ONCE upon a time, kids’ bedrooms began in blue or pink and graduated to beige (or, in the ’70s, brown). Then the child grew up and moved out. The end.
Now, color choice isn’t half of the story. There are electronics to accommodate, homework space to allocate, clutter to mitigate and childish whims to negotiate.
“Around age 6, my kids would be crying out, ‘I don’t want a baby room anymore,’” said Christina Vercelletto, mother of children ages 8, 12 and 17, and senior editor for Parenting magazine. “Then again around age 10, they wanted a change to bring in a cool factor.”
Redoing a kid’s room can challenge parents’ reserves—energy and financial. “It really comes down to picking and choosing what’s going to make the biggest impact for the least amount of money.”
PAINT IT...BLACK?
FRESH paint is the classic Point A. But skip the custom-painted mural.
“They can be very expensive, and they have a limited life span,” Vercelletto said. “And to paint over it feels heartbreaking.”
A modern, lower-commitment alternative: wall decals. For one wall of her son’s room, Vercelletto used the photo service site Mpix.com to create a “wall cling,” based on a photo of her son surfing, digitally blown up and cut out. It cost about $80. “It brings him into the room. It’s something he was really proud of. And when he gets tired of it, it just peels off.”
Jillian Harris, an interior designer who works on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, says the site surfacecollective.com is one of her favorites for wall tattoos.
For those who rely on paint to make walls talk, she suggests settling on a palette of three colors or fewer. Stripes, she suggests, are one of the easiest ways to achieve bold color. In two girls’ rooms, she kept things bright, not babyish.
“There will be enough variation of colors in the room with all the books, toys and knickknacks,” Harris said. “No child’s room is ever short on color.”
Sonu Mathew, senior interior designer for the Benjamin Moore paint company, sees a trend toward instilling “a new global sense of style even for the littlest ones,” resulting in more sophisticated color palettes that blend with the rest of a home.
Mathew cites Benjamin Moore’s French Violet with Sulfur Yellow and Celtic Green with Grege Avenue as two modern color pairings that work for many ages and types of decor.
Mathew points out, however, that as kids enter their teens they often crave drama in the form of, say, black walls. She suggests parents offer compromises such as black chalkboard paint or a single wall (or ceiling) for experimentation.
ACCESSORIES WITH A THEME
MOM of seven Cortney Novogratz said she and husband Robert, hosts of HGTV’s Home by Novogratz, “are not theme-room people—for lots of reasons. Your kid’s room is still a part of your home, and it should be a room that anybody can enjoy.”
Still, if your kid craves a room that centers on his love of baseball or her pink Parisian fantasies, three to five accessories can do the job affordably, Harris said. A delicate chandelier and a miniature Eiffel Tower can represent a Parisian theme. A fishing theme can be established with Dad’s first fishing rod framed in a shadow box and an oversized fish pillow on the bed.
“Stop there,” Harris said. “The child will change their mind, so the [fewer] items you need to replace, the better.”
WORKHORSE PIECES
FURNITURE pieces such as beds and desks carry a heavier burden but don’t require heavy investment.
“We love places like Ikea, which offers colorful, well-designed pieces that are durable and don’t cost a lot,” Novogratz said. “Kids are rough on things, so don’t spend a fortune.”
Look for attention to detail and versatility. The table in Ikea’s Mammut collection has a slightly concave surface to limit the spread of spills, said Janice Simonsen, Ikea design spokesman and blogger. Some Ikea chairs such as the PS Havet or the Lycksele convert to a single bed, which can accommodate a surprise houseguest in a pinch.
Rugs over hard floors can soften noise and falls. Novogratz likes Ikea’s selection, or carpet tiles from sources such as Flor, which can be replaced in singles when they inevitably get stained.
CLUTTER CONTROL
EVEN for the youngest children, labeling storage boxes or baskets with words or pictures of what goes in them can instill lessons in organization, Simonsen said. For a small room, Ikea’s Fangst hanging mesh bag is ideal for stuffed animals. “It’s smart because it uses often-forgotten vertical space for extra storage,” Simonsen said.
For older kids, electronics and their trappings require adaptations. One necessary accessory for Vercelletto’s 17-year-old son is a charging station to contain the cords for his mobile phone, iPad, etc. The single most crucial room accessory for this older teen? A lock for the door, which Vercelletto’s son requested a couple of years ago. Vercelletto acquiesced, provided that, if he has a female friend over, the door remains open.
Also, before he goes to sleep at night, the door is unlocked in case of emergency.
“His main concern is keeping his younger siblings out,” Vercelletto said. “He’s very concerned with all of his electronics. At his age, it’s more about his man cave...boy cave...almost-man cave.”
In Photo: Fun, functional and stylish accessories add panache and then some, like this Jonathan Adler Mod Peace footstool.
