The land of make-believe: Creating playful kids' rooms on a budget

<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt">The land of make-believe: Creating playful kids’ rooms on a budget</h2>(ARA) – Most parents can relate: Redecorating your child’s room often turns out to be far more challenging than freshening up the decor in other areas of your home. After all, kids have their own personalities and tastes – and what you like might not mesh with their ideas of the world’s coolest bedrooms.Obviously, as parents, we want the best for our kids but we also need to be budget-conscious these days. And, redecorating projects often spiral into endeavors that gobble up not only your budget but also your sanity. Often, what started out as a fun redecorating project can quickly turn into an overwhelming task that everyone in the family dreads finishing. <div style="text-align: center"><img src="../images/kids-room-design.jpg" border="0" alt="Kids’ room color choice" title="Kids’ room color choice" width="425" height="312" /></div> But, if you do it right and with some thoughtful pre-planning, redecorating kid spaces doesn’t have to be draining to your bank account or your patience, notes Donna Schroeder, Dutch Boy color marketing and design manager. "There are a few basic decorating foundations that can have a huge impact on a child’s room, with color being at the forefront," Schroeder says. "Aside from floors and window treatments, the largest area where color is used is on the walls. Luckily for parents, painting their child’s room is a fun, easy and very inexpensive way to update a living space. It’s also a great way to involve your child in the decision process so they can help create a memorable space to call their own." When choosing paint, a little forethought and some fundamental knowledge on color selection are all that’s needed. Don’t make the mistake of thinking there are "right or wrong colors." Let creativity — and your child’s tastes — be your guide. To lend a helping hand, Crayola and Dutch Boy offer a complete, 96-color palette of Crayola colors tinted in Dutch Boy Paint. It features fun, unique color chips sure to generate some enthusiasm from any child for a room makeover, as well as 16 inspiration cards featuring exciting room themes and designs that can help jump-start the creative process. With so many choices, chances are your child’s "favoritest" color will be among the mix. Redecorating a fresh, new space for children goes beyond selecting paint colors and decorating themes. If you’re planning a significant revamping of a room, or are perhaps welcoming a new baby, look into double-duty furniture, such as changing tables that convert easily into a bureau, so once a baby is out of diapers, the table can still serve a purpose in the room. If your children are older, there’s nothing wrong with refurbishing hand-me-down furniture to give their rooms a new look — and save some money. A little ingenuity, paint and some old-fashioned elbow grease can turn a beat-up, dated old armoire, bookshelf or desk into a whimsical piece of expression in any room, not to mention handy storage for toys, clothing, books and more. Speaking of storage, more is always better – over-plan rather than installing just enough for current belongings. Let’s face it: kids come with lots of stuff that seems to multiply nightly. The cabinet that can hold a few blankets and books today likely will end up stuffed with clothes, toys and collectibles even a year or two down the road. There are plenty of cost-effective and colorful storage and closet units available at a variety of home improvement retailers. And don’t forget extending creativity to the finishing touches — accessories like window treatments and novelty throw rugs. Create fanciful designs on plain, inexpensive roman shades or room-darkening blinds by decorating them with patterns from fun stencils or stamps, using paints that coordinate with the wall and trim palette. From flowers or cars to trains or fairies, the possibilities for livening up plain window treatments are endless — and far from costly. Area rugs add another bit of special personalization to a child’s bedroom. A lively, patterned rug can add a lighthearted feel to any space. <div style="text-align: center"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="425" height="282"><param name="movie" value="../images/banners/10b.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="wmode" value="" /><embed src="../images/banners/10b.swf" wmode="" quality="high" menu="false" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="282"></embed></object></div> "With a little planning and a lot of imagination, it’s easy to create a playful space for kids that pops with color and some personalized magic, even on the tightest budget," Schroeder says. "In fact, they might like it so much when you send them to their room; they might not want to leave." Courtesy of ARAcontent

The land of make-believe: Creating playful kids' rooms on a budget

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