Here’s How:

1. Start looking in your child’s favorite books, magazines, decorating books, and even get ideas online. You’ll get great inspiration for a theme.
2. Be sure to involve an older child by getting his or her ideas and choose favorite colors, favorite sports or artistic interests, or story or movie characters, like Harry Potter or Spiderman.
3. Shop for fabric, wallpaper or border paper that will reinforce your chosen theme. Select a main print that will set the tone for the whole room.
4. Choose a background color to use on the painted walls, floors, and ceiling. Use your main fabric print to guide you.
5. Select coordinating fabrics, accessories, and prints that mix well with the main fabric. Use the colors in the print for inspiration.
6. Choose a focal point for the room. While many choose the bed as the main point of interest, you could focus on a display shelf, a painted wall mural, or decorated play area. The focal point should really reinforce your chosen theme.
7. Use some imagination when selecting and planning on decorative elements. If your child loves tennis, string a net behind the bed for a headboard. You could arrange tennis rackets (collected from tag sales or flea markets) around the netting. Place tennis balls onto the tips of clothes hooks. You might use a section of picket fencing for a headboard in a cottage style room.
8. Choose bedding that will enhance both the color scheme and theme you’ve selected. Pretty flowers work for almost any girl’s room scheme and blue chambray fits with most boy rooms.
9. Be sure to save a place to display your child’s artwork, collections, and projects. You can set them on well-placed shelves or make an artistic display on the wall.
10. Don’t forget to save plenty of room to store clothes, books, toys, games projects, and hobby supplies. A child of any age needs a desk for a computer and school work. If the storage items will be out in view, be sure they’re decorated to fit the theme, too.
11. Create a window treatment that enhances the theme and adds to the decor. Decorative hardware on doors, drawers, and cabinets can continue the theme.
12. A good rule to follow for a themed, coordinated room is to repeat each color, fabric, and print, if possible, in at least three places around the room. If you do, everything will really tie together.

Tips:

1. Safety should be of primary consideration when selecting items for a child’s room. Keep electrical cords out of the way, use non-skid pads under decorative area rugs, and don’t stack storage units too high.
2. Using coordinating colors in all elements of the room will bring even unlike things together to support the theme.
3. Use a common background color when you use several coordinating prints in one room. Choose patterns and prints in different scale, such as a large sailboat print with smaller coordinating plaids and stripes.
4. You can create inexpensive framed art by using your child’s own artwork or cutting pictures out of books or magazines.

source: about

(ARA) – The market for youth furnishings and décor has recently experienced a surge in popularity and profitability. Barbara Schmidt, a nationally recognized interior style consultant whose work has appeared in “In Style,” “Elle Décor,” “Architectural Digest” and “Metropolitan Home,” attributes the rise in popularity to children’s increased awareness of interior design and their resulting desire to play an active role in the look of their rooms.

“Because of the Internet and channels like HGTV, kids are more design-savvy now,” says Schmidt. “They want to create their own spaces.”

Parents are also influencing the market’s increased popularity. “A child’s bedroom is another space parents can have fun with, revisiting their own childhoods,” says Schmidt. “You can use dramatic colors you wouldn’t be able to use in everyday décor.”

A prominent trend in youth décor is personalization – through throw pillows, monograms and framed art. “In addition to displaying a child’s own works of art, personalized wall hangings can teach children about the world around them, build anticipation for future events and preserve memories and milestones,” says Schmidt. She offers several suggestions for using framed art, photography and more to add personality to a child’s bedroom.

* A child’s own artwork is the most unique and personal piece you can frame. “It’s also a great way to keep those memorable works of art from getting lost in the shuffle,” says Schmidt.

* “Let your child be a part of the design process by giving them a job to do,” she adds. “Something like allowing them to pick out the colors of custom matboard can make them feel like they’re taking part in designing their own personal space.”

* “Frame pictures of places visited and maps to teach kids about the world around them,” suggests Schmidt. “Not only is it exciting for them – it will open up a whole new place in their imagination.”

* “Combine three-dimensional mementos, such as a first homerun ball, team jerseys, medals and certificates with photos to commemorate important youth sporting events,” says Schmidt. “With their creative eye and professional products, custom framers can help create a well-organized and stylish grouping.”

When it comes to preserving a special memory for your child, make sure you pick custom framing materials you can count on to protect those cherished pieces, like Crescent’s 100 percent cotton RagMat matboard. It’s guaranteed safe next to any artwork, so you know that special keepsake, whether it’s a first place ribbon or your child’s art class masterpiece, will last forever.

It’s also a good idea to incorporate color trends. “For girls, the classic pinks and purples are mixed with white this year, and for boys, brown and green have replaced the standard navy and red,” Schmidt says. She also suggests picking neutral frames, such as woods and whites, to avoid having to replace them if the room’s design changes. “Adding new artwork and getting more creative with what you frame is the perfect way to let the room grow with the child.”

For more information about professional custom framing, visit www.crescentcardboard.com or contact a professional custom framer in your area.

[View with PicLens]

Courtesy of ARAcontent