"Mommy, I want a pink rug, purple walls and Barbie dolls everywhere!"

Can you relate to these decorating dilemmas? I’m sure many of you can; it’s a common situation for most of us. Those of you trying to cope with your children’s taste may find it difficult and frustrating. However, don’t despair, help is on the way! Professional decorators are often faced with these and other similar challenges on a client's behalf. Here are some ideas, tips and ways to compromise with your children.

The most typical way a younger child expresses what they want in their room is to describe the walls and carpet colors. They rarely have any knowledge of wallpaper, wallpaper borders, paint stencils, print fabrics, bedding ensembles, artwork etc., unless you have introduced them to it. Knowing this, take into consideration their color preferences, hobbies and favorite things, but also consider the total decorating project -- not just the specific requests they made.

I strongly believe in encouraging input from our younger children. After all, they are the ones we are decorating for. But, I also believe that we (the parents and decorators) should be the ones to take the ultimate responsibility for making the best decorating decisions. Be sure to get you child's buy-in on the style, color scheme and theme you choose. Remember, finding ways to compromise will make both of you very happy in the end.

However, teenage children are another story -- their private space is very important to them. They are coping with raging hormones, peer pressure, sibling squabbles, curfews, parents (whom they think know nothing), etc., and their bedroom often becomes their safe haven from the pressures of being a teenager, as well as a place to hang out with their friends. If you have teenage children, then you understand what I’m talking about, and if you don’t have teens, yet -- you have a lot to look forward to! I believe that this is not the time in a child’s life when we should be concerned over the decor (or lack thereof) in their room. Rather, it’s a time for them to express their personality without having to please Mom so much. However, there can still be compromises, so everybody is happy.

To follow up on the scenarios mentioned above, here is how I would handle them. I am approaching the situations with the parameters of a limited budget and the need to incorporate existing furniture.

The Girl's Room

First, we have a four to seven year old girl (whom I’ll call Amy) who wants pink carpet, purple walls and her Barbie dolls on display. My first thought is to identify the prominent color scheme throughout the main areas of the home. The goal is to find a way to use a couple of the colors from the home's main color scheme and incorporate them with the colors Amy wants in her room. This is most easily done with a key/inspiration item placed in her room.

Let's pretend the color scheme is primarily sage green, plum, and terra cotta. The best carpet colors for this scheme are neutral or light-midtone sage green. We'll say that Amy’s room is carpeted like the rest of the house with light sage green -- remember that she wants purple and pink in her room! There is no reason why we couldn’t find a bedding ensemble or wallpaper/border that has shades of lavender or purple as the main color and some peach mixed in (to replace the pink). We can also introduce other colors like yellow or blue in small doses while keeping the purple and peaches more dominant. The purple and peach not only flow very nicely off the main color scheme, but also allow Amy her choice of using purple.

A flowered bedding ensemble with these colors could be darling. Let’s paint her walls the lavender she wants and use a flower stencil customized to match the bedding. We will include sage green, lavender, peach, white and possibly one other color for the paints used with the stencil. For the window treatments, I recommend a coordinating fabric, either a solid or another print that plays off the bedding. Using these fabrics for accent pillows, chair cushions etc., will keep the room balanced.

Amy’s request to display her Barbie dolls can provide the inspiration for a theme. Children’s rooms with a theme are usually the cutest and they easily provide the vision for accessories, art, and furniture. Let’s build Amy a display shelf that resembles a dollhouse. (This could even be done for the headboard, or above a dresser or desk area, if floor space is limited.) I would paint the majority of it white, with little accents of her bedding colors. The stencil used on the walls may have some dainty flowers that could be stenciled to the dollhouse display shelf. I’m imagining a typical bookcase style shelf with an added A-Frame roof attached. This could be built from scratch, or a ready-made product could be modified to resemble the goal. We now have a cute and clever way to display her dolls and treasures. Remember to add the proper lighting and some greenery to complete the eight steps to a beautiful room.

Flooring - sage green carpet

Walls - lavender paint with flower stencil

Furniture - bed, dresser, night stand, etc.

Window Treatment/Bedding Ensemble/Accent Pillows - floral bedding ensemble, coordinated window treatment and pillows

Lighting - practical and decorative

Artwork - floral stencil will probably eliminate the need

Accessories - doll house display shelf with dolls and other treasures

Floral Arrangements/Greenery - florals to coordinate, and greenery to soften and fill void areas

All eight steps have been addressed and Amy’s room is darling! There are hundreds of different directions we could have taken in Amy’s room, so please don’t think that this one example is the only answer to the decorating dilemma. Use your imagination and have fun!

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