Show your stripes!
Vertical or horizontal bars can be used to create either energetic or relaxing setting
Decorating a child’s room is so much fun. Here, you find the freedom to play with whimsical themes and colors, and create an imaginative space that your child will be happy to call his or her own.
Although it’s tempting to think back to what you would have wanted when you were that age, perhaps your child has different interests.
Pay attention to what sparks his or her imagination, what characters your child relates to in books or on TV and what themes are returned to at play, both solo and with friends.
Paint is such a versatile medium that you can reproduce any theme, any mood, simply by rolling color onto a wall. And there are many easy-to-apply paint finishes that will boost the room’s character even more.
Stripes can be any size and can provide a variety of looks, depending on whether you apply them vertically or horizontally.
Two crayon-colored stripes, touching each other or placed 1 or 2 feet apart over a quiet background, is youthful and full of energy.
For a peaceful mood that’s appropriate for a nursery, try wide horizontal stripes in soft shades of green or violet.
A single horizontal stripe set at about 3 feet above the floor is the perfect height for a child to line up favorite motifs with stickers or stamps.
A 9-yearold with a fascination for medieval knights was the inspiration for the bedroom shown here. Stripes are useful for lining up other patterns or placing motifs as added decoration.
Here, we chose yellow and green stripes; the yellow is the base coat.
After the base coat dried, we divided the wall into 12-inch vertical stripes, marked off with a pencil, and used lowtack painter’s tape to mask off the outside edges of each of the stripes to be painted green.
The stripes to be painted will look fatter than the stripes formed by the base coat. It’s helpful to mark an X (use painter’s tape) on the stripes not to be painted.
We applied the green stripes as a glaze, one part paint to one part glazing liquid, and applied the glaze with a kitchen sponge, washing the color onto the stripes to create a cloudy effect.
To develop the medieval theme, we looked up ancestral shields, simplified them and cut our own stencils from Mylar; then we placed the stencils at intervals, alternating between stripes. To fill in the stencils, we used gray and black acrylic paint and silver metallic paint.
To finish the walls neatly, we painted a solid green stripe along the upper wall, overlapping onto the ceiling. An orange stripe defines the top of the wall.
Decide how far you want to go with a theme.
You can stop at the wall finish, or you can add photos and accessories that continue to build on the mood.
The wide range of colors and patterns available in bed sheets, duvets and curtains always makes a statement.
Painted wood shutters suited this room, along with a cork floor that is comfortable to play on and looks great. An old steamer trunk holds toys and books and doubles as a seat.
Debbie Travis’ House to Home column is produced by Debbie Travis and Barbara Dingle. Email questions to house2home@debbietravis.com. Follow Debbie on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ debbie_travis, or visit her website, www. debbietravis.com.