Decorating Teen Bedroom Guidelines For Teens And Parents

By Sherrie Le Masurier

Do you have any decorating teen bedroom guidelines you can offer my daughter and I who want to work together to makeover her teen bedroom within a realistic budget?

Yes, I firmly believe that when it comes to teen bedroom decorating, teens and parents should work together from concept to completion. In other words, there is tremendous value in sitting down with your teen and discussing likes and dislikes as well as the budget you’ll be working within.

Following is a simple step-by-step decorating teen bedroom guide:

Establish a budget. Start by discussing how much you’re willing to spend on her decorating teen bedroom project and then leave it to her to decide what will be spent on what. Your teen may have to do some comparison shopping in order to figure out how best to divvy up the budget.

If there’s something your teen desires but it isn’t within budget discuss how she may be able to contribute to the project with her own money either from working or from a savings account.

Also if you were planning on hiring out tasks like painting and stripping wallpaper discuss how doing these things yourselves may free up a little more cash for something extra like special lighting or Internet hook-up. That said both of the extras I just mentioned may also need to be installed by a professional and would add to the overall cost of your decorating teen bedroom project.

Discuss ground rules. Sit down with your teen and discuss any ground rules re: intense color schemes or unconventional teen bedroom furnishings.

Cheap but trendy. Capturing the look and feel of a designer teen bedroom can also be accomplished with inexpensive knockoffs. Sometimes it just takes a little more shopping around to find stylish look-alikes to the trendy items your teen favors.

Search for ideas. Guide your teen through the window shopping process by encouraging her to browse through magazines, books, and catalogues. She may also find some cool teen bedroom decorating ideas by watching decorating shows on TV and searching related websites.

Gather information. Suggest your teen keep notes re: names of patterns, colors and style numbers. Most interior design magazines these days include product information links and many decorating shows also have websites which give you more information about the products shown.

Your teen may want to start a decorating teen bedroom file that contains pages torn out of magazines and print outs of product information so she has everything together in one spot. If research is being done via books or catalogues that have to be returned be sure to supply her with a stack of sticky notes and suggest she tag any pages of interest. A small tote with a handle is great for keeping all research materials together.

Take measurements. Measuring up your child’s teen bedroom should be a joint task. It’s also a great opportunity to teach your teen how to take proper measurements and discuss things like inside or outside window mounts. Once you have your measurements don’t forget to take them (and your measuring tape) along on any shopping trips.

Color is often a source of contention between parents and teens. If you feel a particular color is too bold for your decorating teen bedroom project, suggest a compromise like using it as an accent color in fabrics and accessories.

Male and female teens may respond differently to the decorating teen bedroom process. While both may desire a space that reflects their individuality and independence, boys may not be as interested in selecting their own window coverings or bedding. In most cases, if a boy is able to achieve the overall look he desires – he’s quite happy. That said, just because your teenage son says he doesn’t care about fabrics and wallpaper samples and really hates shopping for this kind of stuff don’t just assume that anything you buy will be to his liking. To be on the safe side, make sure any teen bedroom decor items you purchase can easily be returned.

I recommend you bring home samples of fabrics, wallpaper and paint chips and ask him what his preferences are. If he doesn’t have any particular favorites simply ask him if there’s anything he really doesn’t like. The key is to narrow down the selection so your decorating teen bedroom project is made easier and you’re able to achieve a teen bedroom look that closely resembles his tastes, interests and individual style.