Tween Room Must Haves

While our son is at his Grandpa's house this week, Mr CLH and I have been working on a little diy building project. Hopefully it will be done soon and I can share! One hint, its a great way to add more storage and take advantage of wall space.


A couple of days ago, I came across an article on Style At Home.com { love them } all about designing a stylish tween rooms on a budget. They have some great makeover tips for parents.

Study Time


1. A desk is must in tween space, as kids adjust to increasing homework and school projects. The desk should provide plenty of storage, and a comfy chair is a must and a desk lamp.


CLH: I've been stalking Craigslsit in hopes of finding the perfect desk for him. I really wanted a great vintage desk that will grow with him as he gets older. I'm crossing my fingers that an amazing desk I spotted on CL yesterday will be mine. I spoke with the lady late last night and hopefully the desk isn't too large, she has to measure and will call me back today. Hopefully it's not bad luck to share they one I found. It's an old teachers desk, solid wood.

{ image via Craigslsit Seller }

His chair for his bedroom and desk just arrived a few days ago - its very chic and modern touch his room. I found an old school desk lamp a few months back, but might go another route and sale this one in a yard sale?

Bedroom Hues


2. Wall Color, now that your kid is older let them choose a paint color or give them a selection of paint colors you can live with to choose from.


CLH: After talking about colors with my son, he opted to go a medium dark grey. I'm so glad he went darker, the color makes his room appear larger and takes a on a more mature vibe.

Decor

3. Bedding, ditch the themey bedding ' think Hannah Montana & Sonic ' Let them make their own bedding choices, but remind them they add can more personality thought art and funky pillows, other decor items etc.


CLH: My son has had pretty neutral bedding for quote sometime { when he was three he had Clifford Bedding! Love Clifford } I bought him a comforter set from JC Penny's that had his favorite colors - red & blue. The bedding is very 'boyish' with stripes and looks great with his grey walls. I don't plan on doing the 'mathcy matchy' look and will throw in some solids into the mix

{ via JCP}

Art

4. Allow tweens to choose their own wall art. Suggest they display their own art or create their own art for their walls helping them express creatively & individuality.

CLH: Framing Tabari's art has been on my to do list for far too long, fearing custom mattes and framing prices. I'm so glad I recently discovered custom mattes are actually affordable. I plan on framing Tabari's art using stock frames { found in the cheap at thrift stores and using Micheal's coupons } We'll also go shopping for posters he wants in his room. With one condition, they have to be framed! They just look cooler & nicer that way.

I like the collage look on the wall above the bed. Old records framed look cool and make a nice headboard alternative.

{ image via Sunset }

Do you have any tips on updating a kids room into a tween space ?

Sons Tween Bedroom: The Right Hue

I mentioned a few months back that I would be re-doing my sons room taking him from adolescence into his tween years. Here's a reminder of the room plan of my sons room. I love saying the word tween makes me laugh { tween definition: a youngster between 10 and 12 years of age, considered too old to be a child and too young to be a teenager }.

With our master bedroom re-do on hold while we await fabric swatches for our headboard, I thought I start tackling his bedroom. The first thing we { Tabari & I } wanted to changed was his bedroom wall color. I made the mistake of painting his room baby blue, thinking I was painting his room a more mature blue, Wrong. The color was awful and left me defeated, and I left his room along for last year plus. I love that paint is one of the quickest ways  change the look of a room. We both agreed gray was a the perfect color to paint his room. He likes our bedroom color, but wasn't a 100% sure, so I bought a sample shade of the darker gray paint hue so he could pick.

The top paint color is Montpelier Ashlar Grey, the bottom color is Woodlawn Colonial Grey { our bedroom color} He choose the darker color.

Here's his room before we began painting with 90% prefect of his stuff removed from his bedroom. It's hard to see how awful the his bedroom color was. Since he has a small room, the blue color only empathised how small it is.

There his is playing on his Nintendo. I had to remind him recently when school starts no TV in your room! During the school year he's only allowed to watch TV during the weekends.

One plus is his room is the walk-in closet. I'll be selling his toy storage in our upcoming yard sale, and replacing it with a new storage solution that's more his age and will hold his Lego's and other toys better.

Here's his new room color now, I really love the color he choose. It's a darker gray that actually makes his room look larger. The new color is a huge improvement! In the picture below the color looks like a grey/beige. It's a grey color with beige undertones, which I prefer over greys with blue undertones.

The best part of painting his bedroom this time around, was him helping me! This is how we spent our afternoon on the 4th of July. After his room was painted, Tabari went though all his toys, stuffed animals and old furniture and decided what he waned to keep and sale. This week he'll be at his grandpa's house, and I'll be working on some mini projects for his bedroom.

What do you think of the new grey color? Have you have any paint mishaps in the past?