A bedroom is a place where a child can express his personality and create a space that is all about him. Using paint, a dull room can become a place of fantasy. Adult skills are required but with a wish list from your child you can make that fantasy a reality.
Themed Boys’ Rooms
Paint can recreate whole environments, from outer space to underwater and there’s bound to be a way to adapt a room to suit your son’s interests. Many boys will be thrilled with a bedroom that recreates cowboy country, outdoor activities, sporting themes or cars - but you may want to beware of excess gender-stereotyping. Identify some key motifs or visual effects that can be replicated in paint. You could go for themed and coordinated accents rather than recreating a total fantasy world.
You could aim for a room that is as realistic as a film set by decorating walls, ceiling and floor. Using paint to create a faux stone effect you can simulate a cave or a castle. Faux paint woodwork can achieve the look of a Wild West saloon or a pirate’s cabin. For a more traditional bedroom, coordinating colors and motifs can be enough to add character and evoke atmosphere, and will require less effort and expense.
With paint techniques and a bit of lateral thinking you can go beyond simply providing conventional pictorial interest. A picture window apparently affording a view of your child’s favorite sports team at play is more interesting than posters of the greats. A usable chessboard painted on the floor is more fun than borders of chess pieces (or why not do both?). Different paint techniques can create the illusion of other worlds, from the past or the future, and indoors or outdoors.
Your child may outgrow his current passion or lose interest with changing trends, so factor this in when deciding how extensive your makeover will be.
Color Schemes and Paints
If your theme is a tree house or beneath the ocean, your color scheme is more or less preordained. Otherwise, you can create a coordinated color scheme using a color wheel, or by taking your cue from a picture or other precious item in your child’s room. Darker colors may be less prone to showing the dirt marks, while some paints are easier to wash and less vulnerable to scuff marks.
Novelty Paints
Paint not only creates a look but can be used for some practical purposes. You can even buy magnetic paint that will allow pictures and papers to be displayed, like a notice board (but more fun). Luminous paint, perhaps depicting stars and planets on the ceiling, will amuse your child after lights out. Chalkboard paint will allow your boy to draw on the walls without the usual consequences. Standard colors are green and black, but recipes for homemade versions and custom colors are available.
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