Painting Boy's Room

Two thoughts -- the horizontal stripe will bring the ceiling down, so if it's already a low ceiling I would reconsider the stripe...and the floor should be darker than the blue on the walls to keep the illusion of ceiling height, don't know what you have got for flooring but consider a dark carpet or stain.

I didn't read all the responses but I painted my sons room similar colors but what I did was white on the bottom, blue on top and a couple of stripes of black and red. It looks really cool.

This way I get the colors I wanted but it's not too dark.

When my son was little, I painted his room a very, very dark blue. All the trim in the room around the windows and the door were painted white. It looked awesome! Then I made red and white striped curtains for the windows and got him a bedspread that had primary colors. It probably looked a lot like the room you're envisioning color-wise. That was two houses ago, and to this day is my favorite room I ever designed (not that I'm a designer, I just LOVE interior design and was lucky enough to build a house and design it from the bottom up, so I have lots of practice). I'm not sure about painting the walls two different colors, like someone said it will probably bring the ceiling down so unless you have very tall ceilings, it might not work. I do love the idea of using those colors in a boy's room, though. Maybe pick one color for the walls and incorporate the other color with fabrics? Also, when I painted my son's walls that dark blue, the room seemed much, much bigger. I think there are certain colors that do make a room look smaller (hunter green or deep maroon, for example, always make a room look smaller in my opinion, not sure why), but a dark blue or even black somehow makes it seem bigger. Especially with white trim - it's a really sharp look! Have fun with it!

We painted our daughter's room blue and our boys room a mango color. They both seem quite dark to me but they are adorable. If you don't mind dark, I think it would look quite cute! I say go for it....

A lot of it depends on how much natural light the room gets. The more light it gets, the better you can get away with painting such dark colors. And yes, sometimes dark colors can actually make a room look larger.

If you choose to do it, make sure you put lots of lighting in the room. And leave the ceiling and moldings white.

Like Kristin said, some colors will make a room seem bigger, and some smaller. And she is right about the colors- blues undertones are cool colors and "recede", yellow undertones are warm colors, and they will "advance". If you stick with receding colors it will make it feel bigger.

The ceiling might look lower like 5's said, but if your room is fairly large it would probably be ok. Or you could do a trim or border around the top of the room and that might help too, something to make the transition to the ceiling so you don't have the sharp vertical lines breaking up space. I agree about the flooring, but you might just be able to get away with putting a dark throw rug down and that would help too, especially if you have dark furniture to anchor the room.

Anyways, I think it sounds really cute and I would go for it personally. I love dark, bold paint in rooms, so much more like a home than the beige I currently have on my walls.

I painted my son's room a very deep ocean blue (think the color of the ocean on traditional Nat Geo maps -maybe a shade darker). It's dark, but he does have a double window that lets in plenty of light. My husband and I love the color, and I can't tell you how many compliments we've gotten on it. He has one large wall we put one of the mural maps of the world from National Geographic on -(it's huge -almost covers the entire wall) -and it looks great with the paint. Especially if you have the theme and colors to already blend with it -I say go for it!

B.,
I let my boys pick the colors for the gameroom and they chose red and black. We did triangles alternating one color on top then the other. It turned out great. In one son's room we have dark blue and the other is a little lighter with yellow lines. I don't worry about the room looking smaller and don't think it does.
Victoria

We did mickey mouse theme for our sons' bedroom too, except we used more of a greyish blue(denim blue I believe is the name of the color). We have white trim and I have done accent colors on the walls of red and black. I don't think the room is too dark, it is pretty cozy on rainy days though. I wanted more of a sophisticated mickey mouse room ( ya, I know mickey and sophistication don't really go together, huh?) and didn't want to go w/ the whole primary boy color thing. Their grandma made a quilt for the bed out of mickey mouse fabric and it's bright blue, red, black and white and although, the blues are two different types of blues, it really goes well together. When they get older they can do away with the mickey stuff and still have a grown up color on the walls.

I am an interior designer and I have a few points for you to consider:

- cool colors like blue do make the walls receed
- warm colors will make it seem smaller and cozier
- dark colors are difficult to paint over
- dark colors tend to burnish unless you use a eggshell or higher sheen, which I personally do not like for walls
-red is an invigerating color so do not use too much of it in bedrooms
-blue is calming so that is good for sleeping
-borders in rooms are outdated.
-I like the idea one reader had about feature walls
-other thoughts are to bring color in with fabrics and/or to paint the furniture in colors, which can be fun and a great way to make old furniture look good
-consider lighter hues of the colors for the walls and the deeper tones for other items in the room.....accessorize.

I hope this helps you. If you have other questions I welcome you to email at ____@____.com or visit my blog at www.coloursandconcepts.com/blog to ask a question and receive a answer at no cost.

personally I would not choose red or orange for a childs room. maybe as an accent color but definitely not in large areas!! Red is stimulating and will make your child more hyper and excited.
I painted my children's rooms blue and green, to keep their moods and minds calm and relaxed...
lol

-ggod luck!

Painting a room dark colors will make the room smaller. More important though....you should use a paint that is "VOC" free. Paints have Volitale Organic Compounds that off gas for a long time and the fumes are toxic to kids. Benjamin Moore has a line of paint called Nautra that is VOC free. Our children are exposed to so much bad stuff in their environment so why add to it. Good luck!

Hello, My daughter and son-in-law painted our now 7 years old's room in red. I wasn't sure what to expect. It is absolutely adoraable. They did his room in sports and were very daring to do the red.
Good luck with your precious son.
K. K.

I saw the same brochure and went for it. We did the red on the bottom. I belive the color is called mickey's pants. And blue on the top. We used a darker blue than the one shown. It was also a disney color.(starship blue i believe) My son loves it. We got the paints glossy so they reflect alot of light. We have 2 windows in the room and it gets good light. The brochure shows the middle painted like a checkered flag. Way too much work for me. We went to a wall paper store and found black and white checkered wallpaper.(not a border) Were going to cut it in strips to make the border. When my sons outgrow cars we can take the border off and put up a different one. I don't think they'll outgrow liking the colors. If i could attach a picture i would. There's nothing dark or gloomy about it. Its the brightest room in our house.

If you are concerned, paint one wall as an accent wall.

My son had a really cute room with bright colors, think Nemo blue and orange. The only issue I had was trying to paint over it. It took many, many coats of paint, including 2 coats of primer. Just make sure you talk to the salesperson and ask about painting over it when it's time (which may be many, many years.)
Sounds cute!
S.

I also pick a Disney color blue to paint my son's room. I believe it's call Buzz Blaster Blue. But soon after I realized the color is a little too dark, so one of our close friends told us to take the original paint in and ask them to cut the formula in half. It turned out way better than I expected and everyone who saw it, love it. I painted his room blue and decorated with elmo (as red) and curious george (as yellow). Even though my son hasn't move into his room yet, but he loves it too... If you curious how the color turn out, just sent me a email, then I will sent you some photos... Good luck!

l