Boys Room Themes & Decorating Ideas

Every kid’s room needs a theme. With most boys’ rooms, a theme will be easy to decide, based on his likes and interests.

When he grows out of the toddler stage and starts school, he will have begun to form specific affinities for certain things; race cars and trucks, sports, cartoon characters, dinosaurs; whatever comes naturally!

There are tons of themes to pick from when decorating your boy room.

Letting him help choose the theme ensures that he will like it, but you may want to avoid big ticket items that are tied too closely to a fad or phase he’s going through; that $1,000 train set may seem great to him at seven, but by the time he’s ten it may well have been banished to the attic!

Our Boy’s Bedroom Article Series is packed with tons of great, affordable ideas to help you put together a room he will love. Below you’ll find an overview of boy’s room themes with links to complete stories on how to achieve some of the most popular ideas and themes.

Dinosaur Bedroom
If your boy likes dinosaurs, a wall mural or wall art can be a great way to get started with the dinosaur theme. Whether you use something cute or more realistic depends on whether he is easily scared or tends to have bad dreams; you don’t want him waking up in the middle of the night being chased by Tyrannosaurus Rex!

You can find lots of great dinosaur-themed bedding, curtain fabric, light switch cover plates, clocks, wall borders and posters online. To learn more read our complete article on Designing a Boy’s Dinosaur Bedroom.

Animals & Wildlife
Whether your son is into dogs or wild animals like birds, big cats or snakes, a nature theme works well and is easy to pull together, with posters, stuffed animals and models.

Paint a wall mural, put up wallpaper or other wall art to transform his room into a zoo, Wildlife Park or whatever his imagination dreams up.

Read more great ideas on designing an animal theme bedroom in our complete article on Designing a Boy’s Animal Bedroom.

Jungle Safari
Safari is always a fun theme.  Add color by using animal print wallpaper borders, wall art and fabrics. You can paint his walls green, brown, ivory, or whatever colors match the wall border. Pillow covers with zebra stripes, big cat or other animal fur fabrics are great. Put a pith helmet, old binoculars or maybe a replica African wood mask on the wall.

Camping & Lodge Decor
If you child loves the outdoors and camping, then this could be the right theme for his room; give his room a rustic lodge decor. You’ll find wallpaper borders with everything from snowshoes to moose, trout, bears or birds in the patterns. You can use plaid flannel patterns for bed linens, which are also warm and comfy for those cold winter nights. A rustic pine or log bed can be fun, as well as a big trunk for storage at the foot of the bed. He can add pine cones, walking sticks and other items he finds on camping trips to complete the decor.

Pirates of the Caribbean
Ships and nautical themes are great, but any boy who likes the Pirates of the Caribbean will love a pirate décor in his room! With treasure chests, cargo nets, a ship’s bell or any of a myriad of related props to choose from, you’ll easily get carried away with this theme.

To find more ideas on ocean and beach themes for a boy’s room, check out our article on Designing a Boy’s Beach Bedroom.

Space
Boys love outer space and you could paint a night sky on the ceiling with matching wallpaper borders and let him hang planets over his bed. Globes, spacecraft models and other space toys will complete his space decor. He can really blast off on his outer space missions.

If your son loves space and outer space stuff, read more tips in our complete article on Designing a Space Bedroom.

Car Racing
Most boys love race cars at some point in their childhood development; some get very specific about NASCAR or Formula 1, motorcycles or another class of racing, so pay attention to his preferences and this can be a very fun bedroom theme he’ll love. Of course you can go with checkered black & white patterns or even put up yellow, red, and the other color flags used at a racetrack to add color and decoration to walls. Posters and wall art are easily found for any type of car racing.

You’ll find all kinds of great car and racing theme ideas in our complete article on Designing a Boy’s Car Theme Bedroom.

Sports
Whether he loves traditional sports like basketball, baseball and football, or more radical sports like skateboarding, snowboarding and mountain biking, sports is a timeless theme for any boys room and options are endless.

If he has a favorite sports team, paint the walls in the team colors and put up pennants, posters and jerseys with his favorite player’s numbers. You can make a very unique headboard for his bed with plywood painted or covered with fabric in sports team colors or patterns. Area rugs, lamps, trophies, autographed memorabilia; he’ll have accessories galore to choose!

For dozens more ideas on how to give your boy’s bedroom a sports theme, read our complete story on Designing a Boy’s Sports Bedroom.

For more ideas and tips on decorating a skater’s dream bedroom, read our complete piece on Designing a Boy’s Skateboard Bedroom.

Movies & Cartoon Characters
No matter what genre he likes, you can be sure to find wall art, toys, stuffed animals, bed linens and other items from his favorite movies or animated films. If you stick with the basic, you won’t have to repaint walls when he no longer loves Mickey Mouse, Bob the Builder or whatever his current favorite might be!

Read all our tips on Designing a Superhero Bedroom.

Military and Air Plan Themes

While not as popular as it once was to put up flags and pennants to create a US Armed Forces or military theme in boys bedrooms, if he has an older sibling in the military or likes imaging he’s a fighter pilot, you might consider camouflage bedding, model airplanes, tanks and ships and armed services recruiting posters as a few boy’s bedroom decorating ideas.

Read all of our tips on Designing a Boy’s Military Bedroom.

Cowboy Wild West
I was this kid myself; cowboy hat, boots, six-shooters and a dream of being a rodeo star someday. Many online retailers offer great wallpaper borders, bed linens, and a host of other cowboy and western-themed decorations.

If six shooters and ten gallon hats are what gets your son excited, read our complete story on Designing a Cowboy Bedroom for plenty more ideas, pictures and tips.

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