We are thinking of re-doing my sons room for his birthday and he is wanting to do it in Avatar but I want him to do it in something that will grow up with him so we don't have to re-do it again when he outgrows Avatar. What would you do??
I agree with you. I wouldn't want to do a set theme. My son LOVES Cars. However, he's only 3--he will be into something else in about 6 months. I would just do standard boy colors--blues, greens, grays, etc. Then buy him a couple of poster frames. He can change out the posters depending on what he's into at the moment.
You could paint the walls in his room a brilliant cerulean blue w/ black ceiling, and make or buy a planet themed bed set. The cerulean color, paired with a few movie posters of Avatar and a couple (removable, or easily painted over) stencils or simple silhouettes of avatar characters and creatures, would theme the room enough. Once he is through with Avatar , you could continue with space itself (or easily change the color of the ceiling and change the theme to deep sea/old west/what have you). Is it possible for a young person to outgrow the magic of space?
We are in the same boat. My son wants Buzz Lightyear everything and wants his room painted "Buzz Green". I told him we can do the bottom hald green and the top stays cream. He is getting buzz bedding for his birthday and I figure paint is fairly inexpensive and if it makes him happy to get to choose and be creative then why not? We won't get carried away and in fact the green will be a bit darker than the bright green on Buzz, but it will be a compromise that in the end he will love and be proud to say he "redid" his room! I say go for it!
Pick wall colors, rugs, and window treatments that are in the colors of the show, but are neutral (I don't know avatar, but if the lead character wears a blue robe, use that color). Let him get Avatar sheets or bedding and a framed poster. In a couple of years, the color will still work and you can just update the bedding and wall decorations.
That said, I would not allow my kids to do any "theme" that is commercially developed. No disney princess bedding for us. But I have always told them you can love the movies, you can buy the books, you can pretend, but our house is not a disney shrine. I woudl tell them to be creative and come up with their own ideas and not rely on what someone else is trying to sell to them. So, that is not a criticism if you do Avatar, but an idea on how to approach it. You could make him a magical fantasy room - whateever Avatar is about - but not use actual Avatar character stuff.
Use the color that matches and then use pillows and shams, rugs or anything that accents and can be changed easily and it will cost less in the end. There are lamps, etc. pictures, posters, set toys around on shelves, etc. to accent the theme. Curtains too if you have them will be easier to change.
Get some Avatar posters. That way when he outgrows it, just take them down!
oh we went through this with my daughter. however when she was little we had her room in Barbie but only the curtains, bedding, and the cling ons for the wall. We were renting so couldn't paint. When we bought this house she wanted a Bratz room but I wouldn't let her as she was 9 or 10 and knew that phase wasn't going to last much longer. We finally agreed on dolphins and I painted her room blue with a dolphin border, she has several dolphin nick nacks around the room, lamp, and we put decals on her ceiling fan. Now she is 15 and wanting something different but I haven't got the boys room done or the bathrooms and told her it probably won't be happening soon until the rest of the house projects are done. She does have a ton of various posters in her room too as she changes what she likes with changes of popular movies. She wanted a pirate room too and has just about every jack sparrow poster, batman, and now likes the mad hatter. posters are easy to remove and only has so much room for them so they get changed around often as she still likes some of the older ones and will switch them around when she gets tired of seeing one.
Pick a general color that would go with many themes and paint the walls, you can change the bedding every few years and boys are usually content with that because they can see their bedding and feel like that is the theme for their room.
I bought a sports border for the boys room but haven't had the time or energy to do their room but they have sports comforters and a few sports plaques/shelves and all their sports photos on the walls that they played in plus their trophies on shelves so they have several sports items in their room but never got the walls painted or border up. They have been content with saying they have a sports room without the extra work that I wanted to do with painting and a border.
Now they are talking about having a cammoflauge/hunting theme and they have some of that already in their room with their deer mount and deer skin plus some fishing pictures. I am considering this one because they are both into hunting and would be something they would probably like until they move out on their own.
We move every three years. The kids get a new room every time. One was a mural across the whole room with the celing. It was a farm scene with buildings and trees that went over the celing, a weeping willow, a forest area, They loved it.
We painted it white, moved and one daughter wanted four different colored walls the other wanted purple so they got that. Now we have a bright neon green room with flowers and another purple one.
I'm sure we will repaint again, hoepfully this is our last move though.
So to answer your question, I would do it and then redo it again. And when they are in middle/high school have them do it themselves.
Paint it a nice shade of blue that you could live with for a long time. Decorate with Avatar posters and some fiber optic toys.... see: http://www.amazon.com/Westminster-Mini-Fiber-Optic-Light/...
color walls and get some posters and maybe some accents that are removeable. A comforter not a whole bed set of that theme so it is switchable.
Start with a age-neutral blue for the walls. Use a cream or white for the ceiling. We did blue for my sons walls and ceiling and it makes the room feel like a cave. Anyway once you have a good wall color, you can accessorize with curtains, bedding, lamps, etc. for Avatar now and then easily change things out as he gets older.
