Submitted by: Jessica Ackerman

Painting any room is a fast way to give it a fresh new look, but helping your child paint his or her bedroom offers rewards beyond the obvious: It s a great way to bond and spend quality time together. Once a child gets beyond the nursery and toddler years, they no longer want to leave all the decorative decisions up to mom or dad and want to have greater input in decorating decisions. Painting their own room helps them develop decision-making skills while fostering responsibility and a sense of ownership in the room.

From choosing colors and deciding whether to paint strips or polka dots, you can encourage your child to express their personality; and by setting a budget limit, they will also learn about priorities and the value of work and money. Let your child help in a way that is commensurate with their age and ability: In most cases, children above age seven can help to some extent, while older tween and teens can take a more active role. You can turn the job into a fun weekend activity for the entire family and get the room redone in no time flat. Make sure to protect the floor and furniture with drop cloths and have everyone don old clothes and painters caps. You also should keep the room well ventilated while painting.

Choosing the Paint

Getting the paint ahead of time will make the work weekend go smoothly. Your first concern of course is your family s safety, so opting for low emissions paint, such as low or no VOC, is the safest choice. Paint in a semi-gloss finish will be durable enough to stand up to repeated cleanings.

When it comes to color, you will likely find your child gravitating toward colors that are brighter and deeper than those you would choose. Since you don t want to have to repaint the room in a year or two, a good compromise is to choose a neutral color for the walls, then add bright colors in accents. You can add accents right to the walls, in a pin stripe, design, mural or chair rail, for example. Then you can repeat and accent that color with choices in bedding, accents and wall art.

Also consider the impact of color on mood. Red, orange and bright yellow can be too energizing for a child who is already high-energy. Pale blues and greens, as well as neutrals, are more calming tones and you can use the bright colors that your child loves in accessories, fabrics and wall accents.

Get Creative and Have Fun

Your child s bedroom doesn t have to be all one solid color. You can create an accent wall in deeper or brighter colors or add a design to the walls. Paint-by-number murals make it easy for your little Picasso to create a cheerful mural or use a transparency sheet and projector to cast a design on the wall that can be traced and painted as desired. Your child can even create an original design and transfer that to the wall with the aid of a projector as well.

About the Author: Senior staff writer Jessica Ackerman of WallDecorandHomeAccents.com, writes How To articles on decorating with

elephant metal wall decor

and

coffee and wine metal wall art

.

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