Home Interior Design Inspiration?

hi M.,

When we decoated my son's room we painted shapes on the walls in a retro-modern color scheme, and for all the black shapes we used black chalkboard paint so the kids (we have 2 now!) can color with chalk on those shapes...it's kind of a fun way to use black accents if you are planning to have them!

A. W.

Hi M.

I am an interior designer in Thousand Oaks. I have special rates for Mamasource members. So if you live in the general vacinity perhaps you could benefit from an hour or two of design.
Not in the budget to hire a designer? Feel free to visit my blog www.coloursandconcepts.com/blog and post a question or email me at ____@____.com with pictures of your room and a budget and I will post the question for you with an answer within 48 hours.

Good luck and have fun with your room.

J.

Off the Apartment Therapy website:
http://www.ohdeedoh.com/
Really inspiring and unique baby nurseries and Kid's rooms/spaces by just regular people online. Most are modern, retro modern or shabby chic, but as you know, with kid's rooms anything goes. Some are too too gorgeous... :D

I like some the IKEA ideas, especially the storage cubicles and bins that go in them.

themed bedrooms are hard to change out as the child gets older. what i do for example in my sons room is star wars, so we painted his room blue, he has star wars sheets, a solid blue blanket & a star wars blanket that sits at the bottom of his blanket, and i took a star wars calendar & put the pics in 3 large frames & have his figurines on shelves. for extra storage we did a wire closet system that holds more than we need...........also go to rate my space & see pics of people before & after spaces & get lots of ideas, this is good for all your home spaces.....have fun

Important to think about as well is the maintenance and clean-ability of the finishes. ie: semi-gloss paint is much easier to clean.... versus matte paint. Wood versus synthetic materials etc. Carpet versus hard-flooring. etc.

AND, keep in mind the adaptability... ie: as the kids grow older... will you have to do mega-changes again in terms of decorating to suit their ages... or not? The taste/needs of kids changes too. So keep that in mind.

But for storage... have something theme oriented or not? Which will be easier to grow with the child or not? "Built-in" wall cubbies, versus storage shelves? Shelving/closets with doors, or open shelving?

Also the height of things changes as they grow too.

A good thing to include in a kids room... is a desk as well. So they can study or do things in their room. Kids love having their own desks. And providing good lighting so they can read etc.

For the bathroom, there is tile, linoleum, stone etc. All with varying cleaning ease or not.

I have found, that a kids 'like' of character/themes changes each year. So buying kid shelving that is say "princess" themed really gets outdated quickly... then it just sits there and doesn't "grow" with the child. So for 'themed' rooms per gender/child... perhaps decorating with smaller items like pillows/lamps/wall pictures/area rugs, are more "flexible" and changeable.... versus having the "theme" be in terms of major or expensive "furniture". So thinking ahead... also think of the flexibility of the "furniture" in their rooms... etc.

Just some quick ideas,
Susan

I know of a great contractor for your bathroom. I'm sure he has pictures of past jobs he's done. His name is Mike ###-###-####.

Land of Nod has great inspiration. Depending on what your budget is you can buy it there or many things are less elsewhere. Wall Decals are an inexpensive and safe way to decorate the walls. You don't have to worry about them falling and landing on your child etc. You can get them at Target, Land of Nod, online wall pops etc. Just google them. For Storage I love a simple book shelf(or cubes) with lightweight storage totes. It makes clean up very easy. They sell them at Babies R Us, Land of Nod (.com), Target, etc. You can get them in many colors to add a pop of color to the room. I have them for my daughter and son's room. The children can get their toys and put them back easily.

Hope that helps,

L.

Check out HGTV's website. Tons of inspiration for kids rooms (and bathrooms) there, and quite a bit from average parents who have redone their children's rooms and posted the pics. Rate My Space is a good place to focus on within the website. How fun! Good luck!

IKEA! I could spend the whole day there and they have really unique and affordable storage systems.

i stumbled over this really cool new place where you can just search on the things you look for and they have lots of pics uploaded from normal homes or you can post your question in a help me section. A great forum and photo bank. think it was called Stylerooms.com - otherwise just google home decoration community with inspiring photos- i always think thats way better than unrealistic magazine shots. good luck, S

M.,
I highly recommend Shelley Hudson. She is an experienced decorator with really creative ideas. I love some things she has done for me and I know she has done great work for others too. She is def worth contacting for a quote.

email: ____@____.com
phone: ###-###-####

Good Luck!

you should check out cookie magazine online (unfortunately they stopped publication of their magazine). just search kids rooms and they have some really cool ideas. good luck!