I need painting ideas - for Jacks room

moped wrote: Rocky had told me about painting the 4 primiary colors, but I wonder if it will look ok........do you have any actualy photos of that room Rocky?

Anyways, i want to do each wall different - Blue, Green, Red and Yellow....any thoughts good or bad??? I am having a hard time finding a photo online of what it woul dlook like - I thought that would be easy

Any other ideas?

Kentuckychick replied: Wait, what's in his room?

I think the primary color idea is great... not sure about painting each wall a different color (though that's just me) but it may look really good.

I personally love the striped look in a kids room and it's actually really easy to do just using tape.

Here's one sort of example that I really liked (this mom used magnetic paint on the opposite walls to make a scene but I think the stripe would look really neat on all the walls, or just as an accent wall with a darker (maybe blue) color on the other walls

Kerflop's Flickr

moped replied: I could never do the stripes myself - I actually hate painting so the easier the better

why wouldn't you do each wall a different color??? Please tell

luvmykids replied: I think it'd be cute to do 2 walls in a light blue and 2 walls in a darker blue, with some red accents.

Calimama replied: IMO There's no transitioning from color to color if you do 4. When placed next to each other, complementary colors make each other appear brighter, and more intense. So keep that in mind. It will make the room look smaller because the definition isn't subtle enough. I personally would do a pretty green, light blue, and tan. Nature's colors. I'm a firm believer in a color of a room affecting your mood. But then I still have a couple years left in school.

Kentuckychick replied:
I think that it would depend on the size of the room. I think it may actually look good in a smaller room, but in a large room I wouldn't go for it. I guess it's a lot of my studying in design talking to (I started out in Interior Design before I realized it was SO very much not for me... didn't like the attitude).

My uncle had painted his daughter's room in four different colors once (she had a medium sized room) and it just looked too hectic. She had a gorgeous bedspread and bedroom set, plus all this neat matching stuff and you honestly couldn't focus on anything but the walls when you walked in. Then he changed it to having three walls a light yellow and the fourth had a very light tint of orange in it and it looked very subtle and pretty.

I like the idea of having color on the walls, but I'm more for having the items in the room be the focus and add the touches or having one wall be the focus wall. But again, that's totally me and you could paint your walls four different colors and show me photos and I may totally love it

You'll never know until you try. My uncle ended up repainting the entire room two months later. In his words, "luckily it's only paint... our motto, if we hate it, we can change it." Her new room in their new house is lime green... that's a whole other story!

mom21kid2dogs replied: Although it's not colorblocked in the same way or in primary colors, here is a shot of Olivia's room. It's a good illustration of what different colors on each wall look like. HTH some!!!

mom21kid2dogs replied: Here's another view.

stella6979 replied:
I wish I could have Olivia's room for myself.

lovemy2 replied:
Is that what you are going to school for? You must be learning alot cause that was a pretty profound statement which makes 100% sense and I would NEVER have thought of it like that!! Way to go

When you graduate can you come to NY to do my house for me? Its quite a mish mash of style!

lovemy2 replied: I think the softer colors - like in Olivia's room are beautiful and easier to transition than darker primary colors - I wouldn't do that either - maybe put up a chair rail in the middle - paint the bottom say blue, the top green and maybe the chair rail another color? Let me see if I can dig up a picture of Dylan's room - we did two different colors of blue with a white chair rail - it came out nice - for me - and this is just me the simpler the better but I also don't like plain or boring so...if you go with one color ACCESSORIZE!!!!!!!!! I will see if I can find a pic....

Calimama replied:
Thank you! Yep, I want to be an interior designer. Usually people just laugh when I tell them, but there's a lot more to the thought process than people think. OOOO NY, sounds fun! Design is my passion.

luvbug00 replied: ITA with monica

lovemy2 replied:
Personally I think it is a gift to be able to decorate and have it look nice and I believe there is more to it than "matching" things - like I said my house is a mish mash - so whenever you are ready let me know I will fly you and Bella out and you can work your magic

moped replied: Ok, so after thinking and talking to a freind at lunch I think I have decided the bottom half blue and the top hlaf taupe in a darker shade..........if/when we do our basement I will do the primary colors in a play room

I will go to Home Depot and see if I can find a magazine

Kentuckychick replied:
So right!
And I can't believe I didn't think of the darker = smaller room thing. I still love designing and doing work with painting and whatnot. I'll acutally be helping my best friend with my godchildrens' rooms when they move into their new house in a month or so and I can't wait. It has been a while since I studied design though (3 years now - can't believe I've been in college this long!) and my main problem was the professors here picking their 1-3 favorites and though I always made very good grades even not being a favorite I couldn't stand to watch the way they treated those individuals who just weren't quite as good. It was like they bashed their dreams everyday and I hated it. So I didn't want to be in a career field that treated people like that. Plus I've always wanted to work with kids so I went with child development and child life instead (much more rewarding!)

I actually have a lot of my artwork and designs from back when I was in ID though still in my room here (which is my childhood room growing up) that I designed about 5 years ago so I enjoy looking at it and going back every now and then. I actually have a dark red room and will agree that it makes the room a bit smaller looking (though I have a larger room) being a teenager and now adult I like that.







The ceiling actually has a hint of green in it.
And my father was determined that those shelves were NOT getting painted black (they were white before) but my mom and I got the final vote and we love them. I just wish I had a wall there.

Calimama replied:
I love it!! I can see a corner of your area rug in the first picture.. I have one so similar. You have great taste! Oh and I love the green with the red, not many people could pull it off. It looks great!

Kentuckychick replied:
Aw thanks. I love that it still has so much of my childhood (the little things) in it despite the fact that it's been redecorated and updated. I will hate it when I have to pack it all up next year to move into my apartment

The rug I think is either a Bath & Body Work or Target buy (not sure but I love it!) And the comforter that badly needs steamed is from JCPenney and is actually a full size so I need a bigger bed.

I'm not sure why I went with red, which is actually a bit darker than those pictures show, it was a toss up between that and a tan/mocha color but I thought the red would look better with the furniture and it looks really pretty with the fabric and asian theme. So it worked and I love it. It's a far cry from what it was before (yellow walls and a waverly flower print )

I'm currently working on the room plan for my godson, he's going to have a beach theme (he's in love with lighthouses) so any cute crafty ideas for that would be wonderful

alice&arik replied: Here is a pic of Arik's room. We did a Tony Stewart theme. My mom made the curtains out of the bedskirt since it can't be used with the bed anyway.

It might be dark, but you can see what it is. The stripes make the room look bigger, and we get lots of compliments.

And the colors match a lot better than it looks in the pic.

Calimama replied: I would take wood slats and white wash them and then sand them down to look worn. I'd only cover one wall because you know it will make the room look a bit heavy. Plus the nail gun would have made SO many holes if we covered all the walls. You could paint the rest of the room a shade darker than a light blue. You could paint and sand his furniture to make it look weathered as well. That would help tie in the weathered wall. My suggestion for that would be too put the weathered furniture on the opposite wall as the wood slats so they compliment each other without looking washed out. Or you could leave the furniture un-weathered. Either look would be good. I would do a bright red and white striped nautical themed bed set.

When I think lighthouses I think drift wood (aka scrap lol). I think it would be neat if you could find some "drift wood" and make some picture frames to hang on the walls. I also would take a big piece and hang it over a window (if he has one) with some red/white striped letters painted on spelling his name. I know you can buy some knot typing rope (don't remember the proper name) and maybe incorporate it in with the picture frames. I have a ton of ideas so hopefully this somewhat made sense. Like I said, it's a passion.

PrairieMom replied: Here are our bedrooms. I don't do easy painting, because I LOVE to paint, but really stripes aren't that hard, the taping off is a PITA, but I did my bed room in 3 days, with 2 kids, and I ran out of tape once, so I could have had it done earlier.
It was just egg shell paint, then High gloss stripes in the same color.



Benjamin's room's stripes are painted, I took the pattern off one of the blocks in his quilt, and the pictures on his wall are images from his sheets that I copied onto paper, traced onto the wood, then hand painted them.



Al's room the boarder is hand painted off the pattern in her sheets.
the writing on her wall says "flowers bloomed the day you were born"

Kentuckychick replied:
I think that sounds like it will look really nice. Do you already have his bedding and decor picked out?

I think that the primary colored idea will probably be great for a playroom too.

Kentuckychick replied:
Wow! You have a lot of talent!!!
I love the stripes and the paintings over the bed. That's definitely a room that he will be able to have for a long while. So cute! And the flowers are adorable as well!

PrairieMom replied: Thankyou. I LOVE Al's room. I would sit there giving her a bottle at night and think to my self, "I love love love this room" I Think both the themes I used for the kids will last them a while.
it took me 2 weeks to do Al's room, I just kept praying that she was actually a girl.
When I went to the hospital I left my FIL a blue paint chip and told him that if I had a boy that room was to be blue before I got home and I didn't want to know anything about it. The thought of painting over all my hard work made me want to

Calimama replied: Looks great Tara!! I LOVE Ben's room!!

PrairieMom replied:

luvmykids replied: Tara, what you did in Ben's room with the pictures on the wall is an awesome idea. And I didn't realize you pulled Allie's border from her sheets, you are good!!!!!

Since you love to paint so much, wanna come here? I have three bedrooms and a living room that I have NO ideas for

lovemy2 replied: Here are Olivia and Dylan's rooms - nothing really fancy but neat and clean - I can't stand clutter!!!

lovemy2 replied: And another

lovemy2 replied: Olivia's room

lovemy2 replied: Last one

luvmykids replied: Aw, those are both great kids' rooms, Christine! I wish my kids' rooms were that clean much less painted

Kentuckychick replied:
Oooh... I love the weathered idea and the driftwood we could definitely get at the beach we go to.

I know she wanted to do this pottery barn bedding or something similiar (her MIL is getting him the bedding for his birthday)

PBK Surfside bedding

And she wanted to do something like the weathered surfboard or oars on the wall. And have wainscoat on the bottom half and we were thinking blue on the top (the weathered look sounds really neat)

She's also wanting me to do a mural of a lighthouse on the closet or one wall -- we shall see! lol

I love the letter idea. I saw somewhere that someone had taken the letters and decopaged (sp???) them with scrapbooking paper to match the room. I love the striped idea that would definitely tie in with the lighthouses.

moped replied: Tara, that is jsut what i am thinking - the tauppe and blue......but Iam so lame at this stuff

Ok, everyone, if you were doing a 3 yeaer olds room -what exactly would you do????

Kentuckychick replied:
Well I think the taupe and blue will look really pretty. I also think your original idea of using primary colors would look pretty two but I would just suggest using two colors or having an accent wall (ex: you could have one wall red, the other's blue) Or even using different shades of one color.

I think a lot of it depends on the decor you plan on using in the room. I love Tara's idea of essentially planning the rooms around the bedding and tying them all together (that usually looks really nice)

What is your little guy into.
My godson is three and I mentioned we're going to do his room in a beach/nautical theme because he LOVES all things lighthouse and he also loves sea creatures.

There are just so many neat things out there anymore. Pottery Barn is a great place to start, they have such amazing looking rooms and you can find almost everything in the rooms at a fraction of the cost at craft stores and Target and Ikea and those type stores.

I also love to just go to Flickr and type in "Kid's room" or nursery and there are so amazing rooms on there too to get some ideas. I wish I had the art skills some of those people had!

I'm sure though, that no matter what you do it will be wonderful and special to him because it will be his new big boy room. And that's what REALLY matters!

Our Lil' Family replied: Jen, have you picked out his bedding? I'm sorry, I don't remember if you said.

stella6979 replied:
From some of the pics I've seen, it looks like Jack enjoys golfing. Maybe you could find a way to tie that into the room somehow. I'm not very creative though, so I have no actual ideas for you. Sorry.

moped replied:
No I haven't at all - I haven't picked out anything - In fact when the bookstore opens at the mall I am going to run there and see if there is a book on kids room ideas etc........

He is totally into cars and trucks and Thomas, but I really don't want a set theme because that changes with the wind ya know.

Honestly he is so hooked on his THomas sheet and blanket that I bought 2 sets. He wouldn't let that go for nothing, so either way he will have Thomas on his bed for a while yet. I don't care.

Does that help any?

PrairieMom replied:
When I do a room I buy the bedding or something I want in the room first for inspiration. Then I sit and look at it for a long time until the idea hits me. With Benjamin's room it only took a few days, with Al's room it was more like months. With Benjamin's quilt it was this one square that I liked better than all the rest. With Al's stuff it was the striped pattern on the bed skirt. I color matched paint chips to the sheets, and just copied the pattern onto the wall. They aren't an exact match, but close enough.

If Jack enjoys golfing I would try to find bedding along that theme, or find golf items, like clubs or golf ball collections, then find bedding to match colors found on those. You can hang the clubs and balls on the walls for decoration.

moped replied: Thanks Tara.........very helpful

Ok, you know the look now that is on throw pillows and stuff with the light blue and dark brown dots and stuff? I am thinking that but think it might be too nursery like? Then if this baby is a girl, I will do the same with the brown but with pink - I have seen area rugs like that and photo albums etc.....

Anyone know the look I am talking about>?

stella6979 replied:
Hmmm....I think I know what you're referring too. I tried to google, but couldn't find any of the dotted bedding. I did find these two and they are pretty nice.





I like the idea of doing the blue and brown though. It looks really nice together.

moped replied:
YES YES YES - THAT IS IT

Now is that too girlie or nusery like or just wrong in general????

stella6979 replied:
I don't think it's too girlie or nursery at all. I love both of these beddings and think either would look great with the way you described painting the room.

Kentuckychick replied: Ohhhhh... I really like the blue and brown together! I plan on doing something similar in my new living room in my apartment. They look so pretty together. I think that's something you could totally pull off.

I found a couple of different beddings, but couldn't find anything in that age group (not sure what size bed you're looking for?)

One thing I was going to suggest before you mentioned the blue and brown idea when you said he was really in love with his thomas sheets and blankets was to go with something like this;



It's from JcPenney, they are really well priced and last a long time in my experience (I had one for my dorm room and my brother has one in his room in DC. And you can get them in a lot of different colors (you may even be able to find one to go along with the blue/brown theme). That way you can always find and switch out fun sheet sets to use as he gets older.

I did find this nursery bedding (of course not the right size for your son, but just as an idea) I honestly don't even think that it looks too much like a nursery in the nursery so I definitely think that you could pull off a room like that for Jack!

moped replied:
YES all of that I like - ok, now I need to know what is in my belly so I can take it from there - this is hard work I tell ya
That is jsut what i had in my head

moped replied:
With this pic of the bedding it shows white walls - I don't want white walls.........but I like the blue and red idea

stella6979 replied:
When is your ultrasound? And do you have names picked out yet?

moped replied:
US on Aug 1

Names - well a boy would be Kai

and a girl wouldn't get a name cause we could never figure it out! LOL!!!

stella6979 replied:
LOL! Well good luck with that one. If it is a girl, hopefully she won't be nameless for too long.

lovemy2 replied: Love all of those bedding sets - you could if you do the red and blue still do khaki colored walls - maybe a darker and lighter khakis? I am afraid if you did dark blue with that bedding the room would be really dark?? I am not sure how bright the room is....

As for the nursery stuff - love them both!!!!

And love the name - Kai - what does it mean and where did you find it?

And poor little girl - just girl that's all she will be huh???

moped replied: Well my grandma's name was Tessie - so I would like Tess - but I am not sure Tom will go for that!

stella6979 replied:
Awwwww.....I think Tess is soooo adorable.
Jack and Tess. Sounds great to me. Of course, the most important thing is that it's healthy, but are you hoping for one over the other?

moped replied:
We would like another boy - only because that is the devil I know - LOL. But really it doesn't matter. i never imagined myself with a girl so if the tech says girl I will likely cry because it would be so unreal and exciting!

stella6979 replied:
I can understand that. I never pictured myself with a daughter, and I guess it's safe to say that I was secretly hoping for a boy, but now, I wouldn't have it any other way. I've just been a tomboy my whole life and I started to worry about teaching her all the girlie things that I really know nothing about or have any interest in. I've gotten over that worry though and absolutely LOVE having a girl.
How does Jack feel about being a big brother? Does he fully understand it yet?

Kentuckychick replied:


I think Khaki would look really good with the red/blue combination, or possibly a lighter blue. I agree about the white walls, I'm soooo anti white walls! I think that comes from living in a house that had them for so long


Oh and I forgot to mention the crib bedding was JcPenney too... lol, after working there so long it's always the first place I look... and they are ALWAYS having coupon and catalog sales.

Link to baby girl bedding

and,

Link to red and blue bedding

Which is actually on sale for a REALLY good price right now -- makes the twin $29.99
Not sure if you have a JCP close to you, but I know that ours does carry those comforters in stock. They don't have the baby bedding in our store though

Our Lil' Family replied:
OMG, I want that!!!!!!!! What store is that from?


Jen I think you should choose the bedding first and then we can go from there.

Kentuckychick replied: P.S. I love both Kai and Tess!

My friend cried when she found out that she was having a boy the first time -- she said she just always imagined that she'd only have girls. She was beyond thrilled to find out she was having a girl the second time around though by that time she'd decided that a boy again wouldn't be so bad we all knew she was praying for her girl. Now of course, Connor is the easy going, calm one and Caydence is the trouble maker. Should have known!

But they are both wonderful and like you said, it will be exciting no matter what!

stella6979 replied:
Bed, Bath & Beyond. Here's a link with all the pricing.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...%3D10%26hl%3Den