Advice On Decorating A Child’s Room

Reader Jackie Law writes in with this question for Stylehound: 

“My son’s room needs to be upgraded. He wants one black wall with red and a little silver. The walls have paint on top of wallpaper and a border over that. Any suggestions?” 

I love being asked questions like this. Not because I have the answers, but because then I don’t feel like the only one who is stumped by design.  

Can someone bail us out here? Any ideas for Jackie and her, um, creatively-inclined son? Alexia, perhaps you can come up with something? 

Comments

[Alexia Rossetti]

I have a few ideas but they depend on what your son's age is. If he is 12 years old or younger, and he is fond of black and red, I suggest a Formula One design (the racing cars) based on those colors. Paint the wall behind his bed black and paint wide pair of stripes in red (with white in between the stripes) from top of wall to bottom. Position his bed below the stripes (the stripes together should be the width of his bed) and get him scarlet sheets to match the red stripes. Hint: find the sheets first and then get the paint to match the sheets - bring it to the paint store - it's easier this way.
Paint the bed base in black with silver accent trims. You can also paint the F1 logo at the footboard of his bed. Take a look at their website for inspiration: www.formula1.com. You can also find black and white tiles and create a checkerboard pattern (to reflect the start flag) as his rug.
If he is older than 12 years old, I suggest you find out first his hobby i.e. music like rock? or mountainbiking, etc. and base a design around that.

[Lisa Neri]

Detail pinstriping, that can be purchased in rolls, is a quick trick. Self adhesive to boot.

[Brooke]

Bassett Furniture has a real cool Room Designer tool. You might could use that to get some ideas for your son's room. Good luck!

[decorator liverpool]

Can you put a pic on here of the finished article