Choosing Paint Colors for Children’s Bedrooms

The first step in designing any child’s room is choosing the paint color. The color of the walls will set the mood for the rest of the room, and unlike throw rugs or furniture, it can’t be easily changed. That’s why it’s essential to think long and hard before you commit to a color for your child’s room.

Many factors can play into this decision. You need to consider how the chosen color fits in with the rest of your house, how it will affect your child’s mood and energy levels, and the longevity of the design itself. You may want to consult a professional such as Shoreline Painting and get their opinion.

Consider the Rest of the House

One important thing to consider before selecting a color for your child’s room is the interior style of your house. A child’s room can fit their tastes and personality perfectly but clash with the flow of your interior design. In these cases, you can try a few things to make sure you and your child are satisfied:

• Shade: Even if the color your child wants isn’t used anywhere else in your house, it’s possible to change the shade so that it works with your interior design. For example, say your child has their heart set on a blue room. If your home’s paint color scheme is mostly warm colors in soft, muted shades, using a softer, muted shade of blue instead of something more vibrant can help the blue harmonize with the colors in the rest of the house.
• Furniture: To further coordinate your child’s room to your interior design, try to match their wall colors with common furniture colors in your house to keep a common design thread throughout.
• Compromise: If you can’t change the tone of the color, try incorporating it in a way where it won’t stick out. Consider using it as an accent against a more neutral tone or only having one wall painted in that color while the others are painted in another color that fits better with your interior design. Painting only one wall has the added benefit of being easy to replace if your child grows out of that color.
• Unify with accents: Even if your home uses a wide variety of base colors, you can unify the design using matching accents. For example, consider having the window trim, door trim, and moldings throughout the house painted the same color.

If you’re unsure how to match your child’s room to the rest of your house, contact Shoreline Painting for a color consultation. Our professionals will determine the best paint colors for your kids’ rooms in relation to the rest of your house.

Consider the Mood

Another thing to consider when choosing room colors is how they will affect your child’s mood. Studies have shown that different colors can alter moods. Colors that have positive effects as accents can have negative effects if used in excess. Consider the pros and cons of each color carefully before committing to it as a base:

• Red: This extremely warm, vibrant and stimulating color can increase energy, heart rate and blood pressure. However, too much red can trigger feelings of aggression and being over-energized.
• Pink: This softer color is more calming than red, especially in pastel shades. However, overuse can lead to headaches and feelings of irritation.
• Orange: Orange is a warm and cheerful color and a middle ground between red and yellow.
• Brown: This warm but earthy tone can help the viewer feel grounded but can also make a room feel small and cramped in high doses.
• Yellow: The most upbeat of the warm colors, yellow can increase energy and improve concentration and memory. Too much yellow can lead to feelings of annoyance or anger.
• Green: Green is a vibrant cool color often associated with nature. Pastel greens can help soothe anxiousness, but darker shades may leave the room feeling cramped and dim.
• Blue: This calming cool color can lower blood pressure and slow the heart rate. However, in high doses, blue can have a depressing effect.
• Purple: This stimulating cool color can increase thoughtfulness and creativity. Overusing purple can lead to feelings of depression and low energy.
• Gray: This neutral color works well when accented with brighter tones. Too much gray can lead to feelings of loneliness, but it has longevity as a base color choice.

In general, a lighter shade will open up a room, while a darker shade will make the room feel smaller. If you aren’t sure what mood you want to create or how best to create it, contact Shoreline Painting for a color consultation.

Get Your Child’s Input

Since your child is the person who will be living and sleeping in their room, it might make sense initially for them to have the final say in what color it is. However, children often lack foresight, and their tastes can change rapidly, but this doesn’t mean you should cut them out of the color selection process entirely. You can include your children in color selection in several ways and still get a room that will make both of you happy.

• Choose specifics for them: A good way to compromise with your child is to let them pick the base color, then you choose the specific shade. Say your child has their heart set on a purple room. Instead of a neon shade, you can easily choose a light pastel that fits in with the rest of your interior design.
• Give them options: Another way to help your child feel involved is to pick several color options and let them choose one themselves. This way, they still feel like a participant, but you have control over the potential options.
• Just one wall: For a pop of color that will appease your child, consider having just one wall painted in their preferred shade. If you particularly dislike the color but can’t compromise, make it the door wall — this way, the color will be invisible from outside the room.
• Draw inspiration: If your child has a favorite character, game or story, try pulling room color ideas from that theme. This doesn’t necessarily require detailed art — even a few base colors can evoke that theme. And if you can make a connection between your preferred design and something they love, then you’ll both be happier for it.

Think About the Future

As children grow, their preferences change. What makes them happy now might not in a few years or even months, and having their room repainted every time they change their preferences isn’t efficient. Additionally, there are practical reasons not to go with extremely personalized designs — resale value. The idea of having to repaint rooms is often unappealing to potential buyers, so a timeless design can be appealing from the start and helpful in the long run.

Here are a few easy ways to keep your child’s room long-lasting:

• Neutral base colors: If the room’s painted in neutral tones, it’s easier to pair with pre-existing furniture or design preferences. Instead of bright colors, consider having the walls done in neutral tones like gray or beige. If you must go with a non-neutral color, use a lighter, muted shade that can pair well with most design themes. This also holds up well to growing children and changing preferences.
• Limit bright accents: If you decide to incorporate bright colors into your child’s room, consider doing it in small or easily changeable ways. Limit bright colors to accents, or paint a single wall in a bright color while leaving the rest a neutral tone. This way, if you decide to make any color changes, you’ll only need to have the accents or the single wall repainted.
• Look into popular themes: A simple way to design a long-lasting color scheme is to look into what colors are traditionally long-lasting. Trends can change from year to year, but some stay relatively popular over time.

If you’re unsure how to create a long-lasting design, consider calling Shoreline Painting for an at-home consultation.

Consult a Professional Painter

Even after doing your own research, committing to a child’s bedroom color might seem like a daunting task. In these cases, consider enlisting a professional painting consultant. Shoreline Painting offers color consultations to help you make the best choice for your child’s room. With the help of our professional consultants, you can make a confident, informed choice on what paint color to choose.

There are several reasons to bring in a professional painting consultant, aside from just the comfort of a professional opinion:

• Light evaluation: Paint colors often appear different depending on the lighting in a room. Our consultants can recommend optimal colors, depending on the amount of natural and artificial light the room gets.
• Pre-existing interior design: Our consultants can create a theme that looks good on its own and fits in with the existing interior design of your home.
• Mood: Our consultants can help you choose the perfect mood for your child’s room by selecting colors based on their effects on emotions and energy levels.
• Longevity: Our consultants are well-versed in current trends and popular color schemes. The guidance they provide will help you create a color scheme that lasts.
• Get involved: Our consultants will come to your home to assess the space you want painted. Once you explain your preferences and what mood you’d like the room to create, they’ll present several options so you can make the final decision. In the end, you still have full control.

Shoreline Painting is fully qualified to assess your living space and guide you towards your ideal paint color. We are a Fine Paints of Europe Certified Master Painter, skilled at envisioning and executing quality painting services that last. Our consultation process is as follows:

1. Once you book your appointment, our color consultant will arrive at your specified location.
2. The consultant will examine the space you want to have painted.
3. Once they’ve assessed the area, they’ll discuss your style preferences and what kind of mood you want to create in the room.
4. Finally, they’ll present you with various choices to select from.

Our goal is to ensure your satisfaction with the final product. Our consultant will work with you to ensure that you love the colors you choose.

Color Scheme Ideas for Children’s Rooms

Even after considering your child’s mood and preference, the rest of your home’s design, and a professional opinion, you may still be unsure how to design your child’s room. Here are a few color scheme concepts to help you get started.

Ideas for Painting Your Son’s Room (Other Than Blue)

Deciding on a paint color for a boy’s room can be a daunting task. Boys seem to change their minds about what they like. What they love today, they hate tomorrow, and if they don’t like something they’ll let you know it. When choosing paint color, a boy’s room should reflect his personal style and taste. It should also be a color that he’ll appreciate as he grows — and that you’ll be able to stand looking at every day.

Here are some boy paint color ideas to consider.

Paint Color for a Boy Nursery

There’s certainly nothing wrong with blue as a paint color for a baby boy’s room, but it’s understandable if you want to break out of the expected gender norms for color and try something new with your son. While modern society has progressed enough that you could probably paint your daughter’s room blue without getting any second look, painting your son’s room pink might have the neighbors wondering what you’re up to.

There are some great non-gender-specific boy paint color ideas you could pursue without getting any unwanted attention from nosy neighbors, family members and friends. Various shades of green may be something you want to consider. Green has some of the qualities of blue, such as tranquility, and inspiration. It’s also reminiscent of nature and growth. A nice shade of chocolate brown can be appealing for a little boy’s room, and mixing in oranges and yellows can inspire alertness and creativity.

Teenage Boy Paint Color Ideas

There’s one undisputed expert on your teenage boy paint color ideas, and that’s your teenage boy. When you’re deciding what color to paint your boy’s bedroom, you should discuss it with him. Sit down with a color wheel and show him his choices.

It’s possible your boy will gravitate toward something radical — like paint the whole room black or red. You should gently remind your son that he should be able to live with the color scheme he chooses for the next four or five years, and walking into a black void or a fiery explosion of red may seem cool for a while, but could get tiresome or overwhelming fast. A good compromise is a main color like blue, brown or green with some black or red accents to give your son the best of both worlds.

It can also be a good idea to incorporate some variation of white when choosing boy paint color ideas. The white tends to reflect the other colors in the room, so if your boy’s color tastes are constantly changing, his walls will always go with the new theme.

Red as a Paint Color for a Boy Bedroom

Red may be a more common request for a boy’s bedroom, as red appears in many superhero costumes and baseball uniforms that young boys often admire. It can be a fun and exciting color, but it can be a little overwhelming. Red has been shown to elevate the heart rate, and it’s known as the color of passion. There’s a good chance your young boy is fairly rowdy. If so, use red in moderation. Including it in a color scheme is fine if that’s what your son wants, but offsetting it with cooler colors like white, green and blue is recommended.

Ideas for Painting Your Daughter’s Room (Aside From Pink)

Adults and children often have different tastes when it comes to color. Younger people often like bolder, brighter colors, while many adults, stimulated enough by the stresses of everyday life, prefer more muted, neutral shades. Each child is an individual and will have her own tastes when it comes to paint color for bedroom walls. If you have a girl, paint colors for a room where she will be spending most of her time will be extremely important, and you want to do it right. Here are some ideas for painting your daughter’s room (aside from pink).

Paint Color for a Baby Girl Nursery

While pink is certainly a fine paint color for a baby girl nursery, it’s understandable if your concerned about your child getting locked into gender norms like pink for girls, blue for boys. A good compromise is some shade of purple, like lilac or lavender. Purple has qualities of both pink and blue, but it has a style all its own. Purple is the color of royalty, and the right shade of purple can be soft enough to relax a young child while bold enough to stimulate her. Purple is also a color you can complement with accents of pink, blue or cream to enhance its effect.

Paint Color Ideas for a Teenage Girl’s Bedroom

When it comes to paint color ideas for a teenage girl, there’s another factor to consider — what your teenager wants. The best approach is probably to sit down with your teenager and ask. Bring her a color wheel and go through it together to find her best choices, reminding her that the color she chooses should be one she can live with for the next four or five years.

Again, you can have multiple paint colors for bedroom walls, so think about one main color and another color to accent it. Shades of purple are still a good choice, as are light blues and greens. A painting professional should be able to offer you a free consultation to narrow down the possibilities even further.

If you and your teenage girl still aren’t quite sure what color to choose, or you know your daughter is still finding herself and may go through many style phases including cycling favorite color schemes, you may want to go with a basic off-white shade like an eggshell or a cream color. The trick here is that these colors on the wall will reflect the colors in the room, so if your daughter is in a pink phase with pink rugs and pink furniture, the walls should appear pinkish as well. If the room has a blue theme, the walls can reflect this with a bluish sheen as well. With a basic off-white shade, the color scheme can evolve with your daughter’s tastes.

General Room Painting Tips For A Girl’s Room

There are few paint colors you should avoid for a girl’s room. If you choose a mostly blue paint color for a baby girl nursery, she will not have gender identity issues because of it. In fact, equating blue with boys and pink with girls is a relatively modern phenomenon. You probably want to avoid colors like bright red or black as the main color theme for your daughter, as these colors may heighten levels of anger or depression, but almost anything — even black and red — can work in moderation.

Call Shoreline Painting Today

Choosing colors for children’s rooms can help you personalize your home and make it your own, so you want to make an informed decision. Consider how the color might make your child feel and how it will work with the rest of your interior design.

Once you have your color in mind, contact Shoreline Painting to make your idea a reality. Our eco-friendly interior painting process will leave your rooms fresh, clean and luxuriously painted. Contact us today for a painting estimate, and take the first step in reliable, quality interior renovation.