DS wants a RED bedroom, need to convince him it would be better as a feature wall

[HomeOfMyOwn]

DS (6yr old) wants a full on Red bedroom. I think it will look like a cave and would normally only choose neutrals. So I would like the red to be contained to 1 wall (he has red curtains and grey & red bedding and I'm prepared to paint the trofast toy storage red too, so there would be red elsewhere in the room too). But he says he doesn't want "boring white/magnolia" on the other walls.

What colours can I put on the other walls that won't be overpowering, dark, too "in your face" or clash? Or how can I persuade him white or magnolia is best for the other walls?

I had a pillar box red room as a teenager. It was a big room, so a lot of red, it had the chimney breast bright white for me to draw and paint on, I'd occasionally repaint it white for new drawings. I loved it!

It's his room, let him have it hiw he wants. It's only paint, it can be redone in a couple of years when they're sick of it. I recently redid DD and DS's bedrooms. They wanted bright pink and bright orange, so that's what they got, it's not me who has to sleep in there...

I would let him go with all red - just make it a little bit of a muted, burgundy red rather than pillar box red. I once had a bedroom that colour and it was actually lovely and cosy - looked awful when I'd only painted one bit but when the whole room was done it really worked.

It's his room and it's only paint!

We had red and blue walls for my 6 year old in our old house last year. It was a superhero theme so think superman type red and blue. Once you have bits up it wasn't too overpowering.
Id probably compromise by having two red walls, some neutral colour on the others and then red accessories x

I'd do 2 walls each colour. Grey or white, not magnolia.
Try a burgundy or terracotta - rather than pillar box red.

aww let him go for it! My parents let me paint my room completely black with spray paint gold stars and it was so amazing at the time... all my friends thought it was so cool... I loved it so much! He will have great memories of it even if he goes on to realise it was hideous later on!

It really depends on his room, but if it isn't a windowless box room or otherwise really dark, then all red can look fantastic in the right shade.

Go with ivory/white flooring & blinds/curtains, skirting & doors, & furniture & accessorise with printed bedding, cushions, rugs etc that pick up both colours & additional colours. Do keep it bright though

You could add a mural to one wall to lift it, for example, my 10 year old self had an all black room, with a black & white bullseye pattern painted on one wall, light wood flooring & big cream fluffy rugs & zebra print bedding etc etc

Or what about red bottom half and grey top half of the walls? If he's 6 he's mostly looking at the bottom, adults are taller!

My dd had a bright orange room when she was nine. On all of the walls. We had been living in a rental property and it was the first time she had had a say. She absolutely loved it. We thought it was awful although we did get more used to it over time.

My ds wanted a red room at 8. Man Utd fan..We let him. Room had 3 windows so not too overpowering. He loved it. All assessories were black and white.
Younger ds went for very bright yellow and dd went for navy. We just let them choose. It was fun.

Ah, let him have his red room. My son had red, blue, yellow and green, one colour on each wall.

Dis wanted a bright orange room. We said no and he could have one wall orange. I bloody hate it.

I had an all red room, very dark red too, with dark curtains. I loved it! I felt exactly like the cave I wanted as an angsty teen (I know your son is only 6). Though my parents did say it was a massive pain in the arse to cover up after I’d moved out, took lots and lots of coats. I’m surprised they let me do it!

5000KallaxHoles You've sorted it! Thank you. I looked at some of the creams next to the bright red he wants and I think there are a few shade that go really well - so we went to buy testers and I suggested that maybe a melted vanilla ice cream colour could be nice with a red wall and some other red things in his room - he is really excited by the idea. So Im happy and he's happy.

Glad it works - 6 year olds seem to work like Dragons Den... it's all about how you pitch the idea you're planning to do anyway to them!

Took about a bajillion coats to cover over the red when we repainted mind you (and we were only painting over it with a very purple purple... the shade of purple a 6 year old girl picked to give you an idea of purpleness)

MY sister had a full on red living room, sofa curtains carpet and the wallpaper bright red, it gave me a sore head every time I visited

I’d go one wall red and the rest grey or cream

Egyptian cotton goes nicely with red as well. I'd do two opposite walls red and red curtains on a third wall (if the configuration allows). A red framed poster on the fourth wall.

I've had this with DS(10) and I put my foot down !!

We settled on red carpet and curtains and the walls are 3 cream and one feature wall in marvel comic book wallpaper.

What about really pale grey walls with a grey/red/white/Black feature wallpaper on one? Red carpet and red or dark grey curtains?

We have just let our kids pick colours for their new rooms...DD (7) wanted turquoise ...have done 3 turquoise walls and 1 pale grey , and DS who is 5 was even more specific and wanted turquoise and dark blue, which looks really cool...but used some grey in his room too, which does tone it down a bit. If I hadn’t asked them I would never have chosen these colours and would have gone with something much safer but because I had to spend some time on Pinterest finding out how to make these colours nice I have got loads of ideas now and am enjoying doing their rooms way more than the rest of the house where searching for the elusive best grey is really stressing me out! I agree with others...let kids have some input but also think it’s fine to throw in a few ways to tone things down a bit. Red and cream sounds great to me and pictures in red frames are fab....

We've got a red room. Everything in.it is white or pine. With a window wall and wardrobes, it's not that red after a bit.

my ds has pepper red with goose down from dulux. I was dubious when I agreed to do it, but it looks great and I am now thinking that some other brighter colours around the house would be a good idea. Its on two walls but they are the smallest walls.

My DS has these two colours on his walls. Looks fab, I chose it really . Wooden floor, white furniture.

Oh tubby I really like that blue and red together - when I was looking I could only find dark blues that looked nice with red, which felt like it'd be as dark and overpowering as all red. What paint colours are they?

Grass it's pepper red that DS wants!

Red carpet 😳. I was really chilled about wall colour but insisted on the same carpet throughout the whole of the upstairs, except bathroom obv! Easy to change walls, not quite so easy or cheap for carpet!

Big I've always stuck to one colour carpet throughout all carpeted parts of the house too - I'm not even sure why though tbh. Also I'm having to have cheap carpet (I wouldn't even be decorating yet if it wasn't so nicotine stained) and the thickest/nicest of the two cheapest types I can get, comes in brown, pale brown, taupe or cream only. So it'll have to be one of them.