Designing a bedroom with a 10 year old.

My ten year old has decided she wants a new room. She no longer cares for her furniture, the pink, green and purple striped walls (which is way cute, of course) or her bedding. I'm having a hard time getting her to realize that I do this for a living and she should just trust me! She wants to trade furniture with her sister, which of course sister said, "No way!" I think I've convinced her that we can paint hers white and switch out the mirror which she thinks is hideous. I know that her Daddy will appreciate this (not buying new furniture, that is), even though I may have a hard time convincing him that it is ok to paint stained wood furniture. He also has a hard time trusting me!

Anyway, we are leaning towards painting the walls lavendar and the ceilings a lighter shade, I want to glitter glaze on the ceiling, but she's not sure about that. We are thinking black and white polka-dots for the bedding and that is as far as we've gotten. Since I've told her this will be part of her Christmas we are in no rush....at least I'm not! I will keep you posted as the project progresses!

Easy Window Treatment Idea

So what if you bought a bed-in-a-bag set and you can't find a window treatment to match or it's too expensive, or sold out? Well, check and see if they have any flat sheets that match and use that as your fabric. It's great because it's already hemmed. You can drape it over a decorative rod or bunch it up on each side, rubber band it, creating a rosette and tack it to your wall, without using a rod. I did a combination of this recently with a client. She had scarves left over from a previous house. One was too short and two made it too long. I rubber banded the ends together to make a rosette in the middle of the window, draped it over a rod several times and then made another rosette on each side of the window and it turned out great. She was happy because she got to recycle window treatments on which she had spent a lot of money. Her husband was out of town at the time, but I'm sure he was happy about that too!

"Fun" With Gel Stain

Do you have an old table, chair or other piece of furniture that needs an update? What about kitchen cabinets...are you tired of golden oak cabinets or are they looking worn out? Well, if you have a little bit of time and a ton of patience you can coat them with gel stain to change the color or for an antique look you can paint them and gel stain over the paint for a tea stained effect. This technique is not hard to do, but it is a multi-step process with lots of dry time in between steps so you must be patient. I recently did my kitchen table and chairs. Here are the steps I followed:

1. Cleaned with TSP (available at paint & hardware stores), don't forget to rinse and wear gloves.

2. Primed with oil base Cover Stain by Zinsser. Use plenty of ventilation, very stinky!

3. Painted with water based Satin Impervo (from Benjamin Moore) in Navajo White.

4. Wiped on (with a rag) Old Masters Gel Stain in American Walnut. Then wiped off and let dry at least 24 hours. Wear gloves for this stage, it's fun, but very messy!!!!

5. Applied 2 coats of satin Varnish, letting dry at least 24 hours between coats. Proper ventilation recommended for this stage as well.

** I used a 4" velour roller on the primer and paint.

If I had it to do over again I would probably use oil base Satin Impervo because it gives a much smoother finish. Even though it is harder to clean up, it dries harder and does look better because it doesn't show brush strokes. I've heard it described like painting with butter! I would definitely use oil base on cabinets.

My hardwood floors

We installed bamboo hardwood floors on our main floor living room and the stairs going up and down of our split level home. We also did the upstairs hallway. We did a dark mahagony color which I love even though it does show everything, gotta love the Swiffer. This has changed the whole appearance of my home, I also painted the living room a darker color as you know from a previous post. While I don't quite have everything put back up on the walls, I love the way everything is coming together.

Fun with Stripes

There are tons of different ways to use stripes in a room. Of course you can simply just paint two different colors or.....paint the same color but use different sheens like a flat or eggshell and a semi-gloss (tip: paint the whole room flat or eggshell and then tape off stripes and use the semigloss). Another variation of this idea would be to tape off stripes and then fill in with a clear latex urethane such as AquaPlastic. Do a faux finish on every other stripe or apply a glitter glaze. I did the glitter glaze on a horizontal stripe around my younger daughter's bedroom which turned out great, perfect for a princess room. Metallics are also fun, use them as a solid or more like a faux finish treatment, I love the metalllic collection from Modern Masters. Be warned that these dry really fast, you must add an extender. Some colors are sheer, some are semi-opaque, some are opaque.

If you don't enjoy taping, I would do horizontal stripes and make sure you are even all the way around your room, use a level. If you are really daring, paint a glow in the dark stripe.

Play around with the width of the stripes, they don't have to be uniform, just remember the more stripes you have the more taping you have to do. Use good quality tape, the paint store can recommend what you need. Before you even buy the paint experiment by cutting out different widths and placing them at different heights, try both vertical and horizontal.

What if your child wants to paint his/her room black?

So what if your child wants to paint his/her walls fire engine red, royal blue, hot pink, electric purple or, oh my goodness, black? If you can stand it, go for it. But what if you just can't let your child express him/herself quite that much? Well, you could paint just one wall, (I recommend the bed wall) or you could add these colors in other creative ways. I've already talked about using wallpaper as artwork so you could do that or you could buy a pack of artist canvases and paint those. Most paint stores sell color samples which are the perfect amount or you could buy quarts. You could paint nine 5 x 7 canvases and arrange them 3 across and 3 down above the bed or do 3 bigger ones side by side, be proportionate to bed size. You could leave them solid or decorate them with dots, lines, or swirls to add some whimsy. The beauty of doing this is that they can always be repainted fairly easily when your bundle of joy wants the express him/herself with a different color.

Another idea is to paint a horizontal stripe around the room or around windows and doors. Add a little color with a 2 inch stripe or be bold with 10-12 inches, although this wide is not recommended around windows and doors, it would be too heavy. If you have trouble visualizing, tape some construction paper around the room, try it a different heights/widths to see which is most pleasing to the eye.

Or, try Wall Pops from Brewster Home Fashions, which are like great big stickers. They come in fun colors and styles and there are even some really cool dry erase ones.

You can always add "the color" with bedding, try Pottery Barn for some fun styles. This is easier than painting, but not necessarily cheaper!



Most importantly remember, they are only young once so is this a battle you want to choose? Maybe so, if they want to paint all 4 walls black. Otherwise, you can always keep the door shut, chances are the room is a mess anyway.

Sprucing up walls

Do your walls need a quick sprucing up? Try wallies. They are similar to wallpaper and are great for kids rooms, bathrooms, playrooms or on furniture. My 13 year old has flip flops in her bathroom and my 10 year old has fun flowers. They are easy to put up and easy to come down. They not as big of a commitment as wallpaper and can really add some pop for not much money.