When I was pregnant with my son, I decorated his nursery according to my tastes: I grew up in Africa and so I chose a motif involving African animals and a color scheme that was somewhat neutral (I didn’t know the gender of my baby) – yellows, greens and oranges. This wasn’t a bad choice at all, except that by the time my son was 9 months old, it was clear he couldn’t care less about African animals. All he cared about were rubber duckies. If only I had known, I lamented, what a wonderful duck-themed room I could have prepared. Thankfully, I didn’t rush out and do that, because about six months later his loyalties switched entirely to trains, and Thomas the Tank Engine in particular. The railway obsession has now lasted for about 3 years and my husband and I are heavily invested in Thomas & Friends. I gave in to the Thomas frenzy and redecorated his room when he moved from the crib to a toddler bed. I figured the Thomas bed was the best incentive for him to give up his beloved crib. The moral of this story, is that it’s always a good idea to let children grow into their rooms. Create a fairly neutral canvas that you can later accessorize with whatever takes their fancy. Trust me, it can be a big money saver.

Here are some other quick and inexpensive tricks to liven up a child’s room décor:

1. Spray paint some children’s or doll’s chairs (they’re often seen in thrift stores) in bright colors. Mount them on the wall as unique shelves to display toys.

1. Customize a piece of furniture over and over again, by papering a motif over the drawers. In this example, I used an old shower curtain cut into pieces and secured it around the drawer with duct tape in a matching color so that it would stay yet still be removable later. Once the drawer is in place, the tape is invisible. Before you adhere the covering, remove the drawer pulls and replace them by piercing the paper at the right spot.
2. For wall décor, purchase a set of inexpensive plastic children’s tableware in the desired theme and mount the plastic plate and bowl on the wall – the advantage here, is that the objects are light so if they should fall off, injuries are unlikely to result.
3. Or, many themed bedding sets come with a flat sheet that goes unused by most children. Cut the sheet into sections and frame them or staple them over a canvas – and voila!Nicole Wexler is an Interior Decorator and Home Stager Follow her on twitter at @turquoisedecorKim Gellman is the owner of Artisticsensations.com, a fun and hip website that sells kids furniture, crib bedding and room decor from baby to college age kids. She is the mother of two boys and enjoys every moment of life and all its adventures!

Posted by kgellman on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 2:59 pm.