Girl Bedroom Ideas: Pink cowgirl all the way

November 1st, 2011 | Posted by ideaqueen in Girl Bedroom Ideas - (Comments Off)

Saddle up, cowgirl! And bring all your pink with you if you want.

It’s a fascinating contrast when you start looking at all the pink cowgirl bedding and decor items you can get. For an adult, it just seems a tiny bit odd, but for a young girl, it makes perfect sense. So if your girly girl wants a cowgirl bedroom, it’s easy enough to do. Just imagine her cowboy hat has a bow on it instead of dust.

I’ve included two of my favorite cowgirl bedding sets here. The paisley pink western bedding isn’t overtly cowgirl until you add in the throw pillows. It’s somewhat elegant, definitely a look she can grow with since it’s not too little girl. I could see a teen using this set. The other cowgirl bedding set pictured here is just sweet and would work well for a younger girl.

Or you could build the room around a great piece of cowgirl decor. I personally loved this cowgirls stretched canvas wall art from Oopsy Daisy. Plenty of pink, plenty of cowgirl, plenty of girl – perfect!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission, probably enough to get a stick of gum. I generally only recommend products or services on this blog that I would use personally and believe you will find cool as well. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Girl Bedroom Ideas: Just one Disney Princess?

December 12th, 2010 | Posted by ideaqueen in Decorating Tips | Girl Bedroom Ideas - (Comments Off)

Finding Disney Princess items for a girl’s bedroom isn’t that hard. Tons of frilly pink things featuring Cinderella, Belle, Aurora and Snow White, usually. But … what if your little girl is a big fan of just one specific princess? Be it Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine, Tiana, Rapunzel … you get the picture.

This isn’t the most difficult thing to deliver on, although they don’t make it easy for you with bedding sets for individual princesses. (Other than Tiana and Rapunzel, but that’s just because they’re the newest ones.) Actually, there are still ones for Belle and Ariel floating around and I occasionally see one with Snow White and the dwarves over on eBay. But generally, out of luck.

So here’s what we’ll do. We’ll be combining what we know about decorating with what we know about our specific princess and develop a theme from there. Ready?

Color
This step is easy since Disney has pretty much developed a specific color scheme for each princess, usually based on her ball gown. (Except for Ariel. She’s always still a mermaid. What gives with that?)

  • Cinderella – Baby blue
  • Belle – Yellow
  • Aurora – Light and dark pink
  • Snow White – Primary colors: yellow, red, blue
  • Ariel – Purple and turquoise (although, it could be a shade of teal; hard to tell)
  • Jasmine – Turquoise
  • Tiana – Lavender and mint (light purple and light green). Caveat: her ballgown in the movie is blue, but all the products have her in green. I don’t get it either.
  • Rapunzel – Light and medium violet

Once you have the main color, it’s easily applied to one or both of the two big pieces of your room – bed and walls. You could go with a solid comforter in the main color and neutral walls or reverse it with a neutral bedspread and the main color on the walls. Or use two shades of the same color (like light and dark turquoise). Check out the Caribbean Coolers line at Target for some good solid options. They also have a nice white eyelet comforter that would be a cute neutral.

Conveniently, just knowing what colors to use takes care of the two biggest layers of the room. Yea!

Accessories
This is where it gets easier and harder. There are throw pillows for individual princesses, blankets you can drape on the end of the bed, artwork, figurines, wall graphics. You can see where I’m going with this. I definitely suggest at least one item that goes on the bed itself – plush doll, throw pillow, blanket – that makes the theme obvious.

Think through the elements involved with each princess as well. Examples: For Cinderella, there’s her carriage and the castle. For Ariel, underwater scenes. For Tiana, frogs. You can look for these items to sprinkle in the room as well.

Really, that’s all there is to developing a bedroom theme for a single Disney princess. Love to hear your ideas and thoughts as well!

More Disney Princess bedding options

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission, probably enough to get a stick of gum. I generally only recommend products or services on this blog that I would use personally and believe you will find cool as well. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Boy Bedroom Ideas: Dinosaur dilemma

December 10th, 2010 | Posted by ideaqueen in Boy Bedroom Ideas - (Comments Off)

Dinosaurs make a great theme for a boys bedroom – no doubt about it. However, if you want to make the nursery decor last as long as possible, you end up in the din dilemma.

Take a look at these two pictures, which represent the biggest choice you’ll have to make in your dinosaur theme. Do you go with cute dinosaurs that wouldn’t hurt you (typical for a nursery) or realistic dinosaurs that are ready to wreak havoc?

So if you’re thinking about going with a dinosaur theme for your boy’s bedroom, know that your first decision is going to have to be – cute or real?

More dinosaur bedding and decor

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission, probably enough to get a stick of gum. I generally only recommend products or services on this blog that I would use personally and believe you will find cool as well. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Kids Bedroom Ideas: Where to Get Them

November 30th, 2010 | Posted by ideaqueen in Kids Bedroom Ideas - (Comments Off)

I have people tell me all the time that they just can’t come up with a good idea for decorating their child’s bedroom. Sometimes, they’re trying to avoid the cartoon character trap. Sometimes, they’re trying to work on a budget. Sometimes, they’re just overthinking it and making it more difficult than it really is.

So, how to develop a kids bedroom decorating idea? Take a deep breath and relax. I’m going to walk you through how I do it.

Personality
What’s your child like? Mellow? Hyper? Girly? Rough and tumble? This might help you decide on the overall tone for the room. A calm child might like a zen garden theme, while your “all boy” child might prefer something with bold colors. Working with their personality type can help you figure out a spot on the color wheel, as well as point you toward a set of concepts. Not to mention, clue you in on just how many accessories and what kind would be appropriate. (Example: a hyper child might never register that series of cute little airplane prints, but they’ll notice the one big wall graphic you apply.)

Interests
The obvious one, right? But coming up with a good theme involves more than just knowing they like SpongeBob if you want a theme that lasts. What are their favorite colors? Activities? Books? And carry those out farther than the obvious, if you can.

Example: My niece loves Nancy Drew. Not something you can run out and get a bedding set for, but doable. But we could take it just a step farther and go with a detective theme, incorporating Nancy Drew but maybe some other classic detectives like Holmes or Encyclopedia Brown. That one interest takes us in a different direction than we might have thought of at first.

Skill level
This one is about you. The complexity of the theme you choose is really dictated by how well you can do things like differentiate colors, mix patterns, balance scale. Or whether you can enlist a friend who does those things well. If those things scare or are just beyond you, keep it as simple as possible. That might mean just getting that cartoon character bedding and calling it good. Less stress, more sanity, happy child.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission, probably enough to get a stick of gum. I generally only recommend products or services on this blog that I would use personally and believe you will find cool as well. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”