Decorating ideas

[Ghosty]

We are about to start decorating our DS new bedroom in our new house. I am the most hopeless person at ideas and stuff so want to keep it simple so thought I would ask my mumsnet friends if they could help!

I don't mind the actual decorating bit, it's the coming up with ideas that I have a problem with. Unfortunately there is no IKEA in NZ (Horror of horrors, disasterville!) so I can't go there, which is what I would have done had I still lived in the UK. Can anyone recommend a good book or website that has good pictures in it for me to take ideas from?

PS I'm thinking bright bold colours - no themes like TTTE or BTB or WTP as I think children will grow out of them very quickly!

[kkgirl]

Ghosty

How old is ds?
With mine I have painted bright colours and used themed bedding and posters on the wall for the older boy (8+) like you say they grow out of these characters quickly

[Ghosty]

Hi kkgirl ...

DS will be three in November. He has Bob the Builder bedding which I think is theme enough and like you say, posters. We saw a lovely Thomas the TE Wardrobe and chest of drawers in a shop the other day and I could tell he would love to have them but I think her wouldn't thank me when he is 8! I can't be doing with redecorating every 2 years - this has to last probably until he is at least 10, probably 12 when he will go to High School.

I have a fair idea of the colours - we have a gorgeous brightly coloured wall hanging from Africa that he has had since he was born - reds, yellows, blues, greens. But I just need some ideas on how to put them together ... like what coloour should the curtains be? Should I get pine drawers or paint bright colours on MDF drawers? I just don't have a clue!

[SoupDragon]

Painting MDF furniture means you can update it when you next decorae the room but solid wood furniture may be more robust & longer lasting.

I did a Google search on "children's rooms" ideas

This came up with quite a few sites which may give you inspiration.

Does anyone know why I can't do multiple links in one post??? I've seen it done elsewhere and I don't know where I'm going wrong!

Have a look at interiordec.about.com/cs/boysrooms/

I would choose fairly plain curtains which could go with lots of subsequent colour schemes. Use bright paint on the walls which is cheap and easy to change when you (or rather DS) are bored with the old scheme.

Enjoy!

[kkgirl]

Ghosty

Sounds like you have really good ideas anyway to me. I think the idea of painting the furniture is good, especially if a bold colour which will last for years.
I would pick out one of the colours from the African theme and use that for plain curtains.
Keep us posted it sounds really good.

Whilst on this theme, my 8 1/2 year old has a bright orange and yellow room with bright blue woodwork, but I am scratching my head trying to sort out his wardrobe. He had wooden sliding doors on it which didn't slide and he kept breaking them trying to push and pull them, so we took them off and are trying to resolve what to do.
My DH wants to put some flimsy concertina doors on which I think ds will break. I was tempted to put Star Wars curtains up but think he will probably pull them down.
Any ideas for a cheap solution????????

[Rhiannon]

My DS has his room painted bright blue on the bottom half and bright golden yellow on the top with a border going around the middle. He has a bright green carpet. He has only just started to complain about the soldiers, it's been like it for 5 years now and we're going to do it red and white next time for Arsenal - the best football team in the world. R

[GRMUM]

KKGIRL why don't you paint the wardrobe and then hang 2 roller blinds in place of the sliding doors? You can use the same colours as you already have in the room or if that will be too much something more neutral.HTH

[soothepoo]

kkgirl - I think the curtains sound like a good idea - if you attach them to the wardrobe with velcro, it won't matter if they get pulled down.

[mckenzie]

not sure who this might be of interest to but...
In B&Q (and no doubt other diy stores) they sell packs of stickers that can go on paint, wallpaper or wood etc in all sorts fo themes like TTTE, BTB, Barbie etc. They are only £9.99 for about 40 odd stickers, various sizes and they can be removed and stuck elsewhere (according to the packaging you can move them in 5 years time even and stick them somewhere else).
We got them as we had just moved house and DS went into a room painted pink! with pink carpet even. We knew we wouldn't be able to redecorate straight away so bought a set of these stickers, in Winnie the Pooh, and he doesn't notice now that the wall is actually pink.

[FrancesJ]

KKgirl - how about using shower curtains rather than fabric ones? You can get such lovely funky designs now, the material is nice and sturdy, they're easy to clean, cheap, and, best of all, hang on large plastic loops, so if they get pulled down, would be dead easy to put back up, or, at the worst, replace a couple of loops. Bright bead curtains might be an idea, too, so long as they were the sort that were joined so as not to break and shed beads all over the floor if they got accidently broken.

[lilibet]

When we moved into this house a few weeks ago, i needed cheap and cheerful for ds2 who is 5. I painted the walls cream, its a very small room 6' x 4', made a stencil that said his name, you can get blank stencils for less than a fiver from b and q, and made some that were stars and just stencilled the walls. He loved it and it will be so easy to cover and re do if he gets fed up. the flurescent stars that you can get sheets of are great on ceilings. Both my boys have loved them.

[kkgirl]

Have only just come back to this thread. What good ideas about the shower curtains and roller blinds never thought about those. May be worth a pole with rings on or maybe the blinds would be more childproof ie less likely to succumb to the brute force of 8 year old

Thanks guys you've given me some inspiration