I was so excited when I got this reader email in my in-box. This is such a great challenge, and has lots of room for creativity! Maybe we should devote a week to making projects inspired by this question.
Dear Heather,
I’m a big fan of your site! I often turn to it for quick (and cheap) solutions, but, alas, can not find anything for my current dilemma!
You see, I’m a teen (or tween, if you want to call it that), and at that age when, well, I want to express myself, especially in the form of decor for my room. Now I know that you have several cool decorating ideas for girls my age on your site, but here’s the thing, I’m forced to share my room with my 8 year-old mess of a brother. We’ve tried dividing it, but our room is small, and my brothers idea of decorating is taping posters, papers, and toys his “section” of the room.
I’m just curious if you might know of of any gender-neutral (but still cute and awesome) ideas for decor that both I and my brother would be happy with. :P
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Ashley.
[inspiration room: tan with aqua and white accents from PBTeen]
My quick ideas are:
- Is there a theme you can agree on with your brother? Examples: pirates or surfing, a specific color, or nature
- Is there a version of your favorite color (or his) that will work for you both?
- Use a gender-neutral base color (like gray or tan) and accessorize with colors that work with those but can play more girly on your side of the room, and more boyish on his side of the room.
- If your parents will let you paint the room, paint is pretty inexpensive – starting at about $12 a gallon
- You can also use that inexpensive room paint to repaint furniture (again, if your parents let you!)
- Numbers and letters are cool design elements, and very gender neutral. You can get papier-mache letters at craft stores for pretty cheap (about $5 for a really big one, less for smaller ones) and decorate them however you want. Your brother might even enjoy decorating his own letter along with you for some brother-sister bonding time.
[inspiration room: green with blue, yellow, green decor from PBTeen]
Some simple, inexpensive projects for decorating your side of the room would be:
- No-Sew Bandanna Pillow Covers: buy bandannas in colors you like and tie two of them together at the corners over a throw pillow – quick and easy (and easy to change whenever you want). Or here are instructions for a no-sew pillow roll.
- Scrapbook Paper Mosaic Wall Decor: get scrapbook paper, tape it on the wall
- Take-out Box Lamp: you need a string of twinkle lights and three plastic takeout boxes
I just know you readers will have lots of good ideas! Feel free to add your ideas and links to projects and inspiration in the comments!
14 Comments
Kathy V.
I love that you’re answering mail on your blog…
Lynn
Are you redecorating the whole room? Things like paint & rugs? How about comforters/bed sets? Furniture? Do you have any liked colors or hobbies/themes in common? Let us know what you will be doing, and what you cannot change. I’m sure we can come up with lots of ideas to help you get started.
Angie
Wasn’t sure if the first poster was being sarcastic or not, so I thought I would say that I really do think it’s great that you are answering this here, where others ideas can also be contributed.
As for a gender neutral room, I think finding a theme and colors you can agree on is the key. There are a lot of themes out there that can go for either boys or girls. It’s also helpful to apply this principle to accessories, like lights and art.
You could also setup the room to give each of you your own space to keep your gender specific things. For example, he could hang up a few posters over his desk, while the rest of the room remains in theme.
Ashley
Thanks! :D
I think the whole neutral-ish colors and themes may be a good idea, we just need to agree on a theme. As for the current state of the walls, I don’t really think we’d be painting them anytime soon. Right now our room is rather bland, though (light-brown carpet and white walls O.o), so I think maybe we could add bright colors as well as neutral to give it an edge. Thanks for the suggestions, I’m sure that these will help make our room look more like a fun and cool room and less like an office where there just happens to be a bunk-bed (my computer is in here :p) when our friends come over. xD
heather
@Angie, the first poster was my mom. :) She really is glad I’m answering mail on the site! :) Thanks for your suggestions!
Angie
Whew! Glad to hear it :D Hi mom!
heather
@Angie ha ha! :)
Kat
How about Earth themed. Tan as the base, blue and green for your brother, you could go with red and orange.
Another theme could be the movies red, white and black. Put posters in frames (you can get them from Wal-Mart) then you can change when you like, this will make feel like a theater. You can buy popcorn plastic containers at the dollar tree and target in there dollar section. Use them to hold pencils for you desk, your hairbrush, just about anything small. A sign for your door when you need alone time could say “Now starring Ashley until 5:00pm” If you can, curtains around each bed would go great in this themed room.
Katie
If painting is out, see if your parents will spring for new curtains and comforters for your beds to spruce things up. Your walls and carpet are already neutral, so see if you and your brother can agree on a color scheme — blues, oranges, reds and greens are all gender-neutral. Possible combos: Rust red/white/tan; white and navy (stripes would make it somewhat nautical); tan and orange.
Try framing all the posters and hanging them together artfully (like in catalogs), and you can do the same for pictures of friends, etc. You could each get your own bulletin board — possibly cover it in fabric to match your new color scheme. I’ve done this several times, and it’s quick, cheap and easy. This site has had several how-tos on that, too.
One more option if you can’t paint: Tack up fabric on the walls. It can be a tapestry, bedsheet with a cool pattern, quilt or just plain fabric.
@Kat, I like the movie theme, too!
Good luck, Ashley! Hope we hear about the results.
Caitlyn
Contact paper rocks for decorating. Look for something that mentions being repositionable – most brands have reformulated their glue in recent years so it isn’t as sticky, which means it won’t ruin the paint. (If your parents are dubious, you could offer to stick some inside a closet where it won’t show and press it down real hard (use the edge of a credit card) and leave it for a week and then peel it off again to see if it tore the paint.)
Anyway, get a roll of contact paper (black is great, but you can find other basic colors) and cut out shapes and stick them on the walls – cool geometric patterns, or swirly curvy abstract shapes (tell your brother they’re tentacles!) or animal shapes – there’s some really cool images at http://www.tattootribes.com/index.php you could try
Jane
Try covering opposing walls floor to ceiling in posters, etc for each of you. If you can not afford to frame everything in poster frames (very inexpensive at Michael’s if you use coupons) make a “mat” for each using taped together scrapbook paper or pick up a foreign newspaper.
If you don’t want to attach to walls consider running fishing line strung across the wall with mini clothespins seperated with knots. Use the clips to hold pictures, postcards and things like tickets or other paper you find fun.
Do you or anyone you know sew? You can put together pillows and bed coverings to allow you to turn your bed into a daybed. Can you arrange your furniture to turn your bed into an island? What about mosquito netting? Or if that is too expensive to buy you can make your own out of an embroidery hoop and netting from the fabric stores.
King size flat sheets on clearance can give you lots of cheap fabric in neutral colors to make lots of things like duvet covers, basic pillows (that you can then embellish), and curtains.
Consider getting your brother an easy way to toss all his clutter away. You can check thrift stores for a cedar chest or toy box to repaint or a giant basket or under bed tubs. Maybe if all he had to do was toss he would do and get everyone “off his back” about his messy room.
Good luck!
Ashley
Thanks again for the ideas guys. As soon as my dad gets home I’m going ot ask him if we can go to Michael’s to get some scrapbook paper, thumbtacks, and some of the other things you guys mentioned, and there also happens to be a dollar tree right next to our local Michaels. :D I’ll be sure to post the results, if we do go to the store that is. here.
-Ashley.
SHirin
I love the second inspiration photos – I think the colors are perfect for something gender neutral but still fun, happy and child-like. I love the polka dot rug!
Ramsey
I have a question about what the name of the second quilt is called I’m redoing my room also and I’m not a girly person so this is great and it’s the colors I’m looking for. Please let me know :) thanks!