Design Ideas | February 7, 20082 Comments

When It Comes To Teen Avoid The Themes

I wrote a post last week about design ideas for Teen bedrooms. You can read the entire post here. The gist of what I wrote was that teenagers are trying to find their own identities. Because of that, they frequently change their minds about who they are. Their bedrooms are an expression of that ever-changing personality.

That’s why, when it comes to decorating teen bedrooms, I encourage parents to find a way to allow them to become masters of their universe/bedroom. Set some guidelines, but allow them to experiment and make changes. Don’t like it? Close the door.

This was reinforced when I was looking through the PB Teen catalog. To be sure, they’ve got some nice things. But I have a problem with some of the themed, and clearly youthful furniture. Here’s why.

What are you going to do with PB Teen’s Snowboard Bed when your son discovers girls and starts playing the guitar? Or leaves for college? Are you going to keep that bed for your new guest room? Is your college grad going to move it to his new apartment after graduation? I think not. So why waste $1,395 on a theme?

Likewise, the Display-It Bed will rapidly age (Same with having to constantly worry about breaking the glass panels covering the corkboard). How will you feel when your daughter begins to associate that $1,600 bed with her youth? Even though you just bought it last year? That’s how fast things change.

So what do you do when your teenager begs you for a mosh pit and rolls her eyes at how dorky you are for not allowing her to rip up the carpet and paint the floor black?

Here’s how. When it comes to major purchases such as the bed, choose furniture that can live through several personality changes. In other words, something simple where the style comes from the sheets. The Classic Iron Bed (on sale for $699), or better yet, the Beadboard Bed (below, $699) both from PB Teen would be good choices.

Another suggestion (my fave) is to visit Goodwill and buy something you can take home and paint. If you have an aesthetically-minded teen, he or she can cover the whole thing with stickers. Who cares? Another coat of paint will create a new vision. Make sure it’s your teen who does the painting.

More tips:

• Buy furniture and accessories from junk shops (they’re vintage (!) and much more individual),
• Create an accent wall with chalkboard paint, magnetic paint, or other products mentioned in last week’s post,
• Create a collage wall by first covering the wall with wallpaper liner. When the collage becomes so last year it will peel off easily.
• Auto body shops will Bondo and paint furniture to give it a new-car look for very little $$,
• Create a budget and let your teen shop with her friends for accessories.

If you don’t like your teen’s creation, again, you can always close the door. When they go to college you can hold a bonfire party in the back yard. But I’ll bet you’ll be missing them too much to do it. That is, until they come home with their laundry.

Tags: kids & teens