Kids Room Ideas

I'm not very good at decorating so what I did was bought the bedding first and decorated around that. Painted walls to match, bought a lampshade and curtains to match. Also got some pictures that went with the theme. It made it so much easier for me to get a color scheme that went together. Good luck!

how fun! i would definetly do something that can transition into an older age...not super 'young"..that is a lot of work to change again in a year or two and you know how kids change taste so often. also do something you will like to look at everyday! good luck and have fun!

Hi A.,
You sound creative enough. I was too when planning out my kids rooms.. had all sorts of fun ideas. (My nursery was bright colors... cats & dogs, my Girl's room is purple and green fairies (was really "in" about 3 years ago). My only advice is to get your bedding first. It can be a real pain trying to match fabrics to paint. The other way around it is a breeze. Oh, also, don't go with too flat a paint. You want something you can wash.
Good Luck,
S. (SAHM to Girl-5, Boy-3 and Boy-1)

You have great ideas.
For your daughter a striped bed set would look cute against the dots. You could take her artwork or her favorite animals and blow them up on the computer and print out art for her walls. Then just get inexpensive frames. She could also make art, you can purchase small blank canvas' from Michaels or JoAnn's and with the colors of her room she can create her own "modern" art for her room. You can give her different things to use on the canvas, brushes, her fingers, stamps, chopsticks, spoons...

Your ideas are really cute!
Have fun1

I would paint all the walls in the same color, otherwise it could look choppy and make the room seem smaller. Polka dots on the wall could make the room look smaller as well. It's easier to change a comfortor when you tire of a pattern than it is to paint the walls, I would go a solid color on the walls and put the pattern of fabrics. (If you do choose polka dots on walls,i'd go with a solid on the bed to give they eye a rest.) Pick the color you like from your paint chip, and then move down 2 more colors lighter. Pick that as the base paint color. A really nice paint look is called "washing, it gives the look of parchment. It is done by rolling a light color over all walls and letting dry. Then , using a watered down 2nd color (2pt water to 1 pt paint,)(chosen a shade or 2 darker than the base color on the wall,) wash this paint on the wall with a rag, using a motion like you were washing windows. Don't miss any spots.Keep in a circular motion. Work quickly to keep the edges wet and workable. You might want someone to help you. Don't worry about hitting the ceiling accidentally , you will paint over that later. A second wash coat is more work but it gives it a deeper, professional look and evens out the finish.
Paint the ceiling last, a light sage green up there would be nice with pink on the walls. Another option, burnished luminecent gold (like gold leaf but not as shiny.)Crown molding in ivory would finish the room off nice.
If stripes are in the room I like them on curtains and bed dust ruffles...pink, sage green, and ivory small pinstripes would be cute. To complete the window white sheers with a polka dot embroidered pattern.
A Plaid patchwork bedspread would be nice, I'm thinking sage plaid squares, rose flower pattern squares, and ivory squares. Put the sage green on the mats that are in the pictures on the walls. This look is cute with ivory/white painted furniture.

Boys room: I would be careful about breaking up a room in the middle of a wall with a border. Visually it will make the room look smaller and could look quite busy, especially if two different colors are used and lots of pattern is in the room. Most bedrooms are quite small already. And, you will most likely end up keeping this wall color for quite a while. Life gets busy, other children come along, and time get's away from us. Before you know it he will be 10 yrs old. So plan a bedroom that he can grow into. If you are really set on a border you could stencil (with paint) something up at the top of the wall...Or even on the ceiling. Repainting a ceiling is probably easier than 4 walls when the border gets tiring. I find that the most comfortable rooms for me are a mix of warm and cool colors. All cool colors (green and blue)are very cool...it could be warmed up/cozy'ed up by adding a warm tone, maybe little brown or yellow.

Maybe you can take the paint color cues from the moon picture you like so much and use those. Make one color in the room more dominant than the others.

Go to home depot and pull out a few decorator books from the rack. Try to pick out rooms that 'feel' good to you. Then visually try to block out the "stuff" in the room, and study the color combinations.

One of my favorite decorating colors for walls is yellow. Soft yellow in little ones rooms, parchment colors in the rest of my house. Feels like sunshine.

I'm a fanatic decorator, but Heather is right -- buy the bedding first. The other mom suggested having your kids be involved -- also important.

I would not put a wallpaper border on the walls because 1) borders are out, and 2) When you want to change the room it will be a pain to remove.

Other than that, there are a million ways you can do it -- Just do what makes you happy!

And always buy a paint sample or buy a quart first to try out the color on your walls -- it never looks the same in your room as it does on the chip. Also DO NOT USE FLAT PAINT, use eggshell, satin or semi-gloss, so you can wipe the walls clean.

A.,
I just got done doing my kids rooms, my oldest (12) has a hockey theme (her choice) my youngest has an out door theme Three of the walls are pale green with a darker green stencil on the bottom that looks like shodows of plants, grass, bee's and butterflies the other wall is pale pink with dark pink border on the bottom as well, she has quilt on her bed that is pink and green with flowers on it (found it at Target for about $40) she also has wall stickers with flowers and bugs (also found at Target) I refinished her furniture to a green that compliments the room, she also has a green shag carpet (agian found at Target) that looks like grass. She picked the curtian sheers which is a mix of pink green purple and blue and I found some curtian charms which are butterflies that match her colors. The room came out really well and we get a lot of complements on it. It did take me about two weeks due to all the painting, Primer took one day the wall colors each took a day, (I painted the three green walls in one day then had to let it dry for 24 hrs before I could tape it off to do the pink, then two days for the stenciling). If you would like I can send you photos of the room, just send me an email address.
Amanda
____@____.com

My daughter's room is sweet pea (light green) on the bottom and a baby blue on the top, seperated by a white chair rail. It looks really cute and isn't hard to do. We are actually probably going to change it in the next year or so when we redecorate her room, but the room used to be my son's and it worked for him too. I like the pink and green idea, just make sure the colors aren't too loud once on a whole wall (a small swatch of color may look great, but may be overwhelming on an entire wall). I would let your daughter (depending on her age) have a say in how you decorate it. If she loves her room she will be much more cooperative at keeping it clean and tidy. If you really don't have a lot of ideas I would recommend looking at a few magazines for ideas before spending any money. Good luck.

I have two little boys and we did their room in a jungle theme. I like it because you can do so many different colors, and it can grow with the children. As they get older you can add more realistic pictures, you can do stuffed animals, a tree mural, all kinds of fun stuff. When lloking for extra ideas, I go to HGTV's rate my space page and look at all the other moms kids rooms. It is really fun, you can search by theme key words, or colors or whatever.

http://ratemyspace.hgtv.com/SNC/Main.aspx?pguid=6db6be3f-...

Good Luck!!!! Have fun :-)

My daughter has a pink monkey room, but I have seen it done for boys too. You could do a jungle, palm tree theme for the whole room then give each their own individual bed spread with pink or blue. Target had such cute stuff called surf monkey. They might still have it on their website and I always see it on ebay if you search for "DYR monkey".

Check out The Company Store. They have totally cute stuff and maybe you'll get some good ideas from their pictures. Have fun!!!

If you have time, go to Ikea to check out their room ideas. Their stuff is not the best quality, but they do have cool ideas you can use.

Hi A.-
Decorating can be very exciting!! First, ask your daughter about her favorites and take her to the store with you to help choose bedding. Give her, say, 3 or 4 options. Next, take a pillow case or something with you to the store for paint. Find some colors that compliment (look good next to) the bedding colors. My one concern on this is that bedrooms need to be a "CALM" place. Soft, muted, greens, pinks, blues, yellows, oranges, etc. Bright and rich colors can make it hard for her to relax. If you decide to do pink and green, perhaps do a light sage green with a soft rose pink- or a soft baby pink. If you want to do pink and brown, which is also ULTRA CUTE, with polka dots, have her help you cut out circles of different sizes. YOu can either use a heavy paper and layer the colors, or you can take the sizes to a wood shop and have them cut some out for you. Dragonflies would be cute on those, too!
I am a fantasy and fairy tales/autumn colors kind of gal, so my first thought is a pale green room, fun bedding, and one of those nets that can hang from the ceiling and go around her bed. If she is a little too young for that, start small on something you can build on, where you only have to change little things, like the wall color, or what's hanging on it as time goes by. I love deep, warm, ambers, and muted greens with rustic decor. Dark, fuzzy comforter, deep, plush pillows...

For your son, since he is so young, stick to elemental stuff (trees, nature, or blocks, animals )so that it can be a learning place as well as a resting place. I saw in Babies R Us this bedding that was a soft creamy color with a light green and a milk chocolate brown. It had a fat little bird, a teddy bear, and a couple of other creatures on it. Very home made and very cute. Walls- pale green and blue. Again, it should be a calm place. If it looks like he is into more mechanical stuff, like trains and airplanes and autos, you can get some fun little prints to put on the walls, and maybe shelves where he can put his toys? Shelves can be re-used over and over again and changed a plethora of times as he gets older! You could even get a little bathmat/doormat in the shape of a plane or dinosaur... For the stars and universe stuff- get some of those glow in the dark stars and then paint or cut our planets and rings. Bedding can be black with stars, curtains can be sheer black or silver, or both! Or, go with a blue background/shades of blue and then make the planets and stars different colors.

My sister's little boy has rainforest stuff. Lots of frogs, birds, bugs, etc. And these can be toned up or down as he gets older and really starts showing his personality. The room is painted in soft blues and greens (2 walls of each) and the curtains are shades of blue. It looks really great and is really comforting.

As for doorways, if you ever have concerns about doors getting shut, etc., you can put sheer curtains up with a decorative rod...

All in all, I would stay as far away from wallpaper as possible. I love borders, but not for kids rooms. Too much work to get off unless you have the patience for a steamer and a scraper.
For paint, there is a new label out there that I saw at home depot, and maybe some of your local stores carry it. But is is an odor free, non toxic, indoor house paint that is supposed to be of the highest quality. The best part- no paint smell for days and days.

I encourage you to get dirty, get your kids involved, and just have fun. Regardless of whether or not it looks professional, what's important is that they are happy with it and that you all had fun doing this together. They need to feel that it represents them and they want to have a great time with you while doing it. So what if your planets are lopsided- name them! And if your daughter's room has an enchanted castle far far away in the background, get some fairy tale books and a fun nightstand to put them on for an evening story time. Creativity is in the desire of your heart, not in the talent of your hand, and I really think that you are going to do something fantastic with your kids!
Good luck, A.!
-E. M

I'm an interior designer - I would recommend that you pick out her big stuff first - like bedding, carpet, furniture.
Paint can be custom mixed to match anything - so don't shoot yourself in the foot with a paint job that makes decorating tricky. I would get a few catalogs - like Pottery Barn Kids, Ikea if you like modern and "steal" ideas from them. Target has a really cute "do your room" collection of accessories and bedding that you can mix with better quality things for a fun fresh look. It's back to school time so there are a lot of cute things for kid's rooms.
I am available for hire if you live within 30 miles of Tracy.
I had a blast doing my son's room - much more fun than the usual boring dining rooms, etc.
If you want a complicated paint job - I suggest you hire a pro to do it so it looks good and spares you lots of frustration and paint in your hair.
Feel free to e-mail me questions, etc.
Another thing you can do - go on Pottery Barn's website and draw a floorplan of the rooms so you can figure out furniture placement before you buy!

go to www.roommatespeelandstick.com. Super cute peel and stick wall decor and ideas for colors.