Decorating a Newly Built Home

The best thing to do is to paint your kids room in a neutral color and then use accent colors. Putting colorful pillows on their beds hanging colorful pictures.

Ideas to dress up furniture use a stencil to dress it up. Another idea you could blow up a big picture of something your kids like and glue on the front of a dresser using a knife to cut the drawers. Those are easy things to change as they get older.

D.

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I had our builder use the good hardwood laminate (thick) in most of the house instead of carpet...better for allergies, easier to see dust and clean up spills, etc. Now I wish I would have had them do the bedrooms too.

My 5.5 yr old daughter wanted her room painted, so I compromised with her and said ok, but just 2 walls. I brought home some paint chips for her to look at and she came up with a pink. I painted 2 walls and it looks great. The whole room pink would have been overwhelming even to her. Then we picked out stick up characters, she chose Tinkerbell. She has moved them several times but who cares. They unstick and restick easily. She has several lavender and pink items in her room so we got a netting to hang from the ceiling over her bed and purple butterflies (beading) that hangs from her doorway at the dollar store. She loves it.
The cordless blinds are great. I got the honeycomb kind that just go up and down with your hand.
At some point I am going to move the main tv from the family room off the kitchen into the gameroom so people who want to watch tv can do so and not be bothered with kitchen noises of running water and cooking. The family room sitting area can be replaced with a pool table/air hockey/game table, etc. I'm tired of being Sh'd by my kids when I am in the kitchen and they are watching tv!
My husband and I love the sitting area in our master bedroom. We have 2 upholstered rockers and can watch tv or visit, or read and are out of the mainstream.When we want to be all together we gather in the family room or gameroom.
My son enjoys his room to play video games, he is 9. Most of the time, though, he is outside. He enjoys having his own bathroom, and actually my daughter does too.
We have a one level home and really enjoy it, with the master bedroom on the oppposite side of the house from all the other bedrooms and gameroom.
Best wishes on your new home.

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I have six children ALL under 13 and have seven bedroom house... I let them ALL pick there own colors just to make it exciting.. .i let them pick the COLOR but not the exact COLOR, my son ty picked GREEN of course I picked a pretty green that he could grow with, it goes with red and blue like a sea foam grean but better... my daughter picked yellow but i PICKED A PRETTY yellow, it looks great with her horses.. and the purple room, I picked a soft purple.. so letting them pick is GREAT but you need to pick the SHADE so that it is workable and lets them grow with the room... I get allot of compliments.. i was so worried, the rest of my house is taupe... thank goodness. hope this helped... L. www.athomebuisness.myarbonne.com

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For my son (8 now) we were seeing his interests change so often he was wanting different things too often to keep up. So, we painted his room blue (his favorite color) and then did denim comforters on the bed and for the curtains. I let him pick posters and throw pillows, and then when his interests change I am only looking at maybe $20 for a new room.

I would let them choose the wall color and then if it is too crazy for you only paint 1/2 the wall and do a chair rail. For pink and purple you could do dark on bottom and something in the same shade only WAY lighter on top. For red we did white on top in my 2 year olds room and it turned out great. One suggestion about paint, so not get it at Home Depot. We have tried paint from there several times, and it ALWAYS peels on us. And we prime the walls first. Since I have never had this problem with other paints I have to assume it is them.

Some other kid friendly ideas are to have plenty of cabinets or shelves with baskets to hide toys or game systems in. My good friend bought couches that have a skirt around the bottom and lets her youngest have some shallow bins hidden under there with his "tools" and cars. Works great in that no one would know they are there, but him.

Also, avoid glass tables, they are fingerprint magnets. And the microsuede fabric is amazingly easy to clean, so if you let your kids have PB & J in the living room, you might see if you like the looks of it. My kids got some kid size chairs in that fabric for Christmas and when I saw how hard it has been for them to destroy I bought a new recliner in the same fabric. Amazing. Everything comes off.

Good luck. Have fun.

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Pick a neutral color for the walls and use colors in the fabrics. That is a good way for your kids to grow into their rooms because you can change curtains and pillows anytime but re-painting is always a pain. Also don't buy kiddie furniture because you'll just have to buy new furtniture down the line as they grow. Good luck!

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I only painted 2 walls also, it keeps it from being too much, and too closed in. To get decoration ideas go thru magazines, go window shop and I go to model homes often and get ideas. They are always up to date. My kids have schemes they can grow with. Its not too hard these days. My daughter's room has that flower look from the 60's and you find stuff everywhere in multi colors. Home interior and hobby lobby and Target had just what I needed to decorate. Good luck

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A.,

there is a seller on ebay that has wonderful NEW bedding and room decor for children. In fact all three of my girls have stuff from them all over their rooms. The ebay store is beyond bedding. you can either bid or buy right then. It is good quality too. Good luck. If you need anything else let me know I love to do that kind of work. I am 26 with 3 kids and I work real estate. It is kinda my thing you could say...

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Just throwing out ideas...
For the girl, bright colored polka dots (pinks, oranges, etc..), and for the boy, stripes or a nautical theme would be nice, and grow with them for quite a while. :)
For the rest of the house...have lots of storage easily accessible (baskets and chests) for storage of toys and kid stuff that doesn't have to stay all over the living room floor.

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been there, done that, almost exactly.

What we did. Painted all rooms same color- whole house. It is easier and cheaper.

Kids each picked their colors and their bed linens, curtains,etc. was that color. Then I let them put things on the wall to reflect their personality and color choices (I could take those down and change them out whenever they wanted!). Their btrm was the same. I bought a multicolored shower curtain we all liked and they each picked a towel color. That was their color so no fights about towels either. ;-)

Kid friendly. Burbur carpet-super easy to clean up. Or tile, pergo, other hard surfaces. Patterns/colors that hide dirt (literally) and are easy to clean. So my lv rm, kitchen, etc. are stained wood, little wallpaper, and very tough paint by the backdoor (where we enter daily). The rest of the house you turn a corner to see so it is all painted surfaces. By the backdoor I did my thing and ignored contractors/decorators. So my bthrm is off-white fixtures (wanted tan really. LOL) The walls in that hall/entry way are painted first coat glossy (scrubbable), second coat sponged sort of like faux a color from my wall paper (sort of coral/tannish pink), third layer another shade of same color. I took the colors from the kitchen wallpaper so it all blends together as you enter the house. But I can scrub that wall! And it still looks good after all these years. It has seen dirt, clay, mud, blood, food, you name it. I also painted the bthrm by that door in the same fashion and I get a lot of compliments on it. I will be painting the laundry room that way soon. I painted it plain just like they wanted me too and it looks awful. The walls get so dirty and cannot be scrubbed. ugh.

In case you can't tell I live in the country and everyone, kids as well as adults bring in all sorts of dirt. They go to the bathroom to wash up, go to the laundry room for a cold drink (xtra fridge there) and then enter the kitchen.

Identify your main traffic areas/dirt zones. Decorate them to be scrubbable! ;-)

Side note: I did a paint project with dd when she hit about 13 and we painted a jungle on her entire room together. Took us a week and we had a blast. But I used to oil paint, so this was like having a giant canvas. If you feel adventurous you could try that when you have lived in it awhile and the kids are ready for change. But I don't suggest it first moving in. The whole moving in/decorating thing is a huge job in itself!

Good luck,

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I would LOVE to help you with this. I am a Southern Living at Home consulant and LOVE their products but I also Love interior decorating. I have done my own painting, picked out my own window treatments and all that. It is a passion of mine. I would love to have you over to see the work that I have done and to just get to know you. Contact me at ____@____.com sounds like so much fun!

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For the kids room hire a paint company and do something awesome like a mural or stripes or clouds. Something that can be painted over someday but special for the next serveral years. Artisen paint in The Woodlands is awesome. I may not have spelled it right. FOr downstairs make sure to have hidden storage everywhere for art and toys. You can put builtins in the living room with doors. A window seat in the kitchen with cabinets under. Have fun.

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Try getting a Pottery Barn Kids (Growing Spaces) - Rooms That Grow With YOur Child, 1-800-430-7373. www.potterybarnkids.com has a store locater. They have great decorating idea for boys and girls even if you don't buy their furniture. Also, Benjamin Moore Paints has a website you can check out different room colors and different room ideas for kids. Hope this helps.

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Hello,
My name is J. and i am an Interior Designer and we may be able to help each other. I am a WAHM with two boys and we have recently relocated to NW Houston. I offer Color Consultations and Room Design Consultations for new construction. I would love to discuss your project and offer you a discounted price on my services. You can contact me at ____@____.com