Room Fit for a Star
Easy Bedroom Design
for Boy or Girl
Designing kids’ rooms is now big
business. Whole magazines,
catalogs, and even retailers are
devoted to creating attractive and
inviting environments for today’s
kids. Featuring every kind of design
motif, from jungle to pirate to
princess or fairytale rooms, there’s
a design out there to capture all
kids’ imaginations – and their
parent’s pocketbooks. But with a
little of your own imagination (and
paint), you can have a terrific-
looking room for your little one in
no time.
What does it take to make a room a kid would want to spent time in? Just a little effort. In fact, creating a relaxing and fun room can be accomplished pretty easily with only a few cans of paint and some imaginative accessories. For this bedroom, the walls and ceiling were painted a crisp blue. Star stencils in both large and small sizes and moon stencils were applied to the wall with white paint. This was done in a random pattern to create a more custom, look.
Furniture for the room is really pretty basic and inexpensive. That’s what nice about this room design: Everything can be re-painted and re-used at a later date if the child grows out of this design. Plus, the design is versatile enough that an older child can be moved out of this room and a younger child can be moved in without a major design overhaul. It’s also a good design for a boy or a girl. The versatility and practicality of a design for a child’s room should be a prime consideration when decorating because a child’s tastes change quickly and they can quickly outgrow a style that won’t grow with them.
Make the room stand out with a custom look
One of the keys to creating great looking kids’ rooms is to customize them. In this bedroom, the plain blue walls were customized with inexpensive stencils. The desk was customized by painting each drawer a different color on the design palette (the range of colors you’re using in your design), and large pulls were added to the drawers and painted a contrasting color. Red painted tables give just the right dash of color. The off-the-rack linens were given some star appliqués, as were the curtains. Simple rugs that followed the star motif were scattered on the floor. All these little details create a complete, high-end look.
Create your own accessories
Purchasing darling accessories for a
child’s room is not only expensive,
it’s not necessary. One of the
problems I’ve found with decorating
children’s rooms is trying to find
artwork. Not only is it hard to find,
when I do find it, it’s cost-
prohibitive. This is my work around:
Calendars. Purchase kid-themed
calendars or inexpensive children’s
books with big pictures and cute
designs. Cut out the designs that
you like and then frame them. It’s
inexpensive and gives your room
décor a finished look to have
artwork that goes with the room.
Paint inexpensive frames a
coordinating color and add
stenciling or other design to the
mats and you’ve got your artwork
for a very reasonable price. Group
four or six pictures together and
you’ve got great design for little money!
You can do this with other accessories, too. Just be creative and you’ll be amazed at what you can come up with. This bedroom has a bird house on top of a post. You can make your own, add pegs, and you’ve got a clothes rack. There are all kinds of ways and ideas out there for making your own accessories, so don’t limit the bedroom to what you can buy. Unique accessories that are individual are so much more interesting, too.
Resources for decorating kids’ rooms
Whatever your design budget, there’s a resource for decorating. If money is no object, check out Poshtots.com where with one click you can purchase a whole room of unique, one-of-a-kind furniture and accessories. Other sources for furnishings include Pier One Kids (pier1kids.com), PotteryBarnKids.com, and JC Penney even has a catalog devoted just to kids’ rooms. If you’re looking for ideas, head over to about.com and search on kids’ rooms decorating. They have a wealth of ideas and resources to help you create a great space for your little one.
© 2007 Kathryn Weber, all rights reserved
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Kathryn Weber helps people create homes they want to come home to. She is the publisher of the Red Lotus Letter feng shui e-zine (redlotusletter.com) and writes decorating and cleaning columns. For more information, go to Kathryn-weber.com.
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©2001-2007 Kathryn Weber
All rights reserved.
