A child’s room will go through many changes over the course of their infant/child/teenage years. First and foremost it is their place in this world, and should be treated as such. But decorating it can be expensive, especially when their interests change and grow continuously.
I’m going to give one big piece of advice today, that now after having five children I can completely say with confidence. Do not, I repeat, do not paint your child’s wall with any color other than a neutral color. Ever. Do not attempt to paint one wall blue, another green, another yellow and the last one red. Do not paint your child’s room hot pink. In fact, avoid pink if you can. Do not paint your child’s room black, or any other very dark color. It makes the room look small and can feel confining even when they love it. And do not attempt to turn your child’s wall into a mural. It doesn’t work, they outgrow it quickly and you cannot save it for later.
Why am I giving you this advice? Because you can decorate your child’s room without changing the wall color, no matter what interest they have at the moment. Paint is expensive and painting a room is a very time consuming project. Trust me on this. We are selling our house and are having to paint over the beautiful ocean scenes my boyfriend allowed his girls to pain on their walls. It’s been less than enjoyable and I’ve had two of the girls tell me already that they wish they had never done it because they didn’t like it much to begin with.
So just bare with me. That’s a huge piece of advice. Leave the color a neutral color. Tans are good, whites are even better. Off white, even grey. Just avoid bright colors or colors that only serve a theme.
One of the girls wants a jungle theme in her bedroom. We are not painting the walls green or the ceiling blue. We will find other ways to incorporate her jungle theme without breaking the bank or changing the colors of her white walls.
This week I’m going to focus on decorating a child’s bedroom for less. I plan to provide some creative ideas to get your mind thinking up new and better ideas. Remember that this room is theirs, and they should have some input. I stress, the some. Parents always have the final say so.
Check out the frugal living blog for more great ways to save money on everyday things!