Decorating and Design - Decorating and Organizing a Child's Room

I am in need of some advice on how to decorate and organize my 8 year old son's bedroom. I am currently living in an apartment and cannot make any permanent changes to the room (ex. paint the walls, change the structure, etc.). Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

I don't know if you have an Ikea where you live but they have wonderful items to use for a childs room. They are not too expensive either. Very colorful items. If you go and visit them they have vignettes set up of different set ups to give you ideas.

Hi there! I also live in an apartment. I have an 8 1/2 month old son and his room theme is trains, planes and automobiles. If you have a Target near you, they have a great selection of kid's bedroom items which I used. What really makes the room fun is the self adhesive wall stick ups that I got there. I know Home Depot, Lowe's, and wal-mart also carry them. As far as storage, he has a fairly large closet but he also has a bookshelf and I got one of those link things you hang from the ceiling to put his teddy bears on, I am hoping this won't leave a large hole! I also bought wooden letters(his name) and small wooden train at my local hobby store and painted them in primary colors to match the decor. I put the train on his window sill and the primary letters on his door using mounting tape that is usually used for posters. One more thing I did was to replace the switchplate covers with ones that coordinated with the theme as well. I am now thinking about decorating his dresser but I'm not sure yet! I hope this has helped you! Also, try about.com, they have some great ideas for decorating kids' rooms!

Djwana

I am also thinking about replacing his drawer pulls with decorative ones or just painting them primary colors as well!

Te best advice I have is "Rubbermaid" LOL We have several different containers for different things. See thru ones are nice so they can tell what goes in there without even opening every lid. My son has lots of action figures, legos and hot wheels. We drew a picture and then laminated it and hot glued it to the top of the Rubbermaid container so has a "tabletop" so to speak to play with those things on. The hot wheels has roads and stop sign drawn on it, the lego one has a castle with towers drawn on it. With those as backdrops he is less likely to carry them around the house ( usually leaving a trail as he goes) Also bookcases are wonderful both for toys and books. They are usually inexpensive and can be painted to go with any room.

For decorating try getting posters and framing them, then getting solid color bed linens then add character pillows etc to personalize. Also wall shelves are great for keeping clutter off the floor.

I've done several childrens' bedrooms within an apartment setting, and my most popular request has been boards cut out to fit the shape of a character and painted. I've created nearly a jungle full of giraffes, monkeys, birds, etc by drawing the image on a board and then cutting the shape out of the wood. They can be hung on the wall with minimal effort, and they look amazing when finished. You can also use sheets of medium-thick styrofoam.

Another item popular with children are large stuffed animals. A big, soft animal is always a welcomed addition by adding both design and a comforting friend to your child.

Art.com also has a lot of great artwork for children. (and no, I don't work for them) :)

Paint the furniture... Hang some airplanes from the ceiling... Find a style that relates to what your child is interested in if he/she is old enough.

Hope I helped!

Solace,
Raven