant and with only a few days before the moving truck arrived, I was handed the keys to this rental and my nephew and I immediately set to work painting and hanging wallpaper in all three kids’ bedrooms.

This tiny room sits in the back corner of the upstairs, with the door on diagonal from the hallway. It measures 11′ x 11′, and has one window and a single-width closet with two skinny doors.

Navy blue and white bedroom

When we moved in, it was a monochromatic, beige box (like the rest of the house). We painted the top 2/3 of the room Sherwin Williams Marshmallow, and the bottom 1/3 Sherwin Williams Denim.

Navy blue and white bedroom with star wallpaper

The Superhero-Themed Bedroom Design Plan

Before fully getting started in this room, I created a Design Board to help me visualize how various elements of Sam’s old nursery could be updated and “grown up” with some different paint, wallpaper, and furniture choices. Below are the mockups and visuals I came up with. It’s always interesting to see how the final room compares to what was planned digitally!

Learn How to Make Design Boards HERE.

Super Hero Toddler Bedroom Super Hero Toddler BedroomSuper Hero Toddler Bedroom

Take the Video Tour!

Before I give you the full final tour in pictures, below is a video tour of this completed room. The short video highlights all the projects I completed in here, and gives you a good sense of how and where everything fits together. Video not loading for you? You can watch it HERE.

The Crazy Wallpaper Story

Let’s start with the biggest update in this room: the wallpaper!

I actually had two rolls of the silver and grey star wallpaper leftover from Sam’s nursery in our previous home. I loved the white/grey/blue combination and being the “use what you have” guru that I am, I ordered just one additional roll to have enough for this bedroom installation.

Spoiler! There is a reason you are supposed to order all the wallpaper you need at one time, because like yarn and fabric, wallpaper is printed in “lots.” If you look very closely in the image below, you can see that the far left panel has blue undertones, while the rest of the wall has yellow undertones. For days, I tried to ignore it and tell myself it was fine. But I ultimately decided I was going to hate it for the duration of our time here and had to go back to the drawing board.

Navy blue and white bedroom with star wallpaper

Before we fully loaded the room with furniture, my ever-so-patient nephew agreed to help me take down the star wallpaper and replace it with this navy arrowhead wallpaper (which might just be my favorite paper I’ve ever used).

How to Update a Jenny Lind Bed

In so many ways, the mis-matched rolls of paper turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because the navy statement wallpaper is really what brings this whole tiny space to life!

Blue and white wallpaper behind a black bed with red, white, and blue linens and superhero stuffed toys

The Jenny Lind Bed

Aside from the statement wallpaper, the other main element in the room is the Jenny Lind bed. We had been lugging this old and battered bed frame around for three moves, and I was so excited to finally give it a proper makeover and put it to use! Although the full bed was a smidge tight in this small room, the modern wallpaper combined with the classic bed design creates a really lovely combination that I just adore.

Read How to Update a Jenny Lind Bed HERE.

Blue and white wallpaper behind a black bed with red, white, and blue linens

Black Jenny Lind bed with a white bedspread in a navy blue superhero-themed bedroom

The Bedding

It should come as no surprise that the red, white, and blue combination in the bed linens is a true favorite (my entire blog follows the same motif, after all!) The grey+blue star sheets were a lucky Target find, and I made the red bolster pillow using the crib sheet from Sam’s nursery.

Learn How to Make a Pom-Pom Pillow HERE.

Blue and white wallpaper behind a black bed with red, white, and blue linens

When combined with the white bedspread, the combination of colors, patterns, and textures strikes such a fun balance.

Blue and white wallpaper behind a black bed with red, white, and blue linens and superhero stuffed toys

The bedding “nods” to the Superhero theme via the stars and color scheme, but the collection isn’t overly specific either. Instead, the Superhero theme is brought in via the superhero stuffies.

Blue and white wallpaper behind a black bed with red, white, and blue linens and superhero stuffed toys

Hulk | Captain America | Iron Man | Spider-Man

Pairing a white bedspread with “generic” bedding…but then adding in thematic pillows/toys…is my tried-and-true way to give a child a space they love while still ensuring we can use the more costly items (bedding) long after their interests change.

Read more about How to Create “Lasting” Bedding Combos for Kids HERE!

Blue and white wallpaper behind a black bed with red, white, and blue linens and superhero stuffed toys

Small-Space Storage

This room is small to begin with, and the full-size bed really didn’t allow much room for extra furniture. In order to add in needed book storage without a clunky piece of furniture, we installed a floating bookcase instead!

Navy blue and white wallpapered wall with bookshelves

Repainting wall brackets (that we already had) and pairing them with basic white shelves, allowed us to create a lot of storage in a way that was completely budget-friendly and perfectly suited to this specific spot.

See how we installed this Floating Bookcase HERE.

Floating bookcase on a white wall loaded with books

This “floating” arrangement also allowed us to create a toy box of sorts using some large wooden storage boxes right on the floor (also leftover from Sam’s nursery).

Grey crates. on a floor holding toys

This bookcase balances the window on the other side of the room and nicely fills up this blank stretch of wall. I couldn’t be more thrilled with how this relatively easy solution both looks and functions!

Blue and white wallpaper behind a black bed with red, white, and blue linens and a bookshelf on the wall

Furniture

Although this bedroom is tight, we were able to fit in two “standard” pieces of furniture to provide Sam storage for his clothes and aaaaalll his little gadgets and treasures.

The IKEA Hemnes nightstand and dresser are both inexpensive and simple, but still provide nice, roomy drawers (which was key since we couldn’t add in big units). The dresser sits directly across from his bed (on the short wall between the door and closet) and holds a little vintage red wagon and a touch sensor lamp (which are the best things in kids rooms!).

Black dresser with Superhero Alphabet artwork hung above

Mini little red racer wagon

The nightstand is nestled between his bed and the window.

Black nightstand against a navy blue and white wallpapered wall

Although the IKEA units are fairly unimpressive, I did give the knobs a fun little update with Captain America shield logos using vinyl and my Cricut. Like other choices throughout the room, the knobs are subtle but tie into the whole theme beautifully!

You can see exactly how I made the Superhero Dresser Knobs HERE.

Black dresser with superhero dresser knobs

The Artwork

All the superhero artwork is another carry over from Sam’s nursery.

I love these “super kids” illustrations sooooooo much (they are one of my favorite purchases for Sam’s nursery), but I never felt like they worked well on top of the star wallpaper in his last room.

Superhero artwork on a white bedroom wall

Situating these prints in a gallery formation on the upper half of the wall works so much better visually. And I love how the grey stripes add some more pattern while tying in the other grey elements throughout the room.

Superhero artwork on a white bedroom wall

Across the room, above the dresser, is the Superhero Alphabet Artwork that I framed myself. I know some people are pretty passionate about not mixing Marvel (Avengers) and DC Justice League characters (Batman, Superman), but I love that all the artwork in this space is a wide collection of superheroes (including even Ninja Turtles), which adds to the theme without (again) being too specific or overt.

Black dresser with Superhero Alphabet artwork hung above

The Curtains

Not to sound so repetitive, but the tassel curtains are yet another feature I love so very much. They are a DIY project from the Master Bedroom in our previous home; and the texture of the tassels and the fullness of the double-wide panels really softens this room.

Learn How to Make Extra-Wide Curtains HERE.

Superhero artwork on a white bedroom wall

You may or may not remember that when I first sewed these curtain panels together a few years ago, it resulted in tons of leftover tassel trim.

Navy tassels on the edge of a white curtain

It’s this exact trim that I then sewed onto the edges of a plain white bedspread to make everything match and coordinate!

Learn How to Sew Trim onto a Bedspread HERE.

How to Add Pom Poms

The Closet

I haven’t really shown the inside of Sam’s closet here much, and for fairly obvious reasons…there isn’t really anything special about it! The grey mini velvet hangers and hamper are from his old nursery.

Small closet with doors open

The navy baskets hold our “little boy shoe collection,” and the grey memory box holds all his special cards, pictures, and mementos.

See How to Make a Memory Box HERE.

Decorative Memory Boxes

Kids closet with clothes on hangers and baskets on shelf

Despite not being a large room…as you can tell by how empty this closet is…we have more than enough storage space for his clothes, books, and other items. We really were able to pack everything he needs (and then some!) into this adorable superhero room!

Products & Tutorials In This Room

I know I say this frequently here, but this room makeover might be one of my very favorites, if not my favorite of all time (so far!). The patterned wallpaper, white linens, vintage bed, fresh color scheme, and superhero-themed touches just came together in a way that feels fun and fresh yet also timeless and classic.

Navy blue, white, and red superhero-themed bedroom

I don’t often exactly repeat a room design from home to home, but I actually have every intention of keeping this room (mostly) in tact in our new home (yep, I love it that much). However, it will be transitioned into a shared bedroom for Sam and Jack, which will bring some fresh furniture and other fun updates that I’m super (ha!) excited about. Can’t wait to show you how the original Superhero Nursery and this Superhero “big boy” room evolve even further!

See You Soon!
Megan