When creating a distinctive bedroom for your child, allow him to participate in the planning, as well as some of the decorating projects. Children’s decor has come a long way since the days of pink and blue, or princesses and cowboys. You have a rainbow of options, from designer styles to do-it-yourself flea market chic. Whatever style you choose, remember to add the finishing touches and personalize the room with photographs, artwork, trophies, projects, growth charts and name plates featuring your child.
Magician or Wizard
Cascading fabric is the perfect element to create a mysterious and magical atmosphere. Use the “Harry Potter” color theme of purples, golds and black. Drape gauze, lace or tulle around the bed, or wrap it around bedposts. Invest in a heavy brass doorknocker for the bedroom door. Buy frames at a junk store, paint them with metallic paint and use them to frame your child’s artwork. Use old baby food jars or glass bottles as potion bottles, and fill them with beads, shells or sea glass, topped with a dash of glitter. Add some little party lights or Chinese paper lanterns to create a festive, exotic ambiance. Create wizard-themed storage containers by wrapping open boxes in dragon print wrapping paper.
Fairy
Many girls in princess bedrooms have lived happily ever after, but why not go frilly with a twist and do a fairy theme? To channel Tinkerbell, use chartreuse, lavender and pink as your color scheme. Turn a desk chair into a throne fit for a fairy queen by adorning it with netting, ribbons and bows. Create a shelf with magic potions filled with glitter and sequins, and add a magic wand for good measure. Evoke Neverland images of mermaids, islands, flowers, trees, water and a pirate ship. Bling out the bed with a giant fairy wing canopy made of netting or gauze.
Pirate
Go for a pirate-themed room, but keep it on the jolly side for young ones who might get scared. The best aspect of a pirate theme is that you can revamp items you already own, supplemented with some thrift shop and yard sale scores. Accomplish this with gold paint, which casts a treasure-like glow on everything it covers, from a toy box to a picture frame. Affix glittery jewels and crystals to a bedside lamp or paint an old treasure map on the wall. Turn the bed into a pirate ship by adding some mosquito net sails overhead. Suspend a hammock in the corner to hold stuffed animals. Sew together a couple pirate bandannas and use them as the case for a throw pillow.
