Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

To think that a 7-year-old should be allowed to choose decor, even if it looks crap?

100 replies

lbsjob87 · 12/04/2017 22:52

We're currently decorating soon to be 8yo daughter's bedroom as a birthday treat / necessity as her furniture has passed its useful life.
She loves her current decor, so we're just shuffling things about, and removing some horrible old fitted wardrobes that take up half the space.
This means there's an extra wall to cover. Currently there's a papered wall and two painted ones.
We can't find the original paint and she doesn't want it changed, so we've tracked down the same paper.

Her bed will be against the 'new' wall.
It's this:

Now - two dilemmas. On the existing wall, this hangs vertically, as you'd expect.
But DD has decided that it will look "awesome and amazing" if DH hangs it HORIZONTALLY- opposite the vertical wall. And I actually think she might be onto something - there's a house near us with a chimney breast wall that has vertical stripes on the breast and the same horizontal in the alcoves, and it looks really good (they also have no curtains or blinds which is how I know this).

DH thinks it will look crap. What do others think - has anyone done similar?

Also, I'm making DD some hanging pocket things for her toys and a curtain tent thing, I led her to the matching fabrics in the shop, she chose totally random, non matching, which will clash massively. But on the other hand it's her room, not a showhome.

She has had a bedroom full of other people's junk and so on since she was two, she deserves a better space. AIBU to just let her have the patterns, paper etc she wants, or is that basically teaching her that our views aren't relevant?

To think that a 7-year-old should be allowed to choose decor, even if it looks crap?

OP posts:

BoboChic · 13/04/2017 07:12

Personally I think DC need to be taught Style and Taste as much as they need to be taught Kindness, Consideration, Assertiveness, Maths, History, Skiing, Swimming and Coding.

So, no, I wouldn't give my DC free reign in the decoration of their bedroom! I would, however, involve them in the decisions.

JoandMax · 13/04/2017 07:15

I would let her, although you might need some professional help putting the wallpaper on sideways as I can't imagine that will be easy!

lorelairoryemily · 13/04/2017 07:27

I'd let her do it her way, it's her room!

hockityponktas · 13/04/2017 07:33

I would let her do it. It's her space, let her "own" it.
Actually I think the vertical/horizontal stripes will look really funky, it's probably just going to be a pain in the arse to hang! Worth a try though

kmc1111 · 13/04/2017 07:36

I'd be saying no because it's unlikely to turn out looking half-decent. And not in a personal taste way (though that many bright stripes in a smallish room are going to be hard to look at) but because it's already a nightmare trying to perfectly align stripy wallpaper, without adding in the hassle of applying it the wrong way. Best case it looks a bit haphazard, worst case it has to be ripped off because it looks too shit.

Could you buy a big cheap canvas or a few medium sized ones and apply the wallpaper to those. So she still gets the stripes on the wall, but it's not as garish or permanent? It would be a lot easier to apply and get it looking good.

EverybodysHappyNowadays · 13/04/2017 07:39

Either she has unearthed an entire new trend in home decor, or there's a very good reason that wallpaper is definitely geared towards vertical use.....

Um, gravity..?

BoboChic · 13/04/2017 07:39

TBH it is far better to add personality to decorative schemes through the non permanent elements (duvet covers, pictures...).

hiccupgirl · 13/04/2017 07:40

I would let her choose within reason as it's her room and the ideas don't sound that outlandish.

I think not letting her have a say def re-enforces that her opinions aren't important. My bedroom was redecorated when I was 8. I clearly remember having no choice in it and my DM designed it all, then told me what it would be like. It was very tasteful and co-ordinated but not mine. I covered the surfaces with stickers and postcards as I got older which made it better.

Believeitornot · 13/04/2017 07:41

So, no, I wouldn't give my DC free reign in the decoration of their bedroom! I would, however, involve them in the decisions

But taste is relative. So what you think is stylish may well be someone else's tacky.

I let my dcs choose the colours in their rooms. I'm not going to decorate their rooms on the basis of my style or future buryers. I decorate it based on the fact it is our home and we all have input.

Laiste · 13/04/2017 07:42

Wall paper on a couple of walls is easier and quicker to change if/when you get fed up with it than paint IMO. (Paint often needs a good couple of coats to cover up what was underneath and you have to do all the edges and there's the smell and the mess teetering about with a brushes and rollers and getting it neat at the ceiling.

You can bung paper up and down again no probs. Go for it! :)

(i'm speaking from experience of 3DDs who liked to chop and change their decor when they were younger. The worst was eldest wanting horrible dingy cranberry red paint all round and me going along with it. Hell to get even, looked awful, and then hell to cover up again with pale pink a week later because she changed her mind)

Princessgenie · 13/04/2017 07:43

Hanging it horizontally is not that hard - I know a decorator that prefers to do stripes that way and it always looks amazing.

gameofchance · 13/04/2017 07:46

I wouldn't as wallpaper is designed to be hung a certain way. If she wants horizontal stripes, find a different wallpaper that is horizontal and change the other wall too.
Or get some massive picture frames, and cut out the some of the existing wallpaper and hang the picture frames horizontally places across the painted wall. Then she gets the horizontal effect but in a way that is easily changed if it is a disaster!

PosiePootlePerkins · 13/04/2017 07:47

I am currently in the middle of painting my 13 year old's room grey and orange entirely his choice and after lots of discussion about how he would be living with it for several years etc, we went and got some samples and went for it. As PPs have said, his room his choice, although as my DH said 'its a bit easyjet'

Marcipex · 13/04/2017 07:48

Isn't lining paper always hung horizontally? (Not that I know how to do it)

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 13/04/2017 07:49

Hanging paper sideways in an alcove - not too difficult.
Hanging it sideways across a whole wall - argh! I would NOT want to do that! But ok, if that's what she wants, get her to help so she can see the difficulties with it - then when whomever is trying not to scream and throw the paste across the room, she might give in and say "uh maybe vertical will be all right after all..."

Goingtobeawesome · 13/04/2017 07:49

Worrying about teaching her your views aren't relevant if you let her have her suggestion is the daftest over reaction I've heard in a long time.

My kids are 11-16 and all have their rooms as they wanted. One wanted black. I said yes, dh said no so they came up with something else but I feel it is their rooms, they are there own person and should have what they want.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 13/04/2017 07:51

Oops, posted too soon - was going to say, aside of the practical difficulties, yes, let her have what she wants. BUT tell her at the same time that you won't be able to afford to change it every time she decides it doesn't work so she'll have to keep whatever she chooses for a while.

Nice to let her have her choice, I wasn't given that option and ended up with a totally awful wallpaper at her age, so I'm all in favour of allowing children input into their décor (but not total control if it's going to potentially give them migraines)

AntiGrinch · 13/04/2017 07:53

This is lovely! Yes, let her choose.
Wallpaper can be changed, esp. on one wall.

Make sure you get good photos to embarrass her in her cool years once she has painted everything taupe and gone minimalist :)

LadyPW · 13/04/2017 08:04

You could always compromise and have the wall painted white but with a strip of wallpaper across the middle or top and bottom - that way she'd get her cool look but it wouldn't be overwhelming (or as hard work to put up!). Sell it to her as a "feature wall"!

skinoncustard · 13/04/2017 08:08

Hanging paper horizontally is not that unusual, lining oaper for example should always be hung horizontally.
Hanging striped paper vertically or horizontally is no different than any other patterned or plain paper, as long as you start with an absolutely straight line ( use a plumb line for vertical and a spirit level for the horizontal) .
I would suggest to your daughter that she makes a 'mood board' (you tube /Pinterest) to see how everything will look together.
Within reason I would let her decide.

Oblomov17 · 13/04/2017 08:10

You can get horizontal wallpaper.
Hanging normal wallpaper horizontally is not THAT difficult : https://www.grahambrown.com/uk/how-to/how-to-hang-wallpaper-horizontally/Blog-HowTo-HangWallpaperHorizontally.htmlpaper

QueenOlivine · 13/04/2017 08:14

Oh, it's not a big thing really, I'd do it her way.

I love my tasteful design and colour choices so I've had to bite my tongue but I do what the DC want with their rooms (within reason / budget).

Once I let DS choose fabric for a bedspread - total free choice, he was about 4. He fell in love with some HIDEOUS multicoloured camouflage fleece. It's still on his bed years later and he loves it. Being able to make a real choice and enjoy it every day is good for small kids I think - and it's easily altered if necessary.

ChunkyHare · 13/04/2017 08:31

From her point of view, you get to impose your taste on every other room in the house. This is her room.

I narrow down choices for my sons ie I give them a choice of several duvet covers and we take colour inspiration from there. This has led to lime green walls and navy dinosaur stickers in the past.

Ds1 currently has green, blue and orange stripes that I painted on one wall and Ds2 has bright peacock blue walls with chevrons, again, that I painted on. Pinterest is full of ideas and my children are older at 14 and 11.

The rest of our house is decorated in blues and greys so their rooms are in complete contrast but they wanted vibrant and so I gave it to them.

I shared a room with a sister who had completely different taste to me. Maybe it stems from that.

But I am not a wallpaper person, too much faff when you come to change it. One wall maybe but never a room. Paint it much easier to change.

Let her have it.

senua · 13/04/2017 08:32

There's a fine balance. It's good to listen to her but wallpaper is designed to be hung vertically, not horizontally. It's not you saying "no", it's the universe saying "wise up, that's not how it works".
Having said that, I like the idea of making panels and displaying them with the stripes horizontal. (Lesson 2: there is usually a work-around).

DragonFire99 · 13/04/2017 08:32

Do what she wants! Why not? It's her room, not a show home. She may turn out to be an interior designer one day... I like the sound of the horizontal striped wallwaper.

Flip

1 2 3 4