Can you help a fellow mum with tips on decorating a teen's room?

[MBerkins]

Hello!

I'm trying to come up with ideas to decorate my 14 year-old son's new bedroom, but I can't really afford to buy everything new... Have you got any advice, tips or ideas to help me? (At the moment he just has his old bed, desk and wardrobe that we moved from the previous house.)

Thank you!

Hi there,
I have a toddler, so I have no experience in decorating a teen’s room. However, this morning I came across this blog post and I think you might find some useful ideas there! blog.hss.com/be-the-coolest-parent-on-the-block-by-adding-these-10-things-to-your-teens-room/ Hope that helps!

Get him engaged in the process! Set a budget and then give him freedom to spend it - there are great bargains on Gumtree/ Freecycle/ Ebay and he can choose what he thinks is cool rather than what you do! Set sensible limits e.g. you must have a desk/ chair/ lamp etc but leave the colour scheme/ accessories/ layout up to him. It is a great exercise in budgeting as well as maths especially if you do a scale drawing of the room and measurements from Ikea catalogue or equivalent for furniture/ shelving etc to fit the space.

Thank you both so much!

Really helpful advice, although I am a bit concerned about leaving it completely up to him... It might be a great idea, I just fear that he'll spend all the money on one or two items and then he'll be asking for more...

Have you a colour scheme in mind? Can you paint any of the existing furniture?

I am just in the middle of doing up my two elder boys room. The wall colour is muddy puddle and the beds are upholstered in a grey herringbone mix. I got this bedding from Matalan which is flannelette and very cosy. The check ties in the beds and the wall colour. The curtains they already have are plain red so I'm adding red throws, red lamps and I hope to get some red frames from Ikea for some Marvel comics to go on the walls. It's a pretty inexpensive makeover (apart from the beds but they needed new ones)
I picked up 2 retro looking school chairs n a vintage shop and DH is putting a length of mdf along one wall with shelves on top for a work area. Which I might paint red, or if I'm feeling ambitious, decoupage with comics.

The retro-vintage-industrial loft look is great for boys as the furniture is strong and can always cope with extra battering.

What is your budget?

Storage.
Look at what he has got now in the way of books, clothing, recreational gear and the like and double the storage space he needs.
Before you do anything decorative, check if a few more electrical sockets would be a good idea.

See steph, the problem is that my teen is a Steampunk aficionado, so that supercool teen room would seem barren and horrible to him.
It's why it is important to listen to what your child actually wants in their room before deciding.

Ruby that sounds brilliant! I am on the verge of doing up both ds' rooms, one to be red white and blue themed - am thinking metal furniture, paint a desk - all to be picked up at local auction house etc.

The other wants grey - got him a couple of great new york skyline type canvases in Dunelm Mill, think touches of yellow and blue, he already has a metal silver blind, so maybe some metal shelves.

All will be done on a budget - repainting old furniture is the way to go. Industrial, funky - great fun to do!

My DS room is entirely themed around his footie club. Think walls, curtains, duvet, posters!

I've had open house today for potential buyers (over 50 people have traipsed through today) and there were lots of smiles about that room .