Stimuli

You knew the day would come but as usual it arrived much faster than you ever thought it would. Your son is now a teenager and has outgrown his “little boy” room. After the shock of this sinks in you realize now that the next thing on your list of home projects is going to have to be redecorating his room and turning it into a cool space he can be proud of. As much as you and he would like to get started right away there is a lot of background work that needs to be done in order for this room make over to be a real success.

Before doing anything you will both need to establish the goals of the project. His goals will probably include a new king size bed, a large flat screen television and a fridge. I’m guessing your budget probably won’t allow for the things on his list so, after a reality check and some laughs, you’ll probably agree on the following: the room needs to function well, it should be a reflection of him and lastly, it has to be a comfortable place to sleep, hang out and study.

More than anything the room needs to function well. You will   need to come up with a layout that makes the most of his space. It can be helpful to do a mock up of the room to scale on cardboard and then use paper cutout furniture to experiment with possible furniture lay outs. During this process you may discover that you can edit some furniture. For example you might discover that your son can do without a dresser if you put in a well thought out closet organizer and use the under bed storage that used to hold his toys. Also, when rethinking the layout, it might become clear to you that you really need to exchange an existing piece of furniture with one of a different scale to accommodate something new. For example: if you purchase a small corner desk that takes up less real estate you’ll have room for that bean bag chair.

Of course these things don’t have to be done all at once, but it really helps to set a plan in place so you can keep an eye out on Craigslist and for any future sales.          

As you know, teenagers spend an inordinate amount of time in their room - all the more reason for it to be a comfortable place he loves being in. The room should be a reflection of him and his taste so you are really going to need his input when it comes to decorating. The communication required for this part of the project has the potential to be the biggest challenge you’ll face. There are a few things that you can do to make this easier. First, don’t drag him to the paint store to look at paint and wallpaper samples. I can almost guarantee it will not be a fun outing for either of you. I’ve tried it.  I speak from experience. Secondly, ask questions but not too many. Sometimes it’s more productive to get him involved in the process by looking at décor and design on the internet. You can get a pretty good idea about what styles and colors appeal to him by going on Google Images. In fact, getting him to download his favourite images and icons could very possibly be the springboard for the rest of the room’s décor.   

Last but not least, he needs to feel really comfortable in his room. Of course a good layout and lots of storage will provide more breathing space and that’s a great starting place, but perhaps another important thing to consider is investing in a really comfortable desk chair. I know the amount of time kids spend in front of a computer. Having a chair with great support would make a huge difference to the comfort of any avid computer user.
If part of the redecorating involves new bedding for him he needs to be a part of the process because texture and the way the fabric feels really is everything. Believe it or not, some teenage boys know and really care about thread count! Well, maybe that’s just my son.

If you are at this stage of life I hope you have a lot of fun redecorating. It will not be without its challenges, but I think you will find out a lot about your son and who he wants to be and the experience of you celebrating his growth in this way will score you some cool mom points!  

by Christina Kristensen
Stimuli Magazine Contributor

Photo Credits

Top: Metro Creative
Middle:    home-designing.com
Bottom: design-decor-staging.com