Kids Room - Image by clg2071

Do you have children?  Or grandchildren?  Or friends with children? Or maybe you know of a shelter that cares for children.  It can be hard to figure out what it is our kids really want.  The newest video game?  A bike?   Peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and honey?

One area that’s actually easier to figure out is their space.  They really want their own space.  A place that feels good.   A place that feels safe and secure.  When they walk in they glow with delight.  And even better?  You can create that space easily.

Sadly there are many kids that live in a troubled space… they may be going through a divorce or an issue with their friends.  School might not be going well or maybe they just are feeling out of sorts…maybe they’re feeling pressure from their peers.  Where do they go to be accepted and safe… is it at home?  Their space isn’t the entire home…it’s their own personal space.  Is it their bedroom or part of a room they might have to share?

We found a book (actually a couple) that we thought you might enjoy.  It’ll help you create safe places for your kids or your grandkids or maybe you want to volunteer to give it to kids at a shelter.  How great would that be?  Painting kids spaces is really our favorite. How about you?

Anyway…do you think parents can learn to accept the “decorating” habits of kids?  Can a parent embrace the creative nature of kids and let them have their very own “space”?  Will a parent share in the creative needs of kids and help to make the space “safe” and loving?  It’s sometimes not all that easy because what they want … and what you want…don’t always mesh up very well.  What you have to do is remember…this is THEIR space.  Their little sanctuary.

Kids' Sacred Places

The author of this book, Kids’ Sacred Places,  involves the reader in stories about kids healing through hands-on “decorating”.

Meet Henry… his parents are divorced, and he is reminded of his dad’s farm through the decor (some made by himself) in his room

Meet Jessica… her self-esteem was low.   Now she has a place of belonging in her own room.  Where others won’t make her feel inferior.

Meet Anna and Alexis.  Step-sisters overcoming their anger and becoming friends through the power of decorating and hands-on decorating.

The book is filled with stories and photographs showing readers how to take good childlike ideas – from the heart – and turn them into something with their hands.  Including them in the process gives them ownership, too.

Every project is accompanied by step-by-step instructions, questionnaires and fun exercises.

House of Belief: Creating Your Personal Style

The artist, Kelee Katillac, was featured on “Oprah” at one time with her book  House of Belief. A ‘reformed interior designer’, artist, creative therapist and author, Kelee’s first book, House of Belief: Creating Your Personal Style lead to writing this new book kids… Kids’ Sacred Places.

Remember…sometimes a good place to help your kid get ideas is from magazines, movies, their favorite books…even coloring books work!  But let them pull the ideas in.  You can “help” but don’t dominate. Don’t squash.  Let them choose as much as possible.

If they’re old enough, let them do the painting and drawing and – well – let them do it all.  Let them have their friends over to help.  If they aren’t old enough let them help as much as possible.

Remember…it’s only paint.  But it’s their sanctuary.

If you don’t do anything else…go read the first few pages of Kids’ Sacred Places. The stories just on those first few pages are really inspiring.

Originally uploaded by THAT Painter Lady.

Lots of people write in for ideas. They want ideas on what to paint their walls.  What color they should paint their cabinets.  What to paint in their dining room.  While we LOVE helping people it’s really hard to tell someone else what to paint on their walls for a number of reasons.

#1 – We aren’t THERE.  We can’t see your home and get a feel for your tastes and likes and how the light comes in the windows and what the accessories look like.  Those are all things you consider when you’re going to paint a room.  We often look for colors in the things in the room.  The bedspread, the couch, the paintings…

And #2 – If someone writes in and says, “Hey – I want to paint my son’s room. “  I can easily shoot back an answer.  Let’s say….PURPLE!   But what if the boy’s room is decorated with denim and southwestern style furniture.  ?!  Purple isn’t really gonna end up looking right.  And YOU won’t be real happy with us.  Lol!  We really dislike it when people aren’t real happy with us.  Really…dislike. 

So…where do you get inspired?  Friends houses?  Your mom?  Magazines?  Do you need inspiration?  Don’t hesitate to ask, but it would help if you include pictures.  So we can see what’s going on in the room…near the room…around the room.  But we aren’t you’re only source of inspiration.  Nope…there are lots of places WE go to for inspiration.  Yes, even we need to be inspired now and then. 

What do we do?  We almost ALWAYS go to book stores and look through the books on painting rooms.  Design books, kids rooms, faux finishing books, mural books, trompe l’oeil books.  They are all CHALK FULL of GREAT ideas!

Another place is in your kids books.  You love ‘em.  They love ‘em.  Why not look to them for inspiration?  Debra chose a kids room mural that she painted for the local woman’s shelter by looking through books and combining ideas.  It’s really such a great way to get inspired.  Don’t you think that giraffe is adorable?  She found it in a book!  Here’s part of her story:

“I stripped wallpaper for a few days before I could paint. They originally couldn’t get the wallpaper to stick on the walls at the shelter, so the gals used Super Glue to paste up the wallpaper. You might think that was a good idea until it needed to be stripped. The wallpaper came of in tiny little bits. What a mess!  Horrible horrible mess…”

Can you imagine?  Gads…

It was a cool job… click on Giraffe Mural to see all the pictures of this room that Debra painted at the shelter as one of her annual volunteer/donation jobs.  They’re fun and one of them you might recognize!

Where do you go for inspiration?

Toy Story 3 is the latest hit movie with our favorites Buzz and Woody… and having a Toy Story Bedroom Theme is something parents are going to be asked to create for their kids.

This bedroom is from the HGTV Dream Home… and it’s so cute!

I spend a good bit of time reviewing the specifics of this Toy Story Bedroom <<–here.

I’ve also discussed when I would use blue wall color as vs. yellow wall color for this theme.

One reason I think this HGTV Toy Story Bedroom is different – Well it doesn’t look “Theam-y”.

If you look closely – you can see that this room would be very easy to change to “any” theme.

Okay – here is an idea I think works really well with the Toy Story theme.

I just finished helping a friend of mine paint a huge Sheriff Badge on the wall of a young boys room.  The room isn’t finished yet… I’ll be sure to share the finished room later. :0)

We all know “Woody” is the Sheriff in town… so this one bit of custom paint sets the tone for the entire room.  And the wall color is the perfect shade of blue!

What’s will it take to “change” the theme from Toy Story Bedding to just a western or cowboy theme?  Take out any Toy Story Accessories!  That’s it…

When your young boy (or girl) grows out of the western theme entirely – Paint those two walls with a new contrasting color and go for a sports or super hero theme. It’s just paint!

Painting A Sheriff Badge On The Wall

First – my friend found a Sheriff Star Badge online that she liked and printed it. Her son created the template out of cardboard. Keep in mind – this badge is about 6′ across.  It takes a bit of math to draw a star… don’t ask me to do math. Glad her son was around – he is a whiz at math. :0)

Then the template is used to trace the badge on the wall.

A few key points to mention:

1. Use a water color pencil to trace. It washes off and you won’t be left with a ton of regular pencil marks.

2. We “bent” the template around the wall. This is why it’s so important to have the template to trace.

It would be very difficult to get those angles just right if you don’t first have the template with the angles perfectly aligned.

3. I had to edit this picture so you could see the traced lines. The room is not “This” Dark blue.

Steps For Painting

1. Fill in the entire star with primer. It’s necessary to keep the blue from bleeding through your hard work.

2. Fill in the star with 2 coats of yellow. Any yellow color will do… pale – bright – dark… it doesn’t matter.

3. The last 2 coats of paint are metallic gold. I used craft paint and it only took about 2 bottles. Much cheaper than purchasing expensive gold paint from the hardware store.

4. Outline with gold “paint pen” from the craft store. Make sure they are “oil based” paint pens – not poster paint pens.

The gold pen was a tiny bit different in color than the gold paint used to fill in the star… which gave the edges a nice clean look and the name in the middle stands out just enough.

Although this bedroom is not going to be a Toy Story Bedroom theme – it could be.  I’ll share the rest of the room when it’s finished.

Looking for Toy Story Halloween Costumes?

Jessie Toy Story Costume

Buzz Lightyear Halloween

Woody Halloween Costume

Would your little guy or gal – the one who loves all things Toy Story – like to have a birthday party in The Toy Story Theme? Maybe you are looking for a Buzz Lightyear Pinata or other party supplies.

I’ve also located where you can purchase the Buzz Lightyear Ultimate Talking Action Figure .

Choosing a decorating theme for your toddler boy bedroom isn’t always easy. Your child can make it easy on you, however, if he has developed definite interests at a young age.

My twin toddler boys love cars, trucks, boats, trains,
motorcycles, anything with an engine in it. For months I debated how to update their nursery decor to a more big boy theme.

We were willing to spend a little money to do it, so I wanted to
make sure we changed to a theme they could grow up with, at least for several more years.

The first thing we chose for their new bedroom was a paint-by-number wall mural from Wallnutz.com. You can choose from a large selection of murals for boys or girls. We chose their transportation mural. We painted this mural on two walls of our boys room. There is a road that runs along the wall that has two cars and a semi driving on the road.

Sun Hats For Toddlers

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I also have another article here about Boys Theme Mural

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There is a large biplane in the sky.

Bi-Planes and Airplanes Peel and Stick Wall  Mural

There are also big white clouds in a blue sky. Our boys love it.

How To Paint Sky Murals

My husband traced and painted it in a weekend. You trace the mural on with carbon paper that is supplied with the outline, then paint the mural like you would a paint-by-number kit (paint is not included in the kit, you can buy it at any craft store).

It really easy and looks great.

Next we purchased our boys a play mat that has a play town on it, complete with roads for their cars. We found this play mat at Lowe’s. The colors matched the colors in the mural really well.

Click Here to purchase Giant Road Rug Online!

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Toy and Book Organizer

For toy storage, we purchased a shelf and bin system.
They have one in primary colors for boys and pastel colors for girls.

These bins work great for small toys and the colors were also perfect. Watch your sales fliers, they often put these on sale for almost half price.

Ready For Take Off  Art Print -24″x18″

Also I found some great pictures to hang on the walls.

This one is all about airplanes!

The pictures have a light blue background that fit into the room perfectly.

To complete the old-fashioned theme, we found some replicas of antique biplanes to hang from their ceiling. They match both the wall mural and the wooden pictures perfectly. One boy picked a red one, the other one is yellow. They’re great! I have seen these planes at several stores that sell collectible items.

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Biplane Bookends

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BLACKOUT Textured Thermal Insulated Tab Top Curtain PAIR 84” x 63” long – Navy

Finally, I found some long, tabbed navy blue curtains and a black metal curtain rod that tied the whole room together.

The boys room now looks perfect, a boy’s auto and airplane paradise!

Here is a breakdown of the room’s costs:

Transportation mural and paint – $75
Play mat – $20
Curtains and rod – $50
Pictures – $60
Airplanes – $85
Toy organizer – $60

Total: $350

You might notice I didn’t mention bedding – our boys are still in cribs so I am waiting until they move to toddler beds to buy new
bedding.

Olive Kids Trains, Planes, & Trucks Sheet Set

I did notice at however, that they had some really cute toddler bedding with old-fashioned looking trains, planes  and trucks on it.

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Article by: Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What’s for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at www.creativehomemaking.com.

It can be a challenge to decorate your new baby’s nursery when you have decided not to find out the gender of your baby during pregnancy.

Wallies Murals Clouds Order
Thankfully there are a lot more choices available for us today than what our parents and grandparents had when they were having babies.

Back then there were 2 basic baby colors – blue and pink.

But now, with the availability of every paint color imaginable we have the entire rainbow of colors to choose from.

Before you put anything into your nursery, it’s a great idea to tackle the walls.

You’re going to want something gentle and soothing that will work with all kinds of ideas that you come up with later on.

Without being girlish or boyish, you can go for a simple blue sky scene using a several shades of light blue.

Add in some fluffy clouds and then you have a great backdrop for just about anything. You can even purchase cloud wall decals like the ones pictured.

Carry this same theme over into curtains with some fabric paints. Just about any fabric color you choose for the windows will look complimentary.

Most nurseries have four basic elements of furniture.

The baby’s crib and changing table usually match.

Then you have a dresser and a rocking chair for Mom.

You may also have a cradle, but that’s more likely to be in your own bedroom.

Since you won’t know the gender of the baby until you bring him home, and you certainly won’t feel like shopping for furniture then you will probably want to go with natural wood tones. If you pick up some unfinished pieces, you can add color and design elements later when you have more time.

The next step in decorating your baby’s nursery might be all about the functions of the nursery.

If you’ll be spending time in the nursery late at night, a little side nightstand with a lamp next to the rocker will be nice. Find a plain white lamp and lamp shade.  You can always pick a lamp shade later on that will coordinate with either a boy or girl.
Large Glass Ball Lamp with White Starburst Shade

Look for two or three large shelves, two or three feet wide, at least eight inches deep and hang these up strategically around the room. Choose a natural wood tone to match the furniture or stick with white until later. These shelves will be a blessing to you for things like a small stereo, some books to read your baby, or a few favorite decor items.
These basic elements are so versatile and can flow with any ideas you come up with later when the baby is settled in. Whether you end up adding butterflies or frogs to the room later, the blue sky and neutral additions will fit perfectly.

This is a room with a really nice canvas of sky and all of the basics in place.

You can wait for baby to reveal his or her gender to really dig into a decorating theme, or just choose to go with something that isn’t girl or boy specific to get everything done in advance.

Whichever you choose, don’t be afraid to be daring remember, the nursery gets redecorated in just a few short years and you get to have the fun all over again.