Exciting Room Themes for Little Boys

Looking for a fun and exciting theme for your little boy’s room?  How about doing something different for your son’s room? The trick to having a themed room is to not overdo it. Otherwise it can become overwhelming and start to look redundant. It’s not difficult to work with a theme. You can simply mix up colors and patterns for a successful design.

Sports

The most common theme that comes to mind is sports. Luckily there are plenty to chose from, which is good for creating a unique look. Pick one, two or even three! Painted words, sports balls, equipment, team names, logos, flags and more look really great on solid colored walls.

If you choose to do all of this on the walls, pick a solid color for the bedding and add sports patterned pillows. Chose painted or light stained wood furniture. The light wood can remind us of wooden baseball bats while the painted furniture is great to add a pop against the solid colored walls. For a finishing touch, try framing some pictures of your little guy playing his favorite sport!

Sailing

Maybe you want to stay away from the common sports theme room. Well, what about sailing? Little boys love blue and what theme could possibly have more blue than sailing?

Striped, dark blue bedding and decorative sailing pillows are a great place to start. Pair this with white furniture, Paint the walls a light blue. Hang up sailing prints or even mount a lifesaver on the wall. Finally, add a dark blue lamp base with a white shade, sailboat accessories and photographs of your rugrat boating with his family.

Construction

For my last suggestion, what about creating a real manly man theme such as construction? Little boys love cement trucks, dump trucks and tools, so why not bring this into their room? I recommend painting the walls a solid light color with construction images. Add construction theme bedding and pair it with solid colored decorative pillows. Finally, keep the lamps, accessories and stuffed animals of a non-construction theme to change things up a bit.

Creating a Home Library You’ll Want to Visit: 5 Inspirations

If you’re lucky enough to have an in-home library, you may find it difficult to create a space that maximizes storage without sacrificing appeal. Celebrate your home library by creating an inspiring space.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Go classic museum. Give your space an art-museum feel by adding classic pieces. This museum bench is an awesome piece that would nicely complement stone flooring. As seen in the Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) 2005 Biennial Exhibition, the Case Study Museum Bench was designed and developed at the Modernica Studio in Los Angeles. The Museum Bench is extremely substantial and appropriate for high traffic and commercial use.
2. Bring the world home. Brainstorm creative ways to bring your world travels home. Use your library as a place to display collected art pieces or a push-pinned map. Consider adding to that cultured feel by including a trunk for extra storage. It’s perfect for a small throw blanket or two.
3. Decorate with light. Warm overhead lighting will provide a comforting feel. Lights directed toward shelves or artwork draw the eye to the most inspiring elements of the room. Don’t forget to highlight your favorite hanging art pieces or statues. It’s generally pretty easy to find lights that can be fixed to the top of the shelves, angling over to display shelf contents. Consider LEDs for a bright, targeted, energy-friendly solution. Visit your local library to see how they lit their shelves.
4. Don’t skip art.
   Paintings don’t have to be confined to walls. You can mount these pieces right onto bookshelves. This is a great way to break up the continuous pattern the shelves provide. I suggest using contrasting colors to give it an extra “pop.”
   That look can also be achieved by placing art on the shelves themselves. This is a great way to mix up your collection. My favorite way to place art is in accordance to the way books are organized. For example, the popular “A” and “Z” shelf ends can indicate where author last names begin and end. For a fun option, consider choosing art pieces that describe the content of the books (such as: business, art, fun, reference, etc). If you have kids, consider using their pictures to indicate their growing collection on the shelf. Make it fun for them to interact with reading! Bottom line: Be creative in a way that makes sense for you and your family.
5. Stay alive with plants. Libraries are notorious for feeling dusty, their shelves stacked with titles from countless authors. Add a little life with plants. Large, leafy plants are good options. Of course, ensure the plant you choose has sufficient lighting.
   Unless you’re seriously disadvantaged at keeping plants alive, opt for live plants over their fake counterparts. This will side step the dust and provide a much more vibrant feel.

What have you done to make your home library – of office – more inspiring? Feel free to link to photos to share your space and inspire others!

A New Look For Baby Rooms

It’s a boy; I must use blue and white…. It’s a girl; I must use pink and white…. Are you tired of feeling trapped in what society views your baby’s room should look like? Well, here are some thoughts for bringing a new look for our future generations.

Light pink is generally used for little girls. But what about taking it up a notch to a darker brighter pink? Pairing it with a lime green and/or a bright dark yellow can bring a phenomenal pop to a room for your little girl. Is this a little bit too much out of the norm for you? Try mixing a dark chocolate brown with the standard light pink. How about adding light green or blue? Just because it’s a girl doesn’t mean she can’t have blue!

Baby Blue is often used for little boys, but what boy is going to want that light of a color once he gets a little older? Why not start off with a brighter blue or navy? Try pairing it with red for a pop! Did you know that red is often the first color a baby can see? Other color combinations for your little baby boy might be lime green and white, black and yellow, or light green and brown.

Now you may be saying, I really like the idea of doing something different but where am I going to find the bedding? The standard baby chain stores typically have the same themed bedding. Try going to a baby boutique in a trendy urban downtown, have custom bedding made or you could even make it yourself! I guarantee the local fabric store will have plenty of what you need. If you have something more specific in mind, I would recommend spending some time shopping on the internet. I bet you can find it somewhere in the world! As for the furniture, try pieces that are painted white, black of even smoky gray. This will provide a sharp contrast against the wall paint you have chosen.

Several other ideas to bring a change to the old fashion baby room would be to hang a trendy baby quilt on the wall. Have their name stitched on it with some fun patterns. Might I recommend animals or sailboats? Don’t forget to bring in the fun colors with the fabrics! As for other artwork, keep with one theme. Trying to add too many can end up giving you a room that looks like mass chaos. As for the typical baby rocker, try modernizing it with a rocker-recliner. In some instances you may even be able to pick a fun fabric to coordinate with the room. Why not be comfortable while rocking you baby to sleep? You are going to be spending a lot of time in that chair, might as well invest some money in it.

Just take a minute to think about this. If you stay away from the typical baby colors, your child may not ask you to paint their room a different color for years. Well, one can at least hope!