Ideas for cool bedroom for 11yo DS

[StaceyAndTracey]

He wants a "cool" bedroom but hasn't the faintest idea what that might look like . Neither have I.

I've looked on Pinterest for inspiration , but most of the " teen boy bedrooms" are very grown up style with a random pice of sports equipment stuck on the wall . He does like sports , but plays tennis, so none of the football themed rooms would do . Besides I think he's a bit old for kids themes.

He already has a high sleeper bed with a desk underneath and we would be buying new fitted wardrobes ( from ikea natch ) . So I'm hoping for a look that can be done cheaply with emulsion and creativity rather than ££££

What's his favourite colour? Paint everything that. The bolder the better. Large, cool picture (ds has a big framed photo of the milky way). Get several lights for different kinds of ambience. (Ds's favourite is a rock light which gives the room a really warm glow. Also has one with a shade cut into strips so creates an interesting effect on walls.) Big textured plain coloured rug and a couple of floor cushions for lounging 'round on (ds wanted one fake fur and one in his colour with a distinctive pattern) and a couple of blankets / throws (ds has 2 woolly ones - again with a noticeable texture - in a plain colour and his colour). Overall effect is of a snug and somewhere to retreat from outside world. He and his friends love it.

Have you looked at some of the murals / wall art?

graffiti

or this

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.41orchard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/World-Map-Wall-Sticker-570x570.jpg&imgrefurl=www.41orchard.com.au/shop/wall-stickers/nursery/&h=570&w=570&tbnid=DVx7HSZC3mmPaM:&zoom=1&docid=CloUyTsnkiS2kM&ei=-i0YVfrAH-2R7AbToIGIAg&tbm=isch&client=ms-android-hms-vf-gb&ved=0CGEQMyg2MDY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">world map

Sorry for lack of updates . Have been at tennis tournament < rolls eyes >

His favourite colour is blue - ATM his room is white with one blue wall ( boring I know ) . I have thought about painting the walls bright green and black , but I can't work out how to use these colours . Apart from black on the smallest wall and lime green and white on the others ( the fourth wall will be taken up by the door and the wardrobes, so there's really only three walls )

Helly - I like the idea of throws and big cushions . Cool pictures - we have some tennis posters which I could frame I guess. But they are not very cool. Even I can tell that .

Mandy - thanks for the graffiti idea . DS saw a graffiti wallpaper In B and Q ( we are very posh ) which he liked

What about something retro - picture of VW campervan maybe?

My younger son has this ikea rug which has green and black. It's pretty big but good for us as we have wood floors. Ikea is good for green accessories.

dss has a London bedroom which is apparently very cool according to him and his friends
he has a stamp bedding off eBay
large London canvas
ice watch clock.
I'm in the process of buying cork boards to paint for the walls for posters etc.
then he's having a brick wall paper on one section.

Spotty - your sons room does sound very cool. I like the idea of a canvas or a mural and building the rest of the room around that

Lucked - I will check out ikea for lime green things. Did I mention that I LURVE ikea ? And there's one only 10 minutes from tennis practice venue ...

Ticthy - ive been searching for retro images to see if there's anything I think he would like .

My ds(12) has finally had his room decorated dark grey with white woodwork and Marvel comic wallpaper on one wall (b&q) we think it's cool

Flora - I was worried that black or dark grey would make the room look too dark, but I can see that it works well with the bright paper

Did you have to add any extra lighting in the room ?

I love the floorboards BTW

Im pleased to see that your12 yo still has all his soft toys . My DS has his bed covered with them.

Last year , when he was just turned 10, he went off to a school camp and evil DH told him he couldnt take his teddy or the other boys would laugh at him . When we got to the bus, some of the others even had them in their hand luggage ,not just in their suitcases for bedtime .

Stacey- thaw picture with the light on is taken at night so that's why it's dark! No he has a central light and one clip on light that you can see lit up. I 'may' buy some cable and cotton string lights to hang in corner of room to give a more ambient glow but it doesn't really need it, just nicer I think than the harsh lighting. Am pretty sure ds is t bothered!
Oh yeah he loves his cuddly toys! We have a massive basket load above the alcove and another load in the loft! Quite sweet really- starting to obsess about girls and what his hair looks like and clothes and music but still sleeps with his baby time teddies!

Ps don't be too jealous of the floorboards- they look pretty but being extremely old they also have massive holes (which ds has 'fixed' by gluing Lego into them

Lego on bare feet - what fun !

I have used LED strip lights from ikea on top of the kitchen cabinets and they look great . I wondered about sticking them behind his loft bed so they shine down the wall . At the moment he has blue Christmas tree lights tied onto the metal posts of the bed - they are low voltage ones so they don't get hot and go on fire

Yeah I think he realised the error of the Lego quite quickly! It's nowunder the new bed fortunately!
Strip lights sound like a good idea. Ds has a loft bed as her room is tiny (literally the size of her bed plus width of door, she has masses of warm white led fairy lights, above and below her bed. I would worry whit about the heat from strip lights- do they not get really hot?

As an aside, this is the first thread in months I've not killed. Yay! Go me!

I think these are our lights

www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00119419/

They have been on for about 17 hours a day , most days ,for 7 years and they defo don't get hot. The ones under the kitchen cabinets are stuck on with a small spot of glue and the ones on top are just lying there. We have traditional style cabinets with a pelmet , so you cant see the lights at all .

They came with a plug but we have hard wired ours .

I was just going to stick them onto the bed frame with adhesive pads .

Ooh oooh

They even have colour change ones now

www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00202324/

< excited >

IKEA has a street art thing on atm, picked up some fantastic posters for my 13 and 11 yo dses.

My son is 11 and we decorated last year. We were conscious that he'll be a teenager soon, so anything "themed" was removable/changeable.

His room is quite large & bright with a massive window so we painted 3 walls in bold primary colours & another wall in embossed silver/black "metropolitan" wall paper from b&q. He's then got a few framed comic book posters & super hero bed linen. Curtains are plain primary colours and he has some Ikea shelves (lack?). It's a really good look which I think should only need tweaking in a couple of years.

This is the "metropolitan" paper - the black bits are embossed:www.diy.com/departments/lutece-paste-the-wall-cityscape-black-white-wallpaper/192329_BQ.prd

This thread makes me feel inadequate!

DS (12) has baby blue walls, a random wardrobe and desk, and 2 mine craft posters.

That's it!

are we lacking?!

No, not at all. DS needed his room decorating as a result if some building work but we thought we may as well give him something he wanted fooled ourselves it'd be an incentive to keep it tidy but also a little bit future-proofed so we dint have to decorate again too quickly.

This is the first time ds has had his room done. It was blinking beyond awful before, a bed half collapsing, stained damaged walls etx etx, it was a 'needs must' and the last of the bedrooms to be decorated. It's only taken us 13 yrs of being here!

You'll like it - I do indeed like that paper . And I agree about not spending lots of £££ on things that will be " babyish " in a few years

Though in fairness to Ds, his room hasn't been decorated since he was about 2 , hence the blue and white walls and boats on the curtains. And his furniture is random items from last house ( we be been here 12 years ) .

at minecraft poster - DS has one on his ceiling . And his little brother announced he wanted his room painted " cyan ". I had to look it up .

Some of the shelves and colours are similar to DSs on here