For those with Girls:)

mummy2girls wrote: Right now jenna's bedroom is themed dora. And still in a toddler bed. Once my dayhome is up and runnign for a few motnhs i want to start redoing her room. first get her a big bed and then work from there. Other than cartoon themed do you have your girls room decorated in a diff theme. i think she is too old for a dora room or anything disney... Any ideas? Plus she has this old brown dresser so i was thinking of painting it white and change the knobs because 2 drawers are missing them anyways... do i need to sand the dresser and prime it then paint? or can i just paint it? AND i have a basment so would it be sfae to bring it down there to paint and dry? i dont want to do it in her room because of the fumes and i dont want to outside in fear of rain...

Brias3 replied: Aliyah's room doesn't have a "theme" persay, just a color scheme. I was the same as you- always reluctant to do character themes in their rooms. Its mainly girly colors though- pink, purple, yellow and light green. Her bedding set and the curtains and furniture are "little-girlish" still but the wall color and area rug are two things that will definitely grow with her I think.

Whenever I've repainted furniture, I usually sand it down first, apply a coat of primer, and then a few coats of paint and sealant. If you're wanting it to last for awhile, since you're going through the trouble in the first place, I'd go for all of those steps.

Good luck!

kimberley replied: what about butterflies, flowers and/or dragonflies. Jade is a little younger but she just loves pink anything girly lol. and for the dresser, you have to sand it but you don't *have to* prime it... it may just take an extra coat of paint. just scuff the finish off when sanding so the new paint adheres. and if you are doing it in the basement... i really don't recommend it, but if you are gonna anyway, make sure there is a lot of ventilation.. windows, fans... and use latex not oil. it is sticky with furniture tho cuz you really should put a coat of verathane (sp?) and that should be done outside and let dry for a long while or it will mess it up. i am sure someone else will have better advice but that has been my experience. you'll have to show pics when you are done

mummy2girls replied:
maby i should do it outside and just pray for no rain... my basement has no windows:(

1lilpeanut2love replied: Kaylee's room is done in 'Hello Kitty.' I love it SO much. So much pink stuff.

Have fun decorating her room!

luvmykids replied: When I redo the girls rooms I plan on letting them pick out a comforter or quilt or whatever for their bed and then going from there on color/theme.

I think what you do to the dresser depends on the look you decide on... if you like the shabby chic look you can get away with a lot less prep and sand it a little after the new paint so the brown shows through. But if you want it solid white I recommend what the others said.

Jamison'smama replied: Jamison's room is not themed--her bedding is blue with woven ribbon accents. I have added a lot of her princess stuff in there to make it the princess room she requested. I just like to keep thing neutral then bring in the theme stuff in accents--pillow cases, pictures etc.

What about fairies or a princess theme with out the actual disney princesses. There are a lot of fairy things out there right now with the new tinkerbell/fairy books and movie coming soon.

coasterqueen replied: Kylie's nursery theme was bugs and butterflies, so when she outgrew that perse we used the same border, just made the decor a bit more grown up. Truth be told she wanted her room changed when we redid the decor but I didn't feel like painting it then. We just now painted her room per her request of pink. Well she wanted purple too but mommy was only painting one color. So we added a pink/purple border. The border just has flowers on it, so it's VERY neutral in the sense of no themed licensed characters or anything.

If the dresser is stained I'd at least Kilz (Prime) it and then paint it. I seem to recall one of the dressers DH and I redid back in college we sanded it lightly, then kilzed it, then painted it. We also put some kind of finish on it so the paint didn't chip.

You really should do it in an area where you can open a window, but truth be told Dh and I have painted things a ton of times w/o having a window open. We painted Kylie's room w/o opening the window and the rest of the house didn't stink. We did run a fan in her room though for circulation while we were in there.

BAC'sMom replied: We just redecorated Ansley’s room this weekend; this is the theme she wanted to go with.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3913929

Kaitlin'smom replied: I to did not want to do a character theme as they ted to grow out of them so fast. I stuck with colors and we added Wallies if dragonflies and flowers and added things to go with it. Now we are looking at new funiture and will keep the dragonflies and flowers just might change a few thing but not much.

PrairieMom replied: Here is Alexis's room. I think the theme will carry on for a few years. When she gorws out of her toddler bed I am just going to find her a piink quilt of some sort, prefferably with flowers on it.

sunrosejenn replied: I'm just starting to re-do Eliana's room. She didn't have a theme or colors really before.

sunrosejenn replied: Eliana already has a toddler bed but my mom found a new one for her for $60 at a yard sale. Brand new with mattress, mattress pad, blanket and 2 pillows.

Kirstenmumof3 replied: I don't see why you wouldn't be able to paint the dresser in the basement. I would definately sand it and then paint it. I don't know if you know what kind of paint you was originally used to paint the dresser and putting primer over the original paint might cause a lot of problems. You can get a cheap hand sander at Walmart. As for the Theme we are kinda stuck there ourselves. Claudia is still in a toddler bed. Wiggles and Giggles. We were thinking of painting her room a light green and having my mom paint a mural on one of her walls. Something with fairies, giant mushrooms, butterflies. Etc. I found some really cute bedding sets with butterflies on the JC Penny Website. Oh and for handles for the dresser, Home Depot has all different kinds, fish, butterflies, flowers. Made from all different materials plastic, brass, etc. Good Luck, sounds like a great project!

Momof3inMe replied:
That is the same one I want to do for the girls room.

Maddie&EthansMom replied:
We're doing ladybugs in Maddie's room. She has changed her mind a million times.

Right now it is painted yellow. Her comforter is bright colored flowers.