Wait a Couple of Weeks after Painting

Kids room stickers are incredibly affordable, no matter what your budget is there is bound to be a pack for you.  You may wish to completely redecorate the walls in which case you will need to follow some of the guidelines concerning the drying time of the paint.

Although the paint will be dry to the touch after a day or two, it normally takes a couple of weeks for it to dry fully. Therefore if you have just painted the walls you should wait for at least two weeks before sticking the room stickers up.  That way you do not need to worry about any of the paint being removed once you take the sticker back off the walls.

Not Painting? Start Sticking Straight Away

If you have not, or do not plan to paint the walls before placing the stickers up then you are free to start sticking straight way.  For the best results her are a few tips to make sure all goes well and the stickers look their best.

1. Wipe down the walls using a clean, damp cloth.  The adhesive will stick to the walls better of there is no dust or dirt between the two surfaces
2. Make sure the walls are completely dry after cleaning them
3. Peel off the sticker and stick the top of the sticker onto the wall while holding the bottom part of the sticker away from the wall
4. Slowly using your hand or a piece of clean cardboard, press downwards so that the entire sticker is stuck firmly onto the wall.  This should avoid any air bubbles from being trapped behind the stickers
5. If you do manage to get a few trapped air bubbles you can fix the situation.  Kids room stickers are designed to be reused so you can simply pull of the sticker and try again.  Failing that you can use a sharp pin or needle and pop a whole in the air bubble.  Press around the edge of the bubble towards the hole in the middle.  This will push out the air and the sticker will be able to adhere to the wall behind it.

Sourcing Kids Room Stickers

I have found that the best selections of stickers to use in decorating are found online.  Although some of the larger retail stores have started supplying these types of stickers the selection is minimal.  If you buy from a specialist website you will find there is plenty of choice for children of all ages.

I have purchased my last few sets online and they have been good quality and the price is really affordable.  The hardest part of buying the kids room stickers that I found was waiting for my son to choose the packs that he wanted.

I didn’t have the same problem with my daughter however, I decorated her room over night as a surprise for her and I knew exactly which stickers to buy her.  She was thrilled, but then it is easier to please a three year old!

Kids room stickers are an affordable way to transform any room in the home. Kidswallstickers.co.uk has a wide selection of stickers available for all children (including big kids) of all ages.

Everything In or Out?

First and foremost, the area has to meet the student’s organizational style. There are basic two types of organizers: the “everything in” and the “everything out.” An “everything in” person wants items out of sight unless they’re being used. This sort of student needs a work area with drawers, compartments, and containers that allow a place for everything while keeping everything hidden. An “everything out” person likes all but the most seldom-used items kept at their fingertips, with no need to open a door, drawer, or lid to reach anything. These students are fond of pigeon-holes, vertical sorters, and hooks.

Equipment and Supplies

With the overall organization style in mind, it’s time to consider the student’s equipment and supplies. Will the student need a desk that accommodates a desktop computer, monitor, printer, and scanner? Will a space for a laptop and hook-up to the family network do the job? How are the wires and cables to be run? Does this student have an extensive library, or are reference materials compact and electronic?

In the Best Light

Lighting is a factor. Every person works and learns best under the light that is most comfortable to the individual. Will this student prefer a bright room, or a well-lit space within a room with subdued lighting? Does this student find it more comfortable to work under florescent or incandescent lighting?

Personality Considerations

What shape of work area is most comfortable for the student? Some people prefer a place that feels cozy, with everything within easy reach. Others prefer a more spacious feel and enjoy the chance to get out of the chair to fetch art supplies or books. The area must also suit the student’s preferred work flow. A student who likes to work from the top of a pile will want a differently designed space from a student who prefers to have everything spread out and visible at once.

Only after all of these factors are taken into account is it time to start to think of the overall look. Young people like anyone else, love spaces that allow them to express their personalities.

When the time comes to put it all together, a skilled decorator can take every factor into account and develop an area that allows the student to work at peak comfort and performance.

So much of the training that comes with kids is just plain boring – therefore, it was a delight to see this Training Dresser created by Peter Bristol.

Its simple design and neutral color makes it ideal for training girls or boys in the art of quick and neat laundry sorting. Customize it to fit any room decor, there will no longer be hours of supervised room cleaning…at least when it comes to clothes!

Bedskirt Crib photo by bisongirl

The nesting instinct might be less physical than morning sickness, but definitely deserved its spot on the seemingly endless list of pregnancy signs and symptoms. If you are expecting, and hoping to direct your nesting feelings towards creating a lovely little…. “nest” for your baby, one of the best ways of doing so is making your nursery as pretty as possible. Which brings us to cribs. Unless you want to spend a fortune, nearly all cribs look identical. Isn’t there a way to make your baby’s crib more personal?

There are many ways to pimp your baby’s crib. Here are our tips to create a truly unique sleeping space for your little one.

Painting

One of the easiest yet most creative things you can do to make a simple wooden crib look more cozy is painting it. You want to make sure the paint you choose contains no toxins that could be harmful to your baby either while you are painting and he or she is still safely tucked inside your womb, or after your baby makes an entry into this world. Other

Crib with a new paint job, photo by tofslie

than that, everything goes! We saw a beautiful green crib decorated with bees when I was pregnant with my oldest child, but were shocked to see it cost almost $1,000. We created nearly an exact replica by painting a simple crib in different shades of green, and then applying wall stickers of bees and flowers onto it.

Wooden Applications

The head and foot ends of cribs are often made out of solid wood, without those bars you get on the sides. If you buy a crib like that, you can make nice shapes out of MDF (you’ll need a saw and sandpaper), paint them, and stick them on there. Trains, cars, trees, or birds are some suggestions of what you can create.

Bedding

Photo by boujiannouna

You’d be surprised how much of the look of the crib is in fact determined by the bedding. Tie-dying your baby’s sheets results in a ‘60s feel for her crib. If you are handy with a sewing machine, you can also applique shapes on sheets, and of course make your own baby quilt – or get grandma to do it for you! There are also many avenues to get homemade crib bedding through Etsy or related sites.

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Re-Purpose the Furniture

Yes, I said “re-purpose,” not “buy totally new.” One of the best parts of baby furniture is that, if it is fairly high quality, it can be adapted for more grown-up uses. Dismantle your infant’s crib and use one of the short sides as a headboard for a new twin-size mattress. Or, try removing one of the long sides, freshen up the rest with a bright coat of paint, pile on some fluffy pillows and blankets, and poof: a comfy little sofa for your child’s bedroom or play room. Similarly, I’ve seen crafty and inspired parents load up changing tables with big baskets to store stuffed animals and toys, and one handy wiz even created an incredible four-story doll house out of her ordinary changing table.

Paint the Walls a Timeless Color

Try to think back to when you wanted to update from buttery yellow walls to something with real pizzazz. Soft pastels

and frou-frou wall paper scream “baby.” Some children will keep the same décor from tot to teen, but there are lots of others who will want to change it up every two years. Save yourself the hassle of a full-on room renovation by selecting a rich, timeless color that doesn’t necessarily coordinate with a certain age (this, I understand, is much easier said than done). If you can’t pick the perfect hue, try going neutral and punching up the color and eye-candy with gorgeous prints in big frames that can be easily replaced as your kids grow up. And trust me: avoid wall paper, at whatever cost.

Include One Just-For-Kids Feature

Get creative and include one really amazing feature that is designed just for kids and will make your child’s room sleep-over heaven. It doesn’t have to be super expensive or even that intricate: paint one wall with chalkboard paint your kids can take wall decorations into their own hands. How about a giant bulletin-board so your kids can hang up their own pieces of art? As your kids personalities grow, their rooms will need to grow with them. Enjoy every stage and have some fun with decorations – you’ll see, each creation will be better than the last!

Emma T. is a interior design expert who outfits her apartment with down bedding from Pacific Coast Feather Company, a manufacturer and online retailer of down comforters and hotel bedding. She rearranges and redecorates her Seattle apartment on a regular basis.

Painting the Room

This room will help you welcome a new baby girl into the family with shades of pink balanced with adorable, fun-loving brown monkeys. The contrast between various shades and tints of pinks and browns is particularly appealing. Another aspect that I love about this nursery theme is the balance of complementary accent colors that are part of the bedding set. If you choose a pink background for the walls, accessories around the room can be orange, blue, green and brown. They can also be lighter or darker shades depending on your preference.

The foundation of this nursery theme are the walls painted in a perfect shade of soft pink, but it could easily be sage or taupe. Another option is to split the wall in half horizontally, painting the top a lighter color and the bottom a darker, complementary color – pink on the top and light brown on the bottom would work well. Chair rail painted white and mounted at the halfway point would help distinguish the division.

Nursery Bedding

This particular nursery set is called Melanie the Monkey by CoCo & Company, and it’s available in a variety of popular retail stores. If you’re looking for animal-themed or monkey nursery bedding, there’s a wide variety from which to choose that are appropriate for both boys and girls. If you’re interested in gender neutral colors like yellows, tans, greens and creams, there are plenty of fun options available as well.

Pretty in Pink Nursery Accessories

Nursery accessories usually include a crib, changing table, and a comfortable chair for those late-night feedings. This room, however, has been nicely accentuated with a brightly colored, DIY shelf and favorite stuffed animals.

My favorite accessory in this room is the creative wall decoration made with wooden letters to spell out the new baby’s name. These wooden letters come unfinished in a local craft store, easily customized for your decor with paint. They can also be used throughout your child’s life, repainted as needed as she grows and develops.

Choose Sports-Themed Bedding First

The great thing about a sports-themed bedroom is that you can be as general or specific as you want to when decorating. This kind of room can easily be tailored to sports like baseball, football or soccer when decorating. For some personality, I added photos of my son with family members and doing what he loves most – playing sports!

To help decide how broad or precise you want to be, choose bedding first. There’s a wide range of choices when it comes to sports-themed bedding for boys’ bedrooms, and it really just depends on what you want as well as what you want to spend. As you research the different kinds of bedding choices, make a note of what other accessories in those colors are available, like curtains, wall clings or other decorations.

Because I was operating with a limited budget, I bought a more general sports-themed bedding set on sale from a local department store. The two main colors – blue and red – were a perfect combination for the color scheme were were going for.

DIY Headboard

I saved money on the bedding we chose because I wanted to take this opportunity to make a fun and sports-themed headboard for my son’s room. We decided finally on a large baseball that we made from a pre-cut plywood wooden circle, white vinyl-type fabric, upholstery batting, and red yarn.

Using a cordless drill, we first drilled holes where we wanted the yarn to appear above the fabric. Then we attached the batting and white fabric, stretching both out on the surface of the circle and attaching in along the edge of the back of the circle with high-octane staples. Using an awl, my husband poked through the drilled holes and the fabric, then threaded the yarn in a pattern similar to a baseball. Once it was mounted on the wall, it looked great!

There’s a wide range of options depending on your preference when it comes to making your own headboard. Instead of a baseball, use a piece of plywood to create a soccer or football field with paint and fabric, or cut out a giant football.

Easy Locker Room Doors

After the headboard was complete, we tackled the wall decorations beginning with beige and blue paint as well as the locker room doors – perfect for any sports-themed boys bedroom. Using some of the blue paint and our stored paint colors in the garage, we mixed up a batch of gray that was perfect.

The closet doors were ordinary fold-out wood, so we painted them first. When they were dry, we sketched the vents usually found at the tops of lockers and then outlined those with permanent black marker. For a finishing touch, we added two padlocks onto metal hardware to replace the closet door handles.

Finishing Touches

Once the headboard, painting and locker room doors were completed, all this sports-themed rooms needed were some well-placed details. An inexpensive sports-themed clothes hamper was a fun addition, and I hunted around thrift stores for items to decorate the walls, such as a gently used racquetball racquet, a batting helmet, and a framed print.

To add some personality, I added framed photos of family members and my little boy doing what he loves to do most – play sports!

Parents will worry that their home is being defaced by graffiti art and blackened walls, but remember you can easily repaint once your teen goes away to college or otherwise moves out on their own so let them have it their way in their own bedroom; compromise is the name of the game for both teens and parents when the topic of teen bedroom decorating comes up!

We’ve put together this list of 25 cool teen bedroom themes for parents to consider ideas and examples when decorating a teen bedroom:

1. Color-Coordinated Teen Bedroom

Teens’ tastes change quickly so the best teen bedroom theme may be no theme at all; just pick a color scheme and let them change up posters, accessories, etc. the way you’d change, say your socks! This can be an effective strategy that lets teens change their room as they grow and mature. Most designers will tell you to choose a proven color scheme and avoid going too heavy on the whole ‘theme’ bedroom anyway; it usually turns out to be good advice.

2. Black and White Teen Bedroom

Anti-color is trendy too; paint one wall in the room black and leave the others white. A black wall will really highlight posters and other art you put up without making the entire room seem like a darkened cave. For a really hip black and white room you could also skip color completely and choose black and white photos and art to hang on your walls. Create visual impact by adding one accent color, such as red to give emphasis and create a single focal point; it could be the headboard, something on the wall, the bedspread … whatever you want to really stand out.

3. Pretty in Pink Girl Teen Bedroom

Pink is a favorite color with girls. You can mix pale pink with white for a soft look or contrast bright pink on black, green or blue for a harder edge that appeals to teen sensibilities. Besides pink, other popular teen girls’ bedroom colors include purple, turquoise, orange and white.

4. Navy and Khaki Boy Teen Bedroom

While you can just leave a guy’s bedroom walls neutral white or off-white, you might like to add a little color. Navy and Khaki is a quintessential masculine color combination with great contrast. Other colors that work well in teen boys’ bedrooms include navy, sky blue, gray, khaki and red.

5. Teen Girl Bedroom Patterns

After choosing your colors, the best way to establish your bedroom theme is to pick a pattern that repeats; this will give your room a cohesive look that you can change and update over time by changing other elements such as artwork, bedding, wallpaper or wallpaper borders and window coverings. Popular patterns for teen girls’ bedrooms include polka dots, bubble dots, floral patterns, hearts and diamonds.

6. Teen Guy Bedroom Patterns

Once you have chosen your color scheme, pick a pattern when selecting bedding, area rugs, etc. to pull your guy teen bedroom a good base to build upon. Patterns that work well in a teen boy’s room include stripes, camouflage, sports logos or balls and plaid or checkered patterns.

7. Glam Girls Teen Bedroom

Hollywood and Broadway offer inspiration and plenty of ‘bling, bling’ to create a teen girls’ bedroom décor. Cut out pics of your favorite stars from glam magazines and create a picture wall; that way you can easily change the photos as your tastes and favorite stars evolve. Add touches such as a glitzy chandelier, wall mirror with gilded gold frame and pick fabrics like silk, satin or velvet.

8. Pop Music Artists Teen Room

Especially for ‘tween’ and younger teen girls, pop music stars are where its at; posters of the Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana and all the rest make inexpensive, easy-to-switch wall decorations. Pick a color scheme for your bedding, walls and window treatment and go from there; you know what stars you like but avoid painting wall murals that incorporate images or logos associated with your favorite bands; you may not like them in a few months or a year from now!

9. All Sports Teen Guy’s Bedroom

Let’s face it, guys are more likely to follow college and pro sports stars than movie or pop music stars. And your favorite big league team colors are a great way to establish a color scheme to follow when choosing bedspread, window covering fabrics, etc. From posters to pennants, jerseys, signed balls and all the other sports memorabilia available you have unlimited choices when decorating a sports-themed bedroom.

10. Extreme Sports Teen Bedroom

If X Games is more your style than football or baseball, pick a more radical color combination such as black and green. Hang your favorite skateboard or snowboard on the wall or do something more creative like using an old skateboard as a wall display shelf. Hang posters or put up a bulletin board where you can easily pin up photos, decals, etc. of your favorite skaters, motocross riders, big wave surfers … whatever extreme sports you’re into! The extreme sports movement appeals to guys more than girls but this is definitely a cross-gender bedroom theme possibility.

11. TV Star Teen Bedroom

Favorite TV actors and actresses are always a popular choice for posters and other bedroom artwork in most teens’ bedrooms. This comes so naturally that we are reluctant to even call this one a ‘theme’. Again, just consider whether you really want to paint your bedroom walls with faces of your favorite stars; you may regret the choice down the road!

12. Political and Social Movements Themes

Today’s teens tend to be more culturally conscious and environmentally aware. If you follow eco-trends, world politics and other important world issues, make your statement with imagery from magazines, posters from events you’ve participated in and an earthy color scheme. Use your bedroom to give your perspective on things that matter to you.

13. Video Game Teen Guys Room

Most teen guys avoid decorating their room with imagery of pop film or music stars, but art, posters and memorabilia from their favorite video games such as Halo, Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy, EA Sports games etc. For a really cool video game bedroom, put a flat screen TV on the wall and set up a small entertainment center to house all your favorite game consoles and display your favorite games; your room will be the place everyone wants to hang out … if your parents will go for the idea!

14. Retro Teen Bedroom

Retro is in; 1960s and 70s culture, music, clothes and hair styles are all the rage. Super bright colors, tye dye fabric, shag carpeting and wood veneer, plastic or vinyl furniture and accessories will give your teen room a fun retro look.

15, Country Western Teen Bedroom

For teens who are more into horses, western jeans, cowboy boots, rodeo stars and country music, the bedroom décor calls for something a bit more rustic. Start with a rough plank wood floor (or wood laminate to keep the cost down), consider adding a bunk bed or a rustic wood headboard and go for some leather, suede or rawhide.

16. Music Legends Teen Bedroom

Whether you’re into music legends from the 60s and 70s, Grunge, Heavy Metal, whatever, you can create a teen bedroom theme by finding autographed concert posters or banners, framed news articles, and memorabilia of your favorite artists or bands. A real guitar or other musical instrument can make a great focal point.

17. Family and Friends Teen Bedroom

More likely a girls’ theme than guys; you can surround yourself with photo displays of you and your favorite friends and family members; places you visited together, events such as homecoming, proms, weddings, etc. that you attended together and special souvenirs from those events. Perhaps not a bedroom ‘theme’ so much as just something a lot of teen girls do in order to show their love and affection of friends and family.

18. Mixed Martial Arts Teen Boys Bedroom

The trend away from wrestling towards mixed martial arts has created a whole new medium for guys to decorate their bedroom. Pin up posters of your favorite fighters, matches and venues, display your own trophies and awards. You can also display your sparring gloves and other martial arts stuff or set up a body opponent bag so you can work out in your own bedroom.

19. Outdoors Teen Bedroom Theme

For the outdoorsy teen, you have a lot of sub-themes and imagery from which to choose; put up wallpaper borders or wall paneling on one wall to reflect your favorite outdoor scenes, whether its mountain climbing, undersea exploration, a woodland scenes, seashore scenes, etc. Go with earthy colors such as taupe and green for accent items like your bedspread, throw pillows and window treatment.

20. Vehicle Teen Bedroom Themes

Guys love cars, motorcycles and racing imagery. If you are into motorcycles or hot rods, you can go with posters and other artwork of your favorite hot rod builders (think West Coast Choppers, Jessie James and Orange County Choppers). Whether you follow NASCAR or Formula One, racing fans can always display signed photos and other memorabilia featuring their favorite driver or team numbers and colors. And of course, if you race motocross, go carts or whatever yourself you’ll want a trophy display!

21. Fashionista Teen Girl’s Bedroom

If clothing and fashion design are your thing, you can create a funky look with zebra stripes or something like a cheetah or tiger print fabric bedspread and throw pillows, decorate your vanity with a designer mirror and makeup lights, and put up posters, magazine clippings or photographs autographed by your favorite fashion models and clothing designers.

22. Beach or Surfer Teen Bedroom

The surfer theme may be a bit passé and too common these days, but for teens who love the beach lifestyle its still a valid direction to take. The key here is to come up with something unique and a little ‘out there’. Don’t just put up surf posters and beach pictures; try a more specific theme like tropical beach décor, with bamboo mats and palm trees, or turn an old surfboard into an interesting headboard or wall decoration.

23. Big City Teen Bedroom

If you dream of living in a loft apartment in a metropolitan city like New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, etc. you’ll have a very unique teen bedroom by decorating with souvenirs and art posters of your favorite city or paint a mural of your favorite city skyline. Loft beds are available if you want to give your bedroom the look of a real city loft apartment.

24. World Traveler Teen Bedroom

Do you dream of traveling or living abroad? If so, this could give you the inspiration for a great bedroom theme; globes, maps, travel posters, photos and souvenirs from your own trips … the list of possibilities is endless. And if you don’t want to go all out with the travel theme, just decorate one wall as your ‘traveling’ focal point.

25. Graffiti Art Teen Bedroom

For the more artistic type, you could paint one wall in your bedroom with graffiti art (if mom and dad will let you!) or you can always have your favorite art projects framed and hang those on the wall. Another way to display your art talent would be to paint a canvas and hang it over your bed; this will create a colorful focal point without having to argue with your parents about painting the walls!

A teenager’s room is her kingdom and decorating it should be a project that reflects that much importance.

No girl wants to keep the rocking chair mom loved so much or the little hand-painted kid’s dresser she adored at five forever. It is only natural that as a girl matures into a woman her tastes and interests are changing and she wants to make her room reflect those changes.

Whether you’re a mom looking for ideas to decorate your teenage daughter’s room or a teenager working on a new look for your own bedroom, read on to learn more about managing this important project!

Planning Your Teen Girl Bedroom

The first thing to do is to create a plan. Measure the dimensions of your bedroom; you want to know the width, height, and length and draw the floor plan. Decide which furniture you will keep and which you want to replace. Some items may be “recycled” by painting or otherwise redecorating the appearance; you’ll be amazed what a coat of faux paint, stencils and new drawer pulls can do to change the look!

Clean out your bedroom and get rid of anything you don’t want or need. You can have a garage sale and raise some funds for your bedroom decorating project. Anything left over after that you can donate to a charity organization or give to siblings and friends.

Teen Girl’s Bedroom Furniture

Pick a bed that fits the theme you’ve selected for your teen girl bedroom. A do-it-yourself headboard can be a fun and inexpensive part of your bedroom decorating project. If you can’t buy a new bed, think of creative ways to decorate your old headboard, add a sheer curtain or canopy.

Another nice feature to consider is a sitting area; whether you decide on a comfy chair, a desk and desk chair, a small sofa or loveseat or even a couple of bean bag chairs you can store in the closet when not needed.

If you like to have sleepovers a small futon or trundle bed with a pull out mattress is convenient. Of course, leaving open floor space for sleeping bags works fine too!

Once you’ve decided on the major pieces of furniture you want in your room, draw them on the floor plan. You might want to try making several drawings so you can consider various layouts before finalizing where you want everything to go.
Before you begin the decorating phase of the project you might even want to place furniture and try more than one layout to see which arrangement you like best.

Teen Girl’s Bedroom Theme and Focal Point

Next, decide on a theme and focal point for your room; often times the bed may be the focal point, but it could also be a makeup table, window seat or other design feature. Remember to keep things in scale; if you have a small room and you pick a king-size bed you may not have enough room left over for other important features.

Photo by Suzy Pierce Design

Themes can come very naturally depending on your interests and taste, but having some theme will give your room a more cohesive design. A theme could be based on your favorite movie or music stars, sports, animals or it could be based on a particular style of décor such as modern or art deco, country or traditional Victorian décor, etc.

Consider the types of activities you tend to like doing in your room. You’ll want a space to study and do homework, put on make up and get dressed, a place to curl up with your favorite book, etc. Every teen girl has to decide what activities are most important in her room.

Plan for plenty of storage space; the easier it is to keep things organized, the simpler it is to keep your room neat and tidy without making cleaning a big chore. Closet organizers, under-bed storage and a tall chest of drawers are a just a few possible ways to keep stuff organized. You need a place to keep your shoes organized, a place to put clothes for laundry and a trash can.

Organize drawers and storage space so that like items are kept together; make it as easy and simple as possible to keep your room neat and you’ll like it a whole lot more than if you have dirty clothes, shoes and junk thrown all over the room!

Photo by Suzy Pierce Design

Choosing Teen Girl Room Colors

While any girl wants to use her favorite colors for bedding, window treatment, area rug, etc. remember that too many colors will confuse and overwhelm the eye; try to pick no more than two primary colors and two accent colors. Any more than about four colors and your bedroom will start to look garish.

Lighter colors and hues will make a room look bigger, while darker colors can add drama. Try to use the same hues within the colors you select, going with lighter, softer pastels or contrasting bright shades of the colors you like.

Look at lots of pictures in books, magazines and online, watch a couple of home decorating shows on TV, go to a design center and talk with others to get ideas and pick the color scheme that’s just right for your new teen girl’s bedroom décor!

Design Patterns and Refrains

Remember that pattern makes a huge difference in how you use colors for walls, artwork, fabrics, etc. a pattern or design element that is repeated is called a refrain, and just as in music, the use of a memorable refrain is a key ingredient in achieving a successful interior design. Some suggestions for a refrain or pattern can include:

• Flowers or a floral pattern
• Polka dots or circles
• Stripes or plaids
• Fluffy white clouds on a blue background
• Sun, moon, stars or other natural subject

Teen Girl Comforters and Bed Linens

Once you have your furniture arrangement, theme and colors worked out, its time to start selecting your decorative elements. The nice thing about bedding is that it can be a relatively inexpensive way to add color and style; as your tastes change, you can alter the look of your bedroom by changing the comforter, sheets and pillow covers.

Walls and Curtains

Painting is a big project, so be sure to learn proper technique, how to mask off and cover the floors properly, etc. if you are painting your bedroom walls. Mom won’t be pleased if you get overspray on the carpet, furniture, etc. and it may be best to make this one a collaborative effort!

Be sure the colors are happy; while black or dark purple walls might seem cool at first, you may find it depressing if you overdo it. If you want something that really stands out, you might select just one wall to use that color or do a collage or art on that wall, leaving the other walls either neutral (white or off white) or with lighter color shades.

For window treatments, you want to remember that privacy is important, so while a frilly white lace curtain may look good, you want something like a window blind or shade behind it so that you have more flexible control over light and privacy.

Teen Girl Bedroom Accessories

Once you have furniture, wall colors, curtains, bedding, etc. all worked out, its time to consider some accessories; this is like putting on jewelry and make up when getting ready to go out. Accessories can be the most fun part of decorating your bedroom!

While mom often has a major say in whether you can afford a new bed or whether the wall colors you chose are acceptable, a reasonable mom will let her teen girl pick the accessories herself!

Lamps can add a nice touch and you can work together to create a unique lampshade. Remember you want good overall ambient light; a ceiling light fixture will generally do the trick. Task lighting is important for your desk or reading and sitting area. Accent lighting can be added by using a small lamp on night tables, dressers or vanities. Or try using rope lights to add some accent lighting.

A book case or book shelves will give you a good place to keep books and display photos, prize possessions, awards, etc. A decorative jewelry box is a must have accessory in most teen girls’ room.

One trick to keep in mind when it comes to accessories is not to clutter the look of your room too much; if you have more items than you can display all at once, try rotating items every few weeks. This will give you an easy way to change and update your bedroom décor over time.

Some other teen girl bedroom accessory ideas include:

• Look for interesting objects you can display on walls and/or shelves; scarves or swags, clothing items, album covers, books, memorabilia …. whatever fits the style and theme you are trying to achieve.
• Make your own lampshade by using a glue gun and/or staple gun to attach patterned fabric to a plain lampshade; if you pick the right sheer fabric and pattern you can achieve very interesting patterns of light and shadow on the walls and ceiling.
• Use a vase to create your own floral arrangement; use faux plant and flower products from your local craft store or even a live plant or two if you want your room to look more natural and add a splash of greenery and color.
• Put a large, cork bulletin board on the wall you can use to pin up important notes, a calendar, a collage of magazine photo cutouts, etc.
• Use panels of sheer curtain material attached to the ceiling over the center of your bed and drape them casually to the floor around the bed to create an inexpensive canopy.
• Foam core sheets can be cut and painted to create interesting wall art without having to paint the walls.
• A large floor standing mirror in a corner or wall mirror over the vanity is important in any girl’s room and can make a great focal point for the room.
• Small details like funky drawer pulls, door knobs, light switch and electrical outlet cover plates and decorative baseboard, crown molding, chair rail, etc. can really make your bedroom design pop.

Shopping Around

Remember that you can do things without spending a ton of money. Go online and look at items, making a list and then prioritizing it; at first you’re just shopping so there’s no harm in looking at items with a range of prices.

Use Microsoft Word or a paper notebook to write down notes and create a collage of what your room will look like; this way you can consider possibilities and see how various ideas might work before committing to making purchases.

Once you zero in on the items you really want, you can shop various online stores and local shops to find the best deals on the things you want. For example, you may see a bedroom furniture set you really like at an expensive boutique and then find something similar at a discount retailer like Ikea, Target or Wal-Mart that looks almost as good for a fraction of the price; it really pays to shop around!

Girl Teen’s Decorating Tips

For Teen Girls:

• Be sure to consult your parents before re-decorating your room; check with them before painting or you could cause an outright war over the entire project.
• Remember that decorating costs real money; don’t insist on having all the most expensive items.
• Be willing to negotiate with mom and dad; if you can’t have the super-expensive bed you wanted perhaps you can compromise on something nice that costs less.
• Seek advice; remember that it takes years to become a professional interior designer so expect you will make mistakes. For example, your favorite colors may not all go well together when picking a color scheme for your bedroom!
• You want your bedroom to look unique; it should reflect your personality, likes and interests, but be careful not to pick elements that you might hate in a few weeks or months!

For Moms with Teen Daughters:

• Try to remember what it was like when you were a teenager. Listen to your daughter with empathy before summarily dismissing any of her decorating ideas.
• Use the bedroom decorating project to help your teenager learn concepts like project planning, budgeting and interior design; make this a fun project you can work on together but let her own the project.
• Let your daughter try planning and setting a budget for her “dream” room first. Once you both know the total cost and what would be involved, it will be easier to begin negotiating toward a mutual agreement.
• Encourage your daughter to put as much time into planning and consideration as actual decorating; let her know you support her efforts and appreciate how important the project is to her.
• Remember that any decoration is just temporary; you can always repaint the walls later!

Photo by Suzy Pierce Design

Your young girl’s bedroom can be filled with dots, ruffles or lace, but however you decide to decorate your daughter’s pink room you can be certain it will be fabulous.

What Kind of Pink

Painting the walls is the first and most obvious step to creating a pink paradise for your girl. Pink and white makes for the most classic girly look, while pink and brown creates a luxurious, “just-opened-box-of-chocolates” feeling.

And pink and black? What could be more chic and sophisticated? For girls who want an edgier, more energetic style, try hot pink and lime green.

Photo by Suzy Pierce Design

Or you can turn pink and green into a softer cottage style by using soft, pale pinks and sage green.

Sugar and Spice

You can decorate your girl’s room with polka dots, ruffles, lace or flowers, or all of the above! Just be careful that you don’t overdo it. Chose several items in the room to embellish and leave the rest simple. It will have more impact that way.

Create the Perfect Polka Dots

One nice effect is to cover the walls in a very pale pink flat latex paint, then paint polka dots on top of that in a slightly darker semi gloss shade to make the circles pop. The effect is more subtle than using a contrasting color, but the overall effect is powerful.

To create perfect circles, cut out templates from cardboard and trace around them with chalk onto the painted wall. The dots can be placed evenly or randomly and the sizes can vary or you can use all large dots. A paint can lid makes an ideal size to base your template on.

A pink wall also provides the perfect backdrop for wooden or appliqué letters that spell out the girl’s name or adjectives that describe her.

Cozy Girl’s Bedroom Glamor

Girly means cozy and glamorous, as well as feminine. Create a private reading nook by taking a corner section of the room and hanging a soft fantasy bower over the area. A white shag carpet and lots of cushy pillows completes the special spot.

Another way to get that elegant feel is with a sheer canopy over the bed. Don’t worry if your girl doesn’t have a canopy bed; you can create the same effect simply and inexpensively.

All you need are three standard curtain rods, and sheer drapes. Hang the rods on the ceiling over the bed where you want the drapes to fall. One above the head and one on each side are probably sufficient.

Be sure to attach the curtain clips onto the rod before installation, unless the clips are the kind you can attach after the pole is hung. You are ready to hang the curtains!

Dressing Table and Vanity

What girls’ bedroom would be complete with out a fancy dressing table and chair? If yours is too plain, simply embellish. You can find a nice white chair cover for the chair.

Put a big pink bow on the back of it, or edge it in lace. Paint the dressing table white, and edge the mirror in lights; you can find low cost LED rope lights that don’t need to be plugged in.

Details, Details

When creating a special feminine mood for the room, remember to pay attention to the details. Here are a few tips for adding that special extra touch:

• Replace the standard overhead lighting with a small chandelier. Many inexpensive ones are now available and you can even find them in pinks and lavenders.
• Use decorative tiebacks on window treatments, in pinks, jewels, or glass.
• Replace plain drawer pulls with crystal ones.
• Hang a white display shelf for dolls or collectibles.

Photo by Suzy Pierce Design

• Cover a plain nightstand with decorative fabric in a toile pattern, floral or stripes. This can be as simple as using a sheet that matches or contrasts with the bedding, trimmed with a ribbon at the hem.
• Find an old coat rack and paint it white. Drape it with a pink feather boa, a few fancy purses, hang dance shoes or ballet slippers on it.
• Replace the plain switchplate with something decorative. You can find these premade or can decorate your own to match the room.
• A stack of pretty floral hatboxes (stack them large to small) provides storage and adds to the décor of the room.
• Pink goes great with black, yellow, white and some shades of green and blue.

» Go Back to Girls Bedroom Themes & Decorating Guide

Try to get your child involved in the project as much as possible, letting them help steer your selection of a theme, colors and design elements. To get your kids room decorating project started, we have assembled a number of ideas and tips to help inspire you.

Picking a Theme

What are your child’s interests? Begin by looking at your child’s favorite books and artwork for ideas. You know what your son or daughter likes to pretend play the most, so use that to get inspiration for your theme.

Then look in decorating magazines books and online to find photos and ideas on how to bring your theme to life. A good theme for your kids’ room will also help direct your choice of colors, patterns and decorating elements.

Always remember safety is an important part of any kids’ room decor. If you child is a restless sleeper, bunk beds may not be the best choice. Never use decorating elements that could cause your child to choke or sustain injuries.

Choosing a Color Scheme

Start by choosing the background color you’ll use to paint the walls and ceiling, your flooring material and borders. Choosing a primary fabric and pattern will help guide your efforts.

Choose fabrics, wallpaper and wallpaper border patterns to help reinforce your theme and color scheme. You will want to select a main print or pattern to set the overall tone of your kids’ room.

Select your accessories, fabrics, wall art and other design elements to coordinate and with the primary fabric pattern and colors.

By selecting complementary colors for all design elements, you can bring together all of the design elements that help support your theme.

It’s best to select one a common background color, even when using different prints in one room. You can select prints and patterns in different size scales, like a wallpaper border with large hearts and perhaps the same or a similar pattern with smaller hearts to use in fabrics or curtains for instance.

Creating affordable framed art is easy if you simply use artwork your child has created him or herself, or by clipping pictures from magazines or books.

Choosing a Focal Point and Design Elements

You’ll want to select a main focal point for your kids’ room decor. Often time, this may be the bed, but you could also use a wall mural or a display shelf as the main point of interest. Your focal point reinforces and sets the theme you have chosen.

Really use your imagination when planning and selecting decorative elements. If your son loves baseball, use team pennants on a wall or display an autographed baseball on the display shelf. You might have a wall mural of his favorite ballpark or player at bat!

Of course, you’ll also want to find bedding that coordinates with the theme and color palette. Hearts, flowers and dolls in pinks, purples and greens work well in most girls’ room color schemes, while red, yellow or blue tend to work well in a boy’s room.

Boys Room Themes

Boys play and pretend actively, often pretending to be grown up men, so themes like building, cars, the circus or other occupations can make good options.

Boys also tend to love the outdoors, animals and the sea.

Fire House Theme

Is your little boy intrigued with fire trucks and likes pretending to be a firefighter? Then maybe a fire house theme, complete with wooden fire truck bed is the right theme.

You could use red as the primary color, adding a fire truck pattern for wallpaper borders. White, yellow or blue will work well for coordinating colors.
A fire pole might make an interesting design element and adds a great play center. A fire captain’s helmet or fire hose could also work to add to your theme.

Animal Theme

Most boys love animals. If your son loves dogs, you will find a lot of great dog patterns for bedding, fabrics and wallpaper borders. Whether he loves German Shepherds, Collies or Labrador Retrievers, a dog room theme will provide plenty of imaginative options.

Maybe he’s more interested in bugs, jungle cats and big game animals or dinosaurs? What ever animal category he likes can make a great theme for your boys’ room.

Animals make an easy theme since you can use stuffed animals and artwork with out spending big bucks.

Castle Theme

Most boys love to pretend being the knight in shining armor. Faux paint, a nice wall mural and a valance for the window treatment can transform your boys’ room into a castle.

You could also decorate his bunk bed to look like a guard tower or put a knight in armor in a corner of the bedroom to give this theme an imaginative touch.

Nautical Theme

Sail boats, tug boats or racing boats are another source of imagination and pretend play for many boys. A ship’s bell, anchor or sailing ship wheel could make the perfect main pattern for your boy’s room nautical theme.

Blue is a natural primary color choice with this theme, while beige can bring a feeling of beach sand into the color scheme. A ship in a bottle would make a great accessory for his display shelf.

Girls Room Themes

Girls will often want to play house, dolls, be a princess or dress up. Hearts, flowers and horses can also be good girls’ room themes.

If your little girl, love Barbie dolls, that could be a great theme. Or, if horses are her thing, look for wallpaper patterns, fabrics and other design elements that could support a horse theme in her room.

Pastels, pinks, purples and other bright colors are popular choices for any girls’ room. An elaborate doll house, a vanity with mirror for make up or a tea table, chairs and tea set for her dolls to have a nice tea party can all make great options for a focal point in your girls room decor, letting you even mix themes a bit if desired, since dolls and princesses can go together!

Princess Theme

If your daughter is like my five-year-old girl, she probably loves the Disney princesses. This can make a great theme, complete with her favorite princess characters and accessories.

Girls love a canopy bed and you can use sheer fabrics to bring color and a touch of whimsy into her bedroom. Pillows and bedding are easy to do with a princess theme; you’ll find plenty of good patterns, fabrics and wallpaper borders.

Barbie Doll Theme

Barbie doll collections are another biggie with girls. If she loves Barbie, then this could be a natural theme for her room. You can get a Barbie living room set, a Barbie bed, make up desk with mirror and all the accoutrements for her Barbie room theme.

This is another theme that can be extended easily, since she may have other favorite dolls as well. Make a display shelf unit the focal point to display all her favorite dolls.

Hearts Theme

Hearts are a wonderful pattern to use in a girls room. If your daughter wants a hearts theme, start by picking a pattern and her favorite color. You could also combine this with other patterns like butterflies or lady bugs to mix things up a little.

Flowers Theme

Flowers are another great source of inspiration for your girls’ room theme. Whether she loves a particular type of flower, like daisies, roses or lilies, you can find any number of patterns, fabrics and wallpapers from which to choose. Color options are also wide open with a flowers theme.

Use white bedroom furniture and stencil her favorite flowers to add color and create your flowers theme. A lovely flower vase could feature some paper machete or other type of faux flowers your girl can craft herself for display.

For a retro look from the seventies, you could go with a bright flower pattern. If she likes a more muted color scheme, then pastel colors and appropriate flower pattern may be the right look.

Pretend play is so critical to the development of kids’ imagination, regardless of age and developmental stages.
Whether playing dolls, dress-up or house, spending time pretend playing puts your child into that make-believe world, where their creativity and imagination can take over.

Providing your kids with simple games and a good play space can help them in developing strong social skills, like how to share and take turns together.

Most importantly, you can help kids exercise their creativity by allowing plenty of play time. Arrange for play dates or sleepovers and encourage them to play instead of watching TV or playing video games.

Making Space for Kids to Play

If space in your home or apartment is limited, even a small playroom or area with kids play furniture and playroom accessories will give them their own play space.

Making room and time for kids to pretend play is easy and fun. Anything you can do to help spark their imagination keeps them from boredom and helps them develop and hone those all-so-important social and creative skills.

Setting up a Kids’ Playroom

You can greatly encourage pretend play by giving kids their own play space, complete with furniture, toys, games and kids’ accessories.

Start by designating a special area for pretend playing; it might be a separate room or perhaps a dedicated space in your family room or game room.

While it doesn’t have to be a huge space, dedicating a room or area specifically intended for play is important for kids and helps contain the clutter and chaos, making your life at home easier too!

Play Tables & Chairs

A child-sized table or desk and chairs make for a perfect pretend tea party, classroom or to make their own pretend store or cafe. Bean bags also make a great addition to your playroom. A nice, comfortable area lets kids sprawl out and use their imaginations to go on any adventure they dream up. Remember it’s their space and the table and chairs should be their size.

The Land of Nod sells a very cool item called ‘Home Sweet Play Home’; a tent-like playhouse designed for ages three and up, with your choice of fabrics in blue, green, pink or lavender. You just hang it from a ceiling up to nine feet tall and the kids have their very own indoor playhouse!

You can put kid-sized versions of home appliances, furniture, play kitchens or perhaps a tool chest and bench for playing house. A kids’ vanity will be fun for little girls while boys may find a kids’ castle or fort fun.

A child picnic table, desk or play bench offers kids a solid work surface for crafts and drawing projects, an essential part of any kids’ playroom décor!

Playroom Furnishings

Aside from kid-sized tables and chairs you’ll want something for adults too; a small love seat or sofa gives you a good place to read to kids, watch their puppet shows and music shows and just hang out with your children.

Another way to share space with the kids is to have matching adult-sized and kids’ rocking chairs in your playroom space. Bean bags and ottomans also provide places to sit or play board games and can also be used when making a fort. In our playroom the old modular sofa from our family room has 2 large ottomans which, along with the couch cushions, are almost always configured into some type of fort structure!

Beanbags, floor cushions and kid upholstered seating is available in a dizzying array of choices these days at stores like Target, Wal-Mart, Pottery Barn Kids and others.

Kids’ Activity Mats

One great way to add color and a ‘kid feel’ to your playroom is to use activity mats like the ones teachers often use in K-1 classrooms, with letters or numbers on it. These can made of woven fabric more like a rug or rubber, which makes a smooth yet bouncy-soft surface to play on.

Small-sized accessories are an inexpensive way to let their imaginations really come alive; try things like toy models, puppets, dolls, stuffed animals, even boxes painted to look like common household items.

Kids’ Arts and Crafts

No playroom is complete without an art and crafting center. The best things you can buy are those rolling plastic carts with bins and drawers to store all the arts and crafts supplies.

Be sure you have a good place for kids to sit and work on projects; a small desk or table works but plastic art mats you can throw down on the floor are great for the really messy projects. Kids like to spread stuff out so don’t assume that art projects will be confined to the desk or table only!

Leave your kids’ creations around for several days, taking advantage of that special play area so they can come back to that secret fort made between a sofa and ottoman and covered with blankets or sheets. You’ll love watching them change and transform these special creations each day.

Bulletin Boards & Chalkboards

Hanging a whiteboard or cork board on the wall, with art supplies like felt tip pens, crayons, cardboard and construction paper nearby, gives kids a perfect way to display their art and crafts projects.

Props and Imagination Starters

Creative props provide inspiration to role play and pretend being a pirate, a princess or anything else kids want to try. Keep props, hats and costumes in a readily accessible storage trunk. Here are some useful kids’ playroom entertainment ideas:

• Music Reviews and Kids’ Karaoke – Music plays a very important role in emerging literacy students, so keep musical instruments such as electric keyboard, drum pads, harmonicas, a portable CD or MP3 Player with speakers, a microphone so they can sing along!
• Dance Rehearsals - Our girls love to put on dance shows. They love to go all out, rehearsing the show for hours in the playroom, printing up show tickets and flyers which are passed out to adults at show time. It’s a great time for all and the kids learn valuable music and performing arts skills, practicing being on stage.
• Puppet Shows – Another favorite pastime for kids is putting on their own puppet show. You can build your own puppet theater using cardboard boxes or build a simple plywood puppet stage with fabric curtains and let the kids paint it themselves.

Kids’ Playroom Storage Tips

One of the obvious challenge confronting parents universally is keeping a kids’ playroom tidy. Kids attract stuff like flowers attract bees and hummingbirds! Every year you end up with more stuff and kids go through phases.

The worst thing to your five year old is going to find her favorite toddler toy and finding you’ve given it away to another family because she hadn’t played with in over 2 years! Here are some tips on keeping your playroom in (relative) order:

• Bookcases, Wall & Media Systems – A wall-mounted or built in wall system will give you plenty of book shelves, drawers and cabinets to keep kids’ stuff hidden away when not in use.
• Toy Boxes – Creative props provide inspiration to role play and pretend being a pirate, a princess or anything else kids want to try. Keep props, hats and costumes in a readily accessible storage trunk or toy chest.
• Benches – You can find benches with opening lid for additional kids’ storage.
• Shelves – Wall-mounted, free standing with plastic bins, drawer units with rolling casters and other shelving is crucial to keeping your kids’ playroom organized. The bigger the playroom actually the more challenging it becomes to contain ‘toy sprawl’.
• Wall Pegs & Peg Racks – Arts and crafts aprons or smocks, coats and other garments need a place to hang. Peg racks can accommodate small plastic bins, hooks and other attachments of all sorts to store everything from glue sticks and glitter to clay.

Creating a Themed Playroom

A theme will add interest and playfulness to your playroom. Below are some playroom theme ideas to get you started:

• Kids Murals – A mural playroom can be painted by your kids or you can have an artist do a trompe l’oeil if budget allows and you prefer not to let the kids paint the playroom walls. We have found in our own home playroom that putting up posters and wall art the kids do themselves is the way to go; if we had painted a wall mural it would probably be covered up by now anyway!
• Princess Playroom – For girls a princess theme is always popular. Our six-year-old loves to dress up as Ariel, Cinderella or which ever princess is her favorite this week. She loves to have tea parties with the wooden kids table and chairs hand-painted by her Aunt and using the tiny porcelain tea set her grandmother gave her. Alone with her dolls or together with a friend, she enjoys the princess outfits and tea set for hours on end. She also enjoys playing with her wooden doll house of course.



• Disney Playroom – If your kid really loves Disney movies and characters then a Disney theme could also be fun in your children’s playroom. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and all of their favorite Walt Disney characters can be used in decorating a fun playroom. Using cartoon characters for wall art will give the playroom a fun and colorful look.
• Kids Playhouse – You can buy a pre made kids playhouse or build one yourself, using plywood and painting it to look like a cottage in the woods, a beach bungalow or any other style that fits your kids’ playroom. Really, any type of castle, fort, house, car, space ship or other play structure will fuel kids’ imagination and let them pretend almost anything!

Wall art can provide the extra personality that a room needs, but collections of framed art and photographs can quickly become expensive. Here’s a variety of options to help brighten different rooms in your home without straining your budget!

Support Local Artists

Local artists can provide your home with original artwork at a fraction of the cost of more well-known artists, and they often display their work at Farmer’s Markets, community gatherings or bazaars around town. If larger pieces are too expensive, choose smaller ones that will fit with complimentary works you already have. Another option is to choose prints of original paintings, which are more economical than the paintings themselves.

Posters

Posters provide a lot of personality with a little cost. I decided to decorate my office with my collection of Snoopy paraphernalia, including this poster of Snoopy as “Joe Cool.”

Framing a poster with a pre-made frame costs less than twenty dollars, making it an affordable option for personalizing your room decor. If you have a room with a certain theme, choose and prominently feature posters that enhance that theme and your subsequent enjoyment.

Your Kids’ Art Gallery

My kids bring home a variety of art projects during the school year, and creating an art gallery on an expanse of wall shows everyone how proud I am of their creations.

Look around local thrift stores or craft stores for cheap but durable frames and use them for your favorite pieces of art from the school year. If you’d like to explore art over the summer break, introduce your kids to different methods, materials and mediums, for example collage, patterns, watercolor, clay, and oil pastels. Use different kinds and colors of paper and frame the works of art. Hang these at your child’s eye level, rotating the pieces every couple of weeks or with the seasons.

Scrapbook Squares

A friend of mine created an elegant and economical piece of art that now occupies one of her dining room walls, and it was really simple to create. Choose a variety of 12″x12″ scrapbook sheets that compliment the theme or decor of your room. Adhere each one of these to 12″x12″ pieces of styrofoam and let them set. Attach 1″ ribbon to the outside edges of the square in a desired color, and the squares are ready to hang. I’ve seen these squares in arrangements of nine, but you can be as creative as you want!

Quilts

When my husband and I got married, my grandmother’s gift to us was a handmade wedding-ring quilt. We’ve been married fifteen years, and to this day I’ve not been able to use the quilt on a bed. However, I am proud to display this work of art on a wide wall, where I can appreciate it on a daily basis. Another option, especially for a nursery, is to hang the hand-made baby blankets you receive when your child is born as wall decorations.

Children’s Books

Books shelved in different patterns and directions make colorful and interesting art displays. Children’s picture books are filled with timeless stories and beautiful illustrations. Repurpose old shelving or find cheap shelves at a local thrift store and paint them. Hang them on the wall at your kids’ eye level, and display the picture books. At this height, they will be easy to access and everyone can appreciate the artwork inside of them without having to tear out any pages

Letters

Use the first letter of your family’s last name, and search out different formats of that letter in a variety of stores. I have found wooden, metal and paper-mache letters that are easily hung in a collection or added to an existing collection of wall art. Framed or mounted scrapbook paper cut into your desired letter would also work.

Visual Growth Chart

This is by far my favorite wall art collection. Repurposing or buying frames at a local thrift store, I create a visual growth chart of my kids using pictures of them as they’ve grown over the years. Included for each child is a picture of them during the first month, first year and one picture during each year after that. An easy way to start is to use extra school portraits and build the collection from there. Friends, family and your kids will get a kick out of this display!

Souvenirs

Travel brochures, posters and ticket stubs make great wall art, especially when partnered with a low-cost world map. Hang the map on the wall, and use push pins to mark where you’ve been. Hang the souvenirs around the map, and connect the souvenirs and push pins with pieces of string, making an interactive piece of art.

Decopauge

Decopauge is fun and limited only by our creativity. You can use it with a variety of materials, including stretched canvas, scrapbook paper, glass jars and pressed flowers. Use these materials with a clear-drying adhesive like modpodge to create a variety of artistic pieces to display!

Wall art is a fun, inexpensive way to tastefully and frugally decorate your home!

Kelly Wilson is a busy mother, freelance writer and author of Live Cheap and Free! Strategies to Thrive in Tough Economic Times. You can read more about her and how to save money at www.wilsonwrites.com.

I delight in my son’s opinions as he continues to grow up and express his preferences for how his room is decorated. I’m also, however, very aware that these changes can cost a lot of money over the years. The following tips are those I use to save money each time my kids want to change how their rooms are decorated.

Discuss Options With Your Child

First, I like to narrow down the themes and colors my kids are interested in and go from there. One of the easiest, cheapest and most dramatic changes can come from a simple coat or two of paint. It’s fun to go to a hardware store and have my kids pick out paint chips of colors that we can both agree on. We hang these on one of the walls of the bedroom to see how the colors look in the natural light, and for my kids to pick their top three, then their top two, and finally their favorite color.

Next, we look at bedding themes, which includes comforters or quilts, sheets, shams, rugs, and curtains. If your kids are younger, they might be interested a special theme while older kids might be interested only in specific color palettes. We also take a look at prints, posters or personal photographs that might go along with the theme. For example, my youngest son had a jungle theme at one point, and we framed and hung pictures of animals that we had taken on a recent trip to the zoo.

After we’ve seen what’s available, it’s time to figure out the budget. Share the budget with your child and discuss what could be included in it – paint for the walls, a new bed set, prints or posters, any furniture? When my oldest wanted to redecorate his room in a race car theme, we agreed on new bedding but that the paint color would have to be spontaneous, depending on what discounted mis-tints were available. We also decided that we could buy two prints, and we would work together to create any additional decorations.

Take Inventory

Don’t buy anything before taking a look around your house and garage. Do you have supplies, paint or furniture that will work or could be repurposed for this project? If there’s enough leftover paint in your garage from a different project to use in the room, or a couple of colors to combine that would also work. Maybe there’s an old small table that could be painted and used for a nightstand, or there are personal photographs that could be enlarged and framed.

Look in storage closets for lamps, frames, and other decorations that could be put to good use. As you’re looking around, make a list of what you’ve found as well as how you need to improve it, if at all. Then make a list of supplies that you may need to purchase, like paint brushes.

Start With Thrift Stores

The picture on the left shows some of the redecorating we did a couple of years ago for my youngest son. My husband made the headboard, and I found the wall decorations at a local thrift store for about five dollars total.

Take a couple of weeks and visit thrift stores around town. Look for for furniture that can be painted, wall art or other decorations along a theme, or items – like the racquetball racket in the picture – that can be used as a decoration.

Don’t limit your searching to just thrift stores. Garage sales are great places to find awesome deals on random items for your redecorating purposes. For this bedroom, I happened to find a brand-new lamp in a sports theme for under ten dollars. It was worth the time and effort!

Not Your Typical Paint

Instead of painting your walls solid colors, consider using quart-sized cans of mis-tints to create a wall mural. The picture on the right is a mural my husband painted over the course of a few days. One of the ways I’d do it differently now is to make the decorations three-dimensional – since it was a jungle theme, it would have been fun to find silk tropical plants and attach them to the wall as part of the mural.

If your kids are older, they can participate in the creation of the wall art. A friend of mine expecting a baby enlisted the help of her kids in painting a portrait of the family on one wall of the nursery. If painting isn’t for you, there are also removable wall decorations that you can buy in a variety of places, from the local dollar store to the hardware store.

Use Your Child’s Own Art Work

My oldest created a variety of different pieces of art in the last year that can be framed and hung in his room as well as around the house. Maybe your child has already brought home an art project that will go along with the room’s theme. If not, consider allowing your child to create artwork on inexpensive canvas from a craft store or on pieces of white paper using watercolor paint. Hang these pieces in your child’s own “art gallery” in frames of different sizes, shapes and colors.

Whatever you and your child decide, these tips will make the decor changes over the years easier for your budget to bear.

Kelly Wilson is a busy mother, freelance writer and author of Live Cheap and Free! Strategies to Thrive in Tough Economic Times. You can read more about her and how to save money at www.wilsonwrites.com.

As always, the easiest and most dramatic way to change a room is through the magic of paint. With a theme room, you should choose colors that your child associates with their favorite theme. For example, if you were creating a Tinkerbell room, you would choose shades of green or purple. A room based on Lightening McQueen could be red and black. Use your imagination, and don’t stop at simply painting the walls. You can add a racing stripe complete with center line as a border along the walls, or paint the floor dark grey and draw a race track around the room. The possibilities are endless! If you don’t wish to paint the floor, consider adding a kids area rug. You can often find large area rugs that replicate a roadway, and are great fun for kids to push their car around on.

With furniture, it’s simple to turn a regular piece into a themed work of art. Paint a set of bunk beds fire engine red. Add an old rubber hose painted black as an accent along the top of the bunk for your ‘fire hose’. If you are good with tools, consider cutting out a fire truck from plywood and painting it. Put your artwork up along the top of the bunk as a bed rail. Your child’s bed will be transformed from plain to fantastic with little more than a bucket of paint, some wood, and your own effort.

Wall murals are popular in theme rooms, but they can be time consuming to do on your own and expensive if you hire someone to come in and create one for you. For a real wall mural display at less than half the price, purchase large self-adhesive stickers that you can put together as a mural. There are many different theme stickers you can buy, including word art and character replications. It will really add that themed touch to your room.

Less expensive additions you can add to your child’s room include themed sheets, curtains, pillows, posters, and borders. You can buy light switch covers, wall outlets covers, laundry hampers, and even clocks in a variety of characters and themes. The accessories really take your room to that extra level, and your child will be thrilled with all of the new and special additions.

Yes, Extreme Home Makeover can set the bar fairly high when it comes to beautiful kid’s rooms, but you can give your child the gift of a beautiful sanctuary by simply doing it yourself and being creative with how you spend your budget. The payback will be the thrill you see on your child’s face for years to come.

1. Look under furniture for extra storage space; a good under-bed organizer can help keep toys, shoes and other kids’ stuff hidden from view and better-organized. You might also consider a trundle or kid-sized bed with built-in drawers. Efficient storage is the most important key to keeping a small bedroom neat.
2. Go vertical; when floor space is limited, one of the easiest ways to maximize space utilization is to use every inch of vertical space. When shopping for kids’ bedroom furniture, look for bookcases, armoires, hutches and other furniture pieces that are tall and use the least square footage. A bunk bed really takes advantage of vertical space, giving you a place to display stuffed animals, etc. even if the bedroom isn’t shared; this also helps out when your kids have sleepovers.
3. Create an illusion of more space by painting stripes on the walls; vertical stripes give the room a sense of greater height while horizontal stripes will make the room seem wider. Mount full length curtains close to ceiling height to further augment the sense of greater height.
4. Look for “combo” furniture pieces such as an armoire with drawers and space for hanging clothes to free up closet space. If you install the right closet organizers and shelving, you might want to consider removing the closet doors to help open up your child’s smaller bedroom. This option gives you greater flexibility in terms of furniture layout.
5. A corner bookcase or display shelf unit can be a great way to utilize diagonal nooks and crannies in your smaller-sized kids’ bedroom.
6. Don’t place tall furniture near windows; this only blocks the natural light. Do place a low bookcase or, better yet, a chair or bench near the window; this adds both seating and storage below the windowsill.
7. While it may seem counter-intuitive, an oversized kids’ chair will help make the bedroom seem larger, taking advantage of scale and tricking the eye into perceiving the room as larger.
8. When it comes to wall art, try to focus on one wall in your kids’ bedroom; this will create a visual focal point without clutter and visual distraction. Try to reduce the number and amount of collections of kids’ decorative accessories; you can switch collections now seasonally or as your child’s interests change over time. This reduces visual clutter if you can get your child to agree to not displaying every collection at once!
9. A well-lit bedroom will seem more open and spacious than a dark room; augment the ceiling light fixture with a bedside table lamp, desk lamp, etc. to provide plenty of ambient and task lighting in your child’s bedroom. Use a layered window treatment, using a blind or shade to provide adequate privacy when needed and sheer curtains for a decorative touch that still lets in plenty of natural light when the shade or blind is raised.
10. Keep it simple; more than anything a small kids’ bedroom will suffer greatly if you try to overdo a theme, use too many colors and cram in just plain too much stuff. The trick to decorating any small space is to keep things simple and not over-decorate!

Gotta Dance!

Dancing is one of the most popular sports for girls, and in the dance world ballet is the queen. But weather your girl likes ballet, tap, hip hop or Broadway, there are many ways you can create a room that reflects her passion.

Put your pictures to work! If your girl performs in dance recitals, you undoubtedly have a large number of formal portraits and performance pictures. Put those images to work by making a Wall of Fame. Select an area of a wall and outline it with stencils or appliqué stars. Use the center to post your pictures.

If you use framed pictures for your Wall of Fame, choose frames that match. For example, if you use all white frames in a variety of shapes and sizes you get a clean, crisp look on a light pink wall. Or, use plain black frames with white mats for a classic art gallery look. Having the same color or style of frame will tie them together and keep your display from looking messy.

Alternatively, you could create a collage of pictures directly on the wall or onto a large canvas that you hang. This would allow for more performance shots and give the mural a less formal appearance.
If your dancer loves Broadway, you could create a mural using the covers of Playbills, promotional photos of favorite dancers and dance numbers from shows.

Set the Stage

Over the bed, create a stage curtain. Making one is easy, and only requires a curtain rod, drapes and tiebacks. Over the bed, (or over the barre area, see below) install a standard curtain rod about 2’ wider than the bed. Hang drapes in rich velvety fabrics. Consider crushed velvet, velour, and even glittery velvets. Match the color to the décor of the room, but it will look best in deep, rich shades. Use tassels for tiebacks.

Hang a disco ball from the ceiling to create a cool dance floor atmosphere, and install several spotlights to highlight the ‘dance floor’ or her Wall of Fame.

Ballet Theme

So many girls love ballet that there are hundreds of decorative accents and furniture available with a ballerina theme. Start with the Pretty in Pink bedroom, and use the softer pinks and whites for a classical ballet feel.

Wallpaper boarder or appliqués of ballerinas are easy to find in ballet slippers, ribbons, bows, and roses. White shadow murals create a nice subtle effect when painted over a soft pink wall.

What little ballerina wouldn’t want a mirror and barre in her bedroom? You can easily create your own. Cover the wall with mirror tiles or hang a large wall mirror. For the barre, use railing brackets and a closet rod. The barre should be approximately waist high to your child. It’s that simple.

It’s best of course if you have hardwood floors in the bedroom, but if you don’t, consider installing a small stage under the barre. Or, install wood floor tiles directly over the carpet to provide a smooth surface to dance on. Take it the extra mile and install a spotlight on the ceiling so it can shine on your dancer.

Bedding

The bedding should be luxurious, and of course there are a lot of choices out there: ballet inspired sheet sets, comforters and pillows will all set the stage for sweet dreams. Throw pillows embellished with roses, lace and pearls will add an elegance fit for a ballerina. If you are making your own throw pillows, use those old tutus and other costume accessories to embellish them.

Create a special place for your dancer’s trophies; either a display cabinet or several staggered shelves will work nicely. If she’s more of a ballet fan than a dancer, use the shelves to display dolls and stuffed animals dressed in tutus.

A pretty white peg rack or even a coat rack could be the perfect place to hang all of her ballet slippers from the time she started dancing. On a peg rack, hang the slippers from smallest to largest with elegant pink or white ribbons.

For older girls, create a special place to display toe shoes. Many larger ballet companies will sell signed copies of toe shoes worn by their dancers.

Gymnastics

For a gymnastics theme, choose bold colors. You could go sassy with lime green, black and white, or use red, white, and blue for US Gymnastics theme. You could also use the colors displayed in the Olympic rings: black, blue, red, yellow and green, and there are many wall murals featuring the Olympic Rings that would enhance the design. If she competes, she might want to use the colors of her gymnastics team.

Instead of a throw rug, why not put a gym mat in the middle of the floor? She’s usually tumbling and flipping anyway, and if you have a mat in the room she can do it safely and comfortably.

Provide ample space for trophies. A single display shelf will probably not be enough, so plan on a special wall of shelves or a display cabinet to house all of her awards, medals and trophies. In between the shelves, you could also display framed pictures of your gymnast in action.

Ball Sports: Soccer, Basketball, Volleyball, etc.

A sports-themed room is not just for boys any longer! Rooms decorated with volleyball, soccer, and basketball images are just as popular with girls.

There is no limit to the range of colors you could use in a sporty girls bedroom. Some sporty girls still want pinks and purples, and some will opt for an edgier look with orange and lime.

Many sheet sets and window treatments with sports themes will be in “masculine” colors such as navy blue, green, and maroon. But there are increasingly more options out there in colors that have girl appeal. If you can’t find the right sport in the right colors, use solids for bedding and sheets, and accessorize with pillows shaped like balls, #1 waving fingers, or pennants.

Window Treatments

You could make a custom window treatment easily, and get an exact match for the bedroom. One very simple approach that doesn’t require a lot of craft experience or equipment is to buy a simple roller shade. Lighter colors work better for a project like this. Then, you’ll need a rubber stamp in a shape of your choice such as footballs. Pick out craft paint, and use it to randomly stamp footballs all over the shade, or maybe in a straight line along the bottom of the shade. Now you’ve got a handmade shade that will really add to the decorating scheme without breaking the bank.

As with window treatments, you’ve got a lot of options when it comes to sports themed bedding. There are plenty of sports themed sheet sets out there. One suggestion is to pair those sheets with a plain comforter, duvet, or blanket. That way, if he suddenly switches his loyalties to a new favorite team or sport, it’s a little less expensive to switch out the bedding to reflect the new preference.

Make it Unique with Accessories

Hang a basketball hoop on the wall and use it as a place to hang clothes or her uniforms.
Hang one of those mesh corner nets that many little girls use to hold their dolls. The balls go up in the net, where they can be seen but stay out of the way.

Locker themed bins are available at many home decorating stores. You could also find an actual locker that they could use to keep their sports gear in. She could decorate it just like she does at school!

Just like in the dancer’s room, create a Wall of Fame for your child’s pictures and trophies. Find a digital template that allows you to put girl’s picture onto the cover of Sports Illustrated or other sport magazine.

Place several beanbag chairs around the room for lounging in; you can find ones that look like basketballs, baseballs and soccer balls.

Create a unique ball border … with actual balls! This gives a wonderful 3-D effect. Take six balls of whatever sport your girl prefers: soccer balls and basketballs work well. Use an electric saw to cut the balls in half, and then hot glue gun them to the wall.

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Designing a princess bedroom theme for your little princess is one of the easiest girls’ room themes to achieve; with Disney princess collectibles galore, Barbie princess dolls and other ‘princess’ decorating items on the market today you can’t really go wrong.

You can find princess furniture (princess bed, princess chair, princess vanity, etc.), princess bedding (Disney princess canopy, princess comforter, pillow, etc.) and plenty of princess dolls, costumes and art to decorate her bedroom like a princess palace!

Your biggest problem will be selecting just the right elements. You want your princess’ palace to be luxurious and lovely, not overdone.

Disney Princess Bedroom Ideas

The first thing to determine is what kind of princess room your child wants. Is she a straight up Disney Princess girl? If so, you have all the Disney princesses available to pick from when planning your daughter’s princess room; the Disney princess characters include:

• Princess Ariel, Film: The Little Mermaid
• Princess Aurora, Film: Sleeping Beauty
• Princess Belle, Film: Beauty and the Beast
• Princess Cinderella, Film: Cinderella
• Princess Jasmine, Film: Aladdin
• Princess Mulan, Film: Mulan
• Princess Pocahontas, Film: Pocahontas
• Princess Snow White, Film: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Decide Which Type of Princess Room Works Best

While the Disney princesses may be the most popular, there are also bedding and decorative options available in Hello Kitty princess and Barbie princess.

You may prefer to have a more generic theme, such as Crowns and Tiaras, Flowers, Castles or Fairyland. Princess-themed rooms are great because they can blend well with other themes such as flowers, dolls and other fairytale or animated movie themes.

Princess Bedroom Color Choices

Next, decide on the color scheme and wall color. This is not difficult; most princess rooms are best done in pink or purple, or a combination of the two. Royal blue or purple, gold, silver, pink and white are all good color choices for a princess theme. Gold or silver provides a nice, sparkly accent color.

Once you’ve surveyed what’s out there for bedding, wall decals or wallpaper borders, you can determine if the wall color will be pastel or deep tones of pink/purple, or some combination of the two.

If you are more ambitious, you can also paint faux stones on the walls to mimic castle walls. For the really artistic moms out there, doing a wall mural will really give her princess room designer impact and let you stretch your imagination.

When you are thinking of paint, don’t forget the ceiling! A dreamy ceiling painted with clouds would work nicely. Or you could go glittery, and paint it soft color with a glittery paint.

If painting a princess wall mural isn’t in the budget and you don’t have the skills to paint your own, you can also choose wall decals, stencils or wall borders to help accentuate the princess room theme.

Princess Bedroom Furniture Ideas

White furniture will work best in a pink/purple princess room.  Embellish with gold paint accents, gold or crown shaped drawer pulls.  Gold paint pens are an easy way to trim plain white furniture and make it truly royal.

If you are starting out fresh and shopping for furniture consider using French provincial style furniture. It’s beautiful and elegant enough to grow with your child.

In addition to the usual bedroom furniture, consider adding either a tea table and chairs, or a princess vanity table with a mirror and a tufted stool. A fancy princess throne / chair would add another regal touch.

Take a look at the Disney Princess Collection for some great princess furniture items.

Princess Bedroom Window Treatments

Window treatments must be soft. Sheers gathered with fancy gold tassels or yards of wispy lace or tulle add the right touch. You can even spray paint tulle with spray adhesive and sprinkle it with glitter or add sequins to it for even more sparkle.

Use a layered window covering with a shade or window blind under the decorative layer to ensure privacy and natural light control.

Bedding for a Girl’s Princess Theme Bedroom

On the bed and in chairs, use lots of throw pillows in luxurious velvety fabrics edged with gold tassels. You can use gold tassels that match to decorate lamp pulls, the canopy, and along the bottom of the bed dust ruffle.

Bedding, pillows and window treatments should be done in rich fabrics such as silks, damask, velvet will work best. Also, if you are not going for the Disney look; floral prints, embroideries and tapestries all add a regal feeling.

Make Your Own Princess Trellis

1. Paint one wall with a trellis pattern, with a soft pastel wall and darker trellis to contrast makes a statement.
2. Disney actually makes a color called Sleeping Beauty Pink, but paint the entire wall with a deep pink latex. (The deeper color will actually become the trellis pattern, not the background.)
3. Mark your trellis pattern: starting in the upper left corner, make a mark every 12” along the wall’s outside edges, then repeat this along the top, bottom and right sides.
4. Use a light pencil to connect the marks diagonally across the wall. Voila! You have a trellis pattern.
5. Use ¾” painter’s tape to tape over the marks. Rub it firmly into the wall so no paint leeks underneath the edges.
6. Now, repaint the entire wall with the lighter color. Before the paint is try remove the tape.
7. At each cross in the trellis, apply a small stencil or wall decal in a crown shape.

Bed Canopy the Focal Point of a Princess Room

No princess room would be complete without a canopy over the bed. And, as canopies go the crown canopy is King, or in this case Queen. You can purchase beautiful silk bowers that when hung above the headboard create a crown canopy over the bed. If you’d prefer to make one, here is one suggestion:

Swagged Princess Theme Bed Canopy

1. A swag canopy is simple and elegant. Drape silk fabric (or tulle or satin) over a single rod centered over the bed at the height of the canopy, then over rods (one per side) on either side of the bed to create a tent like effect.
2. Attach a curtain rod or decorative dowel 6” to 18” below the ceiling above the center of the bed.
3. Install either two tiebacks or two more dowels about 30” off the floor. The fabric will drape over these, making the sides of the tent.
4. Measure the fabric length you will need by draping string over the three rods. Measure from the floor on one side, up and over the tiebacks or side rods and over the top dowel and back down to the floor, ensuring you leave enough length for the fabric to drape gracefully and perhaps pool onto the floor.
5. Now, add ½ yard of extra fabric to your estimation to allow for hems.
6. If your fabric has a pattern, you may need to line it, or fold it in half so that pattern is on both sides.
7. Add fringe, tiebacks and or tassels for added elegance. Embellish with Disney princess comforter or get something like the Disney princess bed tent if making your own princess bed canopy is too much work and expense.

Additional Princess Room Decorating Tips

• Replace your girl’s boring overhead light with a chandelier fit for a princess
• Add a Disney princess sleeping bag or two for princess parties and sleepovers
• Hang an ornate mirror with a gilded frame, or guild one yourself to let your little princess put on her favorite princess costume and adore her princess self
• Every little princess needs her princess jewelry box to keep her tiara, rings, necklaces, ear rings and other princess jewels in order
• Combine ideas from our other girl’s bedroom decorating articles such as Pretty in Pink or Fairyland themes

» Go Back to Girls Bedroom Themes & Decorating Guide

In my opinion, a kid’s bedroom is the most enjoyable room to decorate and probably the easiest.  You can let your imagination run wild and explore outrageous colors that you wouldn’t dream of using elsewhere in the home. But it can get expensive unless you know how to decorate on the cheap.

If your child is young, then decorating their room also allows you to create a great room that you would have loved when you were a child. But remember a child’s room should be fun and exciting as it is often not only a bedroom but a playroom also.

However, despite how fun and easy it is to decorate a kid’s bedroom, there is still the matter of how much it costs. We’d all love to be able to buy everything we want but this is often too costly, so here are some top tips to help when decorating a kids’ bedroom and keep the costs down!

Tip One: Plan for Kids’ Bedroom Decorating Savings

When decorating, many of us don’t plan what we are going to do but instead, we dive straight into the deep end and start throwing color around. Although, this is probably the easiest way to decorate, it does not always work out as you wished it would and then you have to start over.

Before you start decorating you should conduct a plan of action! So here are three important things to consider in saving money on kids room decorating:

1. Consider the colors and themes you will use and remember to be imaginative and courageous as nothing is too much for a kid’s room.
2. Consider what furniture you will use and set an aim of what you want the end product to look like. This does not mean having to draw architectural drawings but merely imagine what you would like the end product to look like.
3. For help, browse online and around local stores and malls to find great ideas!

Tip Two: Affordable Kids’ Room Themes

You should always have a set theme for a room, even if you plan on using a mix of colors and décor it is still going to be based around a theme. The good thing about a kid’s room is that there is a wide range of themes you can use but they don’t take much imagination to conduct as many of them are pretty easy to come by and are simply a matter of the sex of a child.

For example if your child is a little girl then a princess theme using pinks and purples is a common choice. However, if you are struggling finding a theme here are a few ideas for both boys and girls:

Affordable Themes for a Boy’s Room

• Space Theme – Use blues, greens and silvers along with spaceships, stars, planets and moons, you can create a room that is out of this world.
• Car Theme – Use reds, blues, whites, greens or oranges along with everything relating to cars and racing/ race tracks to make a room that
• Football Theme – You can use a range of colors for this theme from blues to reds. You could also base it around there favorite football team or make it into a football ground, the ideas are endless for this theme but no matter what you choose to do it is sure to be a winning room.
• Dinosaur Theme – Take your child back to when dinosaurs walked the planet using neutral colors, greens and reds to create a roaring room.

Affordable Themes for a Girl’s Room

• Fairytale Theme – Use pinks, purples and yellows along with fluffy pillows and girly accessories to create a room fit for a princess.
• Flower Theme – Give your child a taste of the great outdoors with bright colors and retro flowers.
• Over the Rainbow Theme – Use all the colors of the rainbow along with clouds to make a room that leaves you with a pot of gold at the end.

Tip Three: Paint Your Child’s Bedroom

Now that you have conducted a plan and have a theme for the room, it’s time to start the decorating process. The best way to create a new look is to use paint.

Interior wall paint comes in a wide range of colors and is really affordable, not only this but other benefits include the fact it can easily be wiped down using a damp cloth, which is great for messy kids, and it can also act as a base for a room that can be built on using wall accessories (see tip number four).

Tip Four: Affordable Wall Art and Decoration

So now you have your basic theme color going on it is time to expand on it and give the room some character and extend on the theme. There are several different ways to do this and it is all a matter of sticking things on the walls.

One idea is to use posters or framed artwork that is based around the child’s favorite animation character or you could use flowers, dinosaurs, footballs etc. This is all dependent on the theme of the room. For more ideas on budget artwork take a look at our article on Affordable Artwork for Home Décor.

You could also us wall stickers or borders to add some character to the room. Alternatively, you could use stencils on the walls, these are easy to do and affordable as it just uses paint. In addition, if you are good at art yourself then why not try painting some artwork of your own.

You could also use frieze frame murals. Although these are slightly more expensive, they are a really fun idea in a child’s bedroom because they create an illusion of being in a different setting or surrounding. For example, an underwater world mural creates the illusion that you are under the sea. There are many different ones available such as, space murals, dinosaur mural, race car mural, jungle mural etc. they can be bought online for a range of prices depending on the size you require.

Tip Five: Inexpensive Kids’ Bedroom Furniture

The most expensive part of decorating a kid’s bedroom is buying the furniture because they tend to need a lot of storage for their toys. However, you can save money by using old furniture. For example, if you have an old wardrobe or drawers that you would usually throw away then put it in the children’s bedroom.

If it doesn’t match the color scheme then paint it using left over paint; more often than not, you have overestimated how big the room is and now have half a tub of paint you don’t need!

Most furniture can be painted so no matter what it is you can find a use for it. For instance, if the child’s old bed was white and you’re now decorating the room pink then don’t just buy a new bed, just paint the old one! You will save loads of money this way and cut down on wastage!

Final Tip: Have Fun!

Have FUN with the room, use techniques and colors that you wouldn’t usually use. Kids like bright colors and outrageous patterns and pictures and if you follow these tips then your child will love their new room and you’ll love how much you saved.

A bedroom designed to reflect your daughter’s love of surf and sea can be a tropical paradise that she won’t soon outgrow. If your daughter is into beach volleyball, surfing, waterskiing, swimming or other water sports, this will be a natural theme for her bedroom. What could be more fun that a beach bedroom? Read on for some great ideas on decorating your girl’s bedroom with a surfer, tropical beach or beach sports theme.

Picking a Surfer Girl’s Bedroom Colors and Patterns

Start the room by giving it a tropical background. Paint the walls sunny warm colors like Mango orange or pineapple yellow. Attach wall appliqués such as hibiscus flowers or surfboards for an instant punch of the islands.

Bedding can be a combination of solid and patterns in complementary tropical colors such as lime green, hibiscus pink or ocean blue. There are also countless patterns in surf and Hawaiian designs available on the market.

Raffia Embellishments

Raffia fringes are easy to apply and lend a Hawaiian hula look to wherever you use them: desks, dressers, and window valances. Party supply stores often have raffia table skirts that are ready to go. They also make a great replacement for a traditional fabric bed skirt.

Take a plain lamp and shade and decorate them. You can go floral, using silk or plastic flower leis around the top and bottom rim. Or continue with the raffia theme.

Create overlapping rows of raffia fringe and cover the entire lampshade. Find some toy surfboards and use a glue gun to stick them to the lamp base.

Beach Bedroom Accessories

We’ve compiled a few girls’ beach and surfer bedroom accessory ideas for you:

• You can string shell shaped party lights across the headboard or along a window valance.
• Colored lights will give you bedroom the feel of an outdoor beach bar.



• Add a tiki lamp to give your room a tropical feel or how about a surfboard lamp?
• Replace standard drawer pulls with ones in Bamboo or clever shapes such as fish, shells, surfboards and Hawaiian shirts.
• An actual surfboard mounted to the wall makes for a fun and unique headboard.
• Buy several framed vintage surfer posters or make your own beach scrap wall.

Painting a Blue Sky Bedroom Ceiling

A beach and surfer theme is all about the great outdoors, and one surefire way to bring the outdoors inside is to paint a sky on the ceiling, complete with fluffy white clouds. To do this project you will need:

• Sky blue satin latex paint
• White satin finish emulsion paint
• Glaze
• Paint tray
• Measuring jug or cup
• Sea sponges, two or three different sizes, hand sized and smaller
• A piece of cheesecloth–big enough to form into a hand sized ball
• A piece of board approximately 3′ x 2′ or heavy cardboard pieces for practice
• Pictures of clouds for reference

Instructions to Paint Your Ceiling Sky

1. Start by paint the ceiling sky blue; try painting swatches of several sample shades before you pick the one you want to use.
2. Before you attempt to add the clouds, practice on a piece of board or canvas. Once you are ready, you can begin painting clouds onto the ceiling; but don’t begin in the center! Clouds are irregular and should not be symmetrical.
3. Mix white paint and glaze at a 4 to 1 ratio (i.e. 4 cups glaze to 1 cup white paint). Pour into paint tray.
4. You will use the cheesecloth to soften the sponge marks, so wet it and wring it out completely.
5. Keep several pictures of clouds on hand for reference.
6. Wet the sponges and wring them out completely.
7. Dab sponge into white paint. Remove excess paint by scraping it on the edge of the paint tray.
8. Begin dabbing in a straight line: as you will see from your cloud pictures many have a straighter bottom.
9. Begin dabbing above these. Twist and turn the sponge as you dab to create a variety of textures and variations.
10. When you are happy with the shape, use the cheesecloth (ball it up) and dab over the clouds to soften them.
11. Build up the clouds by dabbing toward the center and fading out toward the edges, and soften again with the cheesecloth. The center should be denser, but this is best done in small steps. You can always add more paint, but it’s hard to remove any!
12. Vary the sizes. On a typical bedroom ceiling, 20 to 24 inches are good sizes.
13. Fill in between the larger clouds with small ones, and even some thin wispy clouds.
14. If you don’t have the time or desire to paint your own mural of clouds, there are many wallpaper decals and appliqués out there. You can find paint by number murals.
15. Once your walls are fabulous, add potted palms or even large fake palm trees to the corners of the room.

» Go Back to Girls Bedroom Themes & Decorating Guide

If your girl is into rock music, there are many things you can do to reflect her tastes, whether they lean toward alternative, pop, or hip hop. The key to creating a fantastic rocker girl bedroom is drama! And the easiest way to create drama is through color and pattern.

Rocker Girl’s Bedroom Wall Painting and Decorating

For the perfect background to display your rocker girl’s edgy, modern style, paint the walls, and don’t be shy. Consider black, dark purple and red. Don’t be afraid to mix it up, combining wildly contrasting colors with animal prints, abstract prints and sparkles.

Wall stickers come in all types these days, and finding Hannah Montana, High School Musical, and Camp Rock wall stickers are easy ways to add a your daughter’s favorites. There are also many more generic music stickers available, such as musical notes and stars.

Wallpaper borders are simple to apply, and you can find many that have musical themes. Or use stencils or wall stickers to give your daughter’s bedroom walls a more custom look.

You can create an instant wall mural with old records. Find old (not valuable) records at a flea market or on an auction site and simply glue gun them to the wall. Cover the wall, or create a pattern. Use them to create a headboard, or cover a window valance. You can also create a matching “wind chime” out of old 45 records.

Girl’s Rock and Roll Bedroom Display Ideas

There are hundreds of uses for old records and even create something useful out of them, such as a peg rack for the wall. Peg racks are a great way to help organize clutter, and can be used for anything from hanging up backpacks, clothes, or accessories.

To create a coat rack out of old records, simply screw them “B” side down onto a 1×4-inch board. Use as many records as you want pegs, and attach a decorative peg, wooden dowel or hook to the center of each LP.

Display rock concert ticket stubs, programs, stickers, and CD covers of favorite artists on a cork board. Or, if you prefer something more permanent, create a special collage of these items.

Old CDs can be glued to cork backings and used as coasters. You could even create a chair rail effect by gluing them edge to edge in a straight line along the wall at chair rail height. Mount them recorded side out for a flashy, mirror-like effect.

Paint the wall below the chair rail a dramatic color, and get creative above the rail; paint musical notes or scales. Using a projector can make painting a mural much easier. Simply pick your images, and trace them onto a clear acetate projector sheet using a black felt pen. Then, project the image onto the wall, and trace the image using chalk. Fill in the chalk lines with paint!

If you really wanted to get creative and your girl’s room has enough space, you could build a little stage or make up vanity themed in her favorite musical genre; again a little paint and some stickers or any of the wall decorating ideas mentioned above can be used to enhance furnishings to match her bedroom music theme.

Putting On Some Musical Touches

Embellish a wall mirror with glittery stars around the edges. Party supply stores usually carry a variety of these, and they can be easily attached with a hot glue gun.

Replace the boring old ceiling lamp with an actual stage can light suspended from the ceiling. You can find affordable ones on auction sites.

Mount one or two real instruments on the wall. You can find used or discarded guitars, drums or other cheap musical instruments at garage sales or flea markets or look on eBay.

Window coverings should be colorful as well. And you can take standard window drapes and embellish them with rhinestones, stars or find window coverings with a musical theme.
The same is true with the bedding, but don’t go overboard. If you’ve put a lot of graphics on the wall, it’s best to treat the bed more simply with solid colors and bold prints, verses pictures of your child’s favorite ‘Tween’ star.

And of course, no Rocker Girl’s bedroom will be complete without an iPod music player she to which can dock her iPod or friends’ MP3 players and turn up the tunes! Add a keyboard and microphone so they can sing and play along to their favorite hits.

Hip Hop, Rock and Pop Music Bedroom Theme Tips

• Girls; be sure you check with mom before decorating your room or you’ll be sure to start World War III with her!
• Start by getting rid of old stuff and clearing out your bedroom to get a fresh start on your girl’s music theme bedroom.
• Pick a couple of complementary colors or contrasting shades of the same color to establish your color scheme; examples are colors such as black and red, green and yellow or purple and blue.
• Use bedding (bedspread, blanket, sheets and pillows) to reinforce your color scheme.
• A lava lamp or black light will give your bedroom a retro 70s rock and roll look.
• You know what to do when it comes to posters and wall art; remember your musical tastes will change so painting walls in a more ‘generic’ style is better than painting or putting up wall stickers of your favorite musician or band. Use posters so that you can switch them out as your favorites change over time!

» Go Back to Girls Bedroom Themes & Decorating Guide

Our Boys Room Themes & Decorating Ideas shows you dozens of themes and hundreds of useful tips on decorating a boys room in style, on a budget, when he’s ready to move on, etc. Below you can view all the potos from our Boys Room Decorating articles in one place in the Boys Room Decorating Photo Gallery. Click on any image to view a full-size picture.

» Go Back to Boys Room Themes & Decorating Ideas

Whether your son is into NASCAR or just likes playing with Matchbox cars, a car bedroom theme might be right up your alley.

There are some major advantages to using a theme like this: the allure of cars is universal; it’s easy to find plenty of accessories that would work in this type of room, and they’re not going to lose their popularity and appeal next year like a lot of cartoon characters might.

If you think that your child might like to have a car bedroom, read on for some design tips to get you started.

Car Bedroom Theme Basics

Take a little time to decide what kind of car room you’d like to decorate and what kind your child will respond best to. You can take a general car approach, with neutral colors and a variety of different types of cars.

You can decorate the room with racecars for the aforementioned NASCAR fan, or focus on a particular car and driver for a dedicated fan. Or you could also decorate the room in a garage theme, with cars, wrenches, and other tools all mixed in together. Take the time to find an approach that will really capture his interests, and you’ll end up with a unique room that he’ll love to be in.

Your colors may vary depending on the approach you choose. A general car approach can work with just about any color scheme. Blues, greens, reds, and so on will all work with this type of theme.

If your NASCAR fan has a favorite car, then you’ve got it easy color wise because you can pick the major colors in the car and the numerals. For a garage room, you’ve also got a lot of colors to choose from. Gunmetal grey or a grey-ish blue are two particularly good choices for walls that work well in a bedroom but still suggest a garage-ish kind of feel.

Try some metal furniture, particularly if you can find something with bright, almost chrome-like accents. There are also plenty of beds shaped like cars that would work terrific in this kind of room. Or give a plain bed a race car-like feel by placing two wheel-shaped pillows on either end and attaching a stick on number to the side.

Car Theme Bedroom Window Treatments

Car printed curtains are easy to find if you’re going the general car route. Actually, you should also be able to find NASCAR prints without much trouble. Unfortunately, if you’re going for a mechanic or garage look, you may have a slight problem finding window treatments that would work, but there are plenty of simple solutions that you can implement.

If you’re going for that type of design or if you’re just interested in a do it yourself approach, consider making curtains or a roller shade. Start with some plain fabric, a plain roller shade, or a plain curtain panel in a color that works well with your color scheme.

You’ll need some silver metallic ribbon to attach to the curtains. Attach the ribbon in two vertical stripes on either end so it looks like chains or racing stripes. This will look particularly good if you manage to get some bright metallic furniture. Or, if this idea doesn’t strike your fancy, start with a plain curtain and get some car iron on patches to attach in a line along the bottom.

Car Themed Bedding

Car bedding is very simple to find, so if you’re just looking for a car print, you should be able to locate one at any local bedding store. But if you’re looking for something a little more customized, consider mixing and matching some bedding. For race car lovers, find a black and white check patterned sheet set and top it off with a comforter or blanket in the color of his favorite car.

For the boy who loves to tinker on cars, get something with metallic accents or attach iron on letters to a comforter to read “John’s Garage” (obviously, you’d want to customize the name). Pile on car shaped pillows, wheel shaped pillows, et cetera, to really make the bed a car lovers paradise. If you can’t find any that you like, attach or paint his favorite race car number onto a throw pillow and give that center stage.

If you really want to go all out, get your son a race car bed; they have a great selection over at All Childrens Furniture.

Car Bedroom Theme Accessories

Well, your first and most obvious accessory is plenty of cars. Model cars, plastic cars, even Matchbox cars can be displayed on shelves. For smaller cars like the Matchbox brand, consider shallow shelves or shoe organizers with clear plastic pockets to keep the mess in line while still allowing them to be visible.

Racetracks can be placed around furniture or on top of tables to allow them to act as a part of the décor without being a trip hazard. By allowing toys to double as decorations, you’ll save a lot of money and make sure that the room is fun to play in at the same time.

Once you’ve added plenty of cars into the mix, consider what you can do to make this room special. For a race car room, take a large paint roller and some black paint; make a wavy path around the circumference of the room; add a yellow dashed line, and you have an instant street! For a mechanics room, hang NASCAR hats and display a rack of play tools and overalls for pretend games.

String some nuts and bolts on a sturdy length of rope and drape them over a doorframe or use them to tie back a window. Hang a checkered flag or a yellow caution flag (or both) on the walls. Hang a photo of a favorite car and paint bright yellow flames coming out the end.

Really, the sky’s the limit if only you let loose and have a little fun. You can be assured that he’ll do the same in his very own unique car bedroom.

If you’re looking for a bedroom theme for a younger boy who just isn’t into cartoon characters just yet, think about doing his room in a dinosaur theme.

Dinosaurs are pretty much universally loved among younger boys, and they offer a lot of opportunities for creativity to make the room special just for him.

Another added advantage of doing a room in a dinosaur theme is that it offers him a chance to learn more about these interesting creatures.

Read on for some ideas on how to make a dinosaur room that will make your little guy jump with excitement and give him a place to let his imagination run wild!

Dinosaur Themed Bedroom Basics

When it comes to designing a dinosaur bedroom, most people just add a bunch of dinosaurs to the room and call it quits.

While this is certainly an option, you can do a lot more with this theme that will really personalize the room and make the most out of his learning opportunities.

So take a few moments to consider exactly what kind of room you’d like to do. You could mimic an entire jungle habitat complete with dinosaurs. Alternately, you could do a desert habitat. Let your child help to research which dinosaurs would be in each climate and try to decorate accordingly. Or, if he’s crazy about one particular type of dinosaur, like the ever popular Tyrannosaurus Rex, concentrate on that creature in particular.

Carefully select your colors based on the type of theme that you’ve selected. Jungle rooms should be done in greens and browns. Desert rooms generally look best in tans and browns. You can stamp leaves on the wall for jungle rooms, or use rocks in desert rooms.

By taking the time to create an attractive backdrop, you’ll really showcase the rest of the room. You could even intensify the outdoorsy feeling by painting the ceiling sky blue if you’ve got the time and knowhow.

Or, if you’ve selected a single dinosaur species to focus on, make the most of the walls by stamping dinosaur footprints around the room.

Ideally, you’ll want furniture made from natural materials. Wood is probably your best choice. Go for something rugged that will work well with the rest of the room and has the added advantage of being nice and durable. With luck, you won’t have to replace it as he grows older.

Dinosaur Themed Bedroom Window Treatments

As with most other themes, your first and easiest option is to purchase curtains in your theme. Dinosaur printed curtains are easily available at many stores, and you can definitely get them online if you’re not successful in your neighborhood. You should be able to find curtains printed with a variety of dinosaur species; dinosaur prints were another option that we found very easily by searching online.

You can also customize your window treatments. Consider tying your windows in with the rest of the room, especially if you’ve selected a particular dinosaur habitat.

For a jungle room, try a bamboo stick blind or something accented with imitation palm fronds or other large leafed plants. Bamboo blinds and other natural materials like wood would go well in a desert dinosaur room. These choices also help to tie the colors in the room together more thoroughly and have an added advantage in that they can often be used in other bedroom designs.

Dinosaur Themed Bedding

With dinosaur bedding, you’ve got a lot of the same choices that you do with window treatments. You should be able to find sheet sets printed with dinosaurs or dinosaur prints pretty easily. If you’re looking for something a little more creative, or something that ties into your color scheme a little better, consider some of these options: Get plain sheets and a comforter or blanket in your colors of choice. For example, in the jungle room, you might try brown sheets with a green comforter. Then, get some dinosaur shaped iron ons.

Depending on the type and size of the iron ons, you could apply them randomly to the comforter, place one big one in the center, make a line of them walking across the top, and so on. You could also leave the comforter plain and attach them to a pillowcase. Dinosaur shaped pillows can also be purchased to match with an otherwise plain looking bed.

Dinosaur Bedroom Accessories

Obviously, you’re going to want lots of dinosaurs in the room, but what kind? Since these things add up fast, one simple way to really up the dino presence in the room is to put up some shelves and display plastic dinosaur toys. These can be removed from the shelves for play and then put back to serve as decorations when not in use. You can also do this with stuffed dinosaurs although that will obviously be a lot more expensive.

But what else can you do to make this dinosaur room a little more interesting than all the others? Adding a personal touch can really make a difference when it comes to any type of bedroom, and that includes dinosaur rooms. Yes, dinosaur posters are cool. But you could hang a small chalkboard in that same space (or paint a small wall with magnetic chalkboard paint) and use dinosaur magnets instead. Not only does this serve as a great decorative statement, but it’s also a way for him to have a little fun.

Consider buying a kit to make a plaster cast of a “real” dinosaur print. He’ll be really proud to have show off something that he made himself. Or make a mini caveman dress up set, with fake fur scarves and foam clubs so that your little guy can go hunting for dinosaurs with his friends. Make multiple costumes so everyone can play, and display them from pegs in a corner of the room. Just make sure that he watches out for that Tyrannosaurus Rex!

By taking a little time to make some of those decorations, you’ll not only save money but you’ll also create some great memories and a room he can be proud of.

If you need a bedroom theme for an older boy, a boy who’s not quite ready for an adult room but isn’t quite ready for a kid’s room either, then look no further. A skateboard themed room might just be the right choice for your son.

The skateboard theme is still fun and youthful, but it also works for tweens and teens who have outgrown most of the character themes. Keep reading for some advice on how to make your son’s room into a skateboarder’s heaven.

Skateboard Bedroom Basics

The skateboard bedroom is fairly straightforward in terms of a theme. If your son is particularly into the sport and wants to choose a professional skateboarder to feature, then you might want to start with that as an inspiration and let the theme develop from there.

But one of the best things about a skateboard bedroom theme is that it doesn’t all need to match. Skateboard style is a mishmash of colors and designs that all work together to create a cohesive whole. So your job is to make it all work together.

Generally, a skateboard room is usually very colorful and can become overwhelming, so it’s a good idea to tone down some of the elements. For example, if you plan to do a killer wall treatment, then it might be a good idea to tone down the bedding and window treatments or vice versa. This doesn’t mean that your bedding needs to be plain. For example, you could try black and white or black and grey bedding, with a skull and bones throw pillow to tie the bed into the theme. Or camouflage is always a good way to go when it comes to bedding and window treatments in skateboard rooms.

In a skateboard themed room, industrial looking furniture will look the best. So you can go smooth and sleek with metal and glass furniture accented with chains, or you can go rough and rugged with unfinished wood planks that bring to mind homemade ramps and skateboard parks.

Boy’s Skater Room Window Treatments

There are plenty of places online that sell skateboard themed window treatments and bedding; so if you’re in the mood for curtains you’ll certainly find some there. You can get prints with skaters on them, or try something a little more generic like the aforementioned skull and bones or camouflage prints that you should be able to find at a local store. Tie them back with industrial looking metal tiebacks to complete the look.

If you’re looking for something a little more original, you have plenty of options. Try making a roller shade out of some metallic looking fabric to reflect a little light back into a room that seems too dark or small. You can buy roller shade kits at most craft and fabric stores, and they’re very easy to make. You could also buy indoor shutters and spray paint them in a metallic sheen, and then you could even customize the border of the shades with stickers picked out by your child.

Skater Bedding Ideas

When it comes to bedding in a skateboard room, generally less is more. As we’ve already mentioned, the walls and accessories in a skateboard room can generally get a little overwhelming, and if you go crazy with the bedding too, you’ll get an instant headache the minute you walk in the door.

Best to treat the bedding and window treatments as anchors for the room; by sticking to a couple of colors and a single pattern, you’ll allow the accessories to really stand out. Consider simple patterns and darker colors to compensate for the rest of the room. And there’s certainly no reason that you can’t use a plain sheet and comforter set and accessorize with a skateboard themed throw pillow to tie it in with the rest of the room.

Skater Bedroom Accessories

The skateboard room is really all about the accessories and the walls. If you look at skateboards, most kids decorate them with random stickers in a variety of colors, and they stick them on every which way without much of a pattern. Similarly, if you think of a skateboard park, the basic lines are pretty simple, but the parks are often decorated with large, bright murals (and if the park isn’t already decorated, the chances are good that someone will come along with a can of spray paint and decorate it with graffiti).

These elements should be your inspiration, but we’re not suggesting that you let your children loose in the room with a can of spray paint unless you’re really confident in his abilities and don’t mind putting on a bunch of layers of primer to cover it up later. If you do have a budding artist, get a prepared canvas or a plain white sheet and let him spray paint his own designs on that and hang it in the room. This gives the same feel as a mural but is easily removed later when you move out or when he does.

And if none of you are particularly artistic, you can always buy wall murals, wallpaper, or stickups that give the right industrial type vibe. Look for wallpaper to mimic an unpainted brick wall, look for stickers that mimic street signs and stick them up randomly. Pretty much anything you’d find on a city street is fair game.

If you want something a little more unique, gather stickers from around your town, and especially from local skateboard shops, and use them to cover an old coffee can or picture frame. You can store CDs in the coffee can when it’s done.

Really, the key to a successful skateboard room is to have fun!