PATRIOTIC BEDDING

GO HERE TO SEE MORE



These star lights are perfect with the patriotic bedding set that I plan to use in a client's red,white and blue bedroom. I like the ones that come wired like Christmas tree or patio lights. They are so, so cool when used in the proper setting. I actually had this string of Ikea star lights stuffed in a box with plans to decorate the patio with them at sometime in the future or maybe find a place that needed a celestial touch during the holidays...and then...

I found a picture of a boy's room on this website that used THESE VERY LIGHTS as part of the wall decorations.

I didn't care for the rest of the bedroom at all and the decorator's ideas certainly didn't fit with my red, white and blue patriotic bedding. But the way that the she put the star lights for the bedroom on display was nothing but pure decorating genius, my friend and I think they will look even more stunning as a pseudo-headboard with the Americana quilt.

The wall in the bedroom in the picture is painted a dusky blue that reminds me of the evening sky just at twilight which is very peaceful and relaxing. But I'm thinking that if you used the star lights for a bedroom with a patriotic theme a navy blue wall would be just as attractive and more representative of the colors in the American flag.

TEEN GIRLS HEART BEDDING

GO HERE TO SEE MORE!

What do you think about the bedroom in the picture with the teen girls heart bedding set? I saw a bedroom decorating question regarding this comforter set that got me thinking about how small decorative decisions can take a bedroom's design in one direction or another.

The girl who wrote in said that she loved the polka dot and heart print fabric of the comforter set and the contrasting pattern of the striped bedskirt but didn't like the "dressed up" look of the picture of the bedroom on the bedding set's packaging and wanted to know how to decorate her room in a funky fashion using the girl's heart bedding.

I think I would go for a shabby chic look using a chipped iron bed frame and I would ditch the matching curtains. Just because you buy a bed in a bag doesn't mean you have to use the window treatments. Sell them, toss them or whatever; if you don't like them don't destroy the look of your room just because you feel wasteful. Aluminum foil over the windows is better than buying drapery hardware and taking the time to hang curtains that you hate.

Getting back to the teen girls bedroom design problem, as I said, I would keep the teen girls heart bedding set and decorate the bedroom in a funky, shabby chic style. How do YOU decorate a bedroom when you are after a stylish look but don't want anything fancy?

FUNKY PINK BEDDING

GO HERE TO SEE MORE!

A mom I'm working with says she wants her teen girl's bedding to be pink while FUNKY PINK BEDDING is more in line with what's on her daughter's radar. I have a knack for getting in the middle of the battle of wills between teenage girls and their mothers, don't I?

The problem is that moms want to hang onto their baby girls as long as possible which means they want to keep the pastel pink bedroom in tact long after the toddler stage. When tweens and preteen girls are ready to jazz things up a bit the bedroom makeover can get ugly.

My job is to reach a compromise if at all possible and my advice to parents is to let the girls have their funky pink bedding! There are so many bigger (and more important) issues that so long as the lime green and funky pink bedding is tasteful why sweat the small stuff?

How do you like these lime green and pink curtains with the lime green and hot pink bedding in the pictures? I tried all pink as well as all lime green window treatments but I believe the combination of the two colors actually works better with the teen girls bedding. What do you think?

How to Brighten a Dark Room

The first tip I would share with anyone asking how to brighten a dark room would be to figure out whether the room actually needs lightening or brightening. I learned the hard way that they are not one and the same. You can add more light through natural sources, through adding lamps and light fixture as well as mirrors to reflect and amplify but still have a dull, lifeless bedroom that has no personality. Basically what you have is a well lit room that lacks pizzazz!

What you need to know is how to brighten a dark room without sunlight and running up the electric bill. You can buy a new comforter set choosing bright fabrics and change the wall color to something cheerful if you have the funds for a complete makeover. But if you are looking for less expensive decorating ideas look for ways to rev up the engine of the paint and bedding set that you already have in place.

Bright, energetic artwork is a cheap way to pump life into an otherwise lethargic space. Choosing art prints and accent pieces with movement and bright colors is the key to bringing your bedroom to life. Skip the dark colors, the still life pictures, landscapes and the floral arrangements. Look for prints that have twirling, spinning graphics and a bold splash of color for the best results. Even though light colors will never never brighten up a dark room. Dark colors can make the space seem small and dim.

Dancing prints work well with most teenage girls bedding bedding sets as well as sports prints. Basically, anything that is bright as well as lighthearted should do the trick.

NERD WALL ART

Find it at scribbleoneverything.com


This decal that a client's daughter presented to me as nerd wall art that she wants as a focal point in her "nerd bedroom" (her words not mine, evidently being nerdy is very cool these days) is a painful reminder that I didn't apply myself when I was in high school. I was not the only teenage girl who memorized the periodic table of elements just long enough to pass chemistry class so I was not an odd duck.


Today nerds are the new "IN CROWD" and this young girl is perhaps the leader of the pack because she is drop dead gorgeous and not your dingy absent minded professor type either! Good looking, high achievers like her have become so trendy that they are developing their own decorating style and nerd decor like this decal and other pieces of nerd wall art are popping up all over the place!

In light of the monochromatic nature of the nerd wall art, I have to find a set of bedding and take her bedroom furniture and the headboard to her bed to be painted with flat black paint to match the periodic table wall poster and decals that she bought at scribbleoneverything.com.


Since I signed on to decorate this young lady's self-proclaimed nerd bedroom I have hopes that I get more jobs working for the intellectual set because I have my eye on some Legend of Zelda bedding that I'm dying to use teen girls bedding set in a gamer bedroom design.

Turquoise and Brown Bedding

GO HERE TO SEE MORE!



I love this set of turquoise and brown bedding called Julia that is designed by who else but Roxy bedding! I just had to share it with you in my blog before I’ve even got it delivered to the house where I'm decorating four bedrooms including one turquoise, brown and white bedroom which is now going smoothly after a minor glitch or two.

The teen girl in the family had the idea that she wanted to combine chocolate brown and white damask print fabric with a complementary solid or small patterned turquoise blue fabric (not aqua or Robin's Egg blue, but turquoise!) which would have been pretty but to make it happen would have meant shopping for bedding, curtain and upholstery fabric and then waiting for the seamstress to get around to actually making the items.
This was not a workable plan because of a sister’s wedding that is planned for less than a few weeks away so I pulled this set of white, turquoise and brown bedding out of my little bag of decorating tricks. This brown and blue comforter set is much less formal than what she had mentioned earlier. The brown and white print actually came from one of the tropical collections of Roxy bedding for girls but wonder of wonders, the patterns were not a big deal to her.

The chocolate brown and turquoise bedroom color scheme turned out to be more important so all is well and we will have all the bedrooms decorated in time to have the house looking great for the wedding!

BLACK and WHITE FASHION BEDDING

Leah called needing help with the purses and shoes theme black and white fashion bedding set that I had recommended to her. I blogged about this set awhile ago and it just knocked her out but it was expensive. Then, when I saw the ensemble go on sale I told her and she got her mom to order it right away!

She was so excited about getting the comfort set that I couldn’t imagine what the problem might be. The bedroom color scheme of hot pink, black and white was pretty straight forward and we had ascertained that there was no need to repaint the bedroom, so what was wrong?

I feared the worst in that I was afraid that the color combination might be TOO simple. This teenage girl loves bold and some might even say wild, colors and the only bright colors in this set came in through the fashion theme graphics of the accent pillows.

After a quick trip to her house to see if I could help her mom avoid shipping the fashion theme bedding set back I was relieved to learn that the young lady’s meltdown was not that big of a deal. She didn’t like the retro look of the pink Cadillac throw pillow that came with the black and white fashion bedding set but her mom loved it.

I have to admit that the inclusion of the vintage car changed the whole complexion of the girl’s bedroom theme from sophisticated to...well, something else. I don't have a think against an Elvis theme bedroom or a rockabilly bedroom but this style would have not been in keeping with this girl's personality and that's where this pink Cadillac design was taking us.

The teen girls bedding set and bedroom decorating ideaswere based on designer purses, high heel shoes and fashion models except for that pink vintage car. Never having noticed it before, it was now bugging me that it threw the black and white fashion bedding set into the realm of rockabilly. This was one time I sided with the teenager of the house.

Tell me, would you vote to keep the pillow or lose it? Or does it really not make much difference in the overall bedroom design?