Decorating Ideas for Teen Bedrooms

So your children have become teenagers. They want their own space, their own style, their own identity. Their room needs to be redecorated..

Teenagers, more than ever before, are pressured by their pear group – they want the same things they friends have or what they see on TV or in a magazine. They think they have their own taste and style – in fact their ideas of the world, their likes and preferences are still in flux (if not in turmoil!) influenced by their friends, family, culture and the media.

So it’s very important that, before getting your wallet or DIY tools out, you sit down with your teen for a brainstorming session. Look through the current teen decorating ideas on the net and in magazines – cut and paste the images they like into a scrapbook. Later add some paint swatches, fabric samples and other images. By doing this you’ll create a sort of mood-board. A decorating scrapbook is also a visual diary – a journey from initial inspirations to a final identity. You’ll be surprised how much fun both of you will have during this journey and how many original ideas will have changed along the way.

Of course redecorating a room, particularly a teen’s bedroom, is not just about ideas and fantasies. It has to be practical and within a set budget. If you decide to do the redecoration yourself – involve your teen (perhaps a friend would also be handy!) and do it together.

As you know teenagers are not well known for early-rising, hard-working or being tidy, hygienic and house-proud. So bear this in mind when you design the space. Have plenty of storage – but not many open shelves. They’ll be full of junk and mess very soon. Instead, if space is limited, have a raised bed (with drawers underneath) or a bunk-bed (with a chill-out coach/ sofa-bed/desk/ cupboards underneath. If the room is big enough, cover one wall with built in wardrobes and cupboards – as tall as possible. You can even install their play-station or computer desk into one of them. Out of sight… out of mind.

Don’t have carpet on the floor. If you’re worried about creaking old floorboards – put some cheap floating laminated floor on the top (with soundproofing material between them) – or if your budget allows, get some cool rubber tiles! Instead of them wallpapering the walls with posters – paint one wall with magnetic paint (you can now get magnetic undercoat – so the final color doesn’t have to be black). Cheap magnets and magnetic strips are now widely available to use instead of scoth-tape (cellotape) or bluetack . Also, the final coat of the walls should be either acrylic-based or eggshell paint, rather than normal emulsion, as these reflect the light, are durable and (most importantly!) wipeable.

I’m reluctant to give general stylistic advice – as colors, patterns, decorating details should really derive from, and reflect the occupier of the room. But do avoid clich?s, strong and deep colors (teens are moody enough!), large patterns and decorating details that are expensive or difficult to change (in teen-world, today’s cool becomes "so lasts year" tomorrow).

This list of kids furniture stores  hopefully will help you decorating a teen bedroom!