How To Paint Your Kids Room

By VanLines.com

After moving, there are several home improvement projects that you will want to attend to. Kids’ rooms are the most fun to decorate and paint. You can let your imagination and creativity take over. You can also paint your child’s room to match their current interests and to make the room lively and interesting, and yet also restful.

If you’ve decided to give your child’s room a personal touch by painting it yourself, make sure that you consider safety and comfort, too, aside from design.

Safety.
When it comes to interior paints, safety is unfortunately the most overlooked. But in fact, it is the most important consideration. When painting children’s rooms, and more particularly infants’ rooms, take extra care to use paints that are less toxic. Although there are a few paints these days that still contain lead, most ordinary paints contain VOCs, or volatile organic chemicals, that when inhaled can cause irritation in the eyes and throat, as well as leave long term effects that damage internal organs and nervous system development. Children are particularly vulnerable.

There are many alternative paints now in the market, ranging from natural paints, low VOC paints and zero-VOC paints. Examine these, read the labels and ask your hardware which paint is best for children’s rooms.

Even if the paint you use is the less toxic type, make sure you let the paint dry out completely before letting your child finally move into the room. Drying paint releases gasses that might affect your child’s health.

Comfort.
Comfort and design go hand in hand. There’s nothing like letting your creativity run loose and coming up with a design that literally throbs with life. But if this is your child’s bedroom, it’s best to rein in some of the wilder ideas.

The walls and ceiling (the painted surfaces) are the biggest and most visible parts of your child’s room. And it helps to ensure that their colors are comforting and relaxing to the occupant. Colors that are restful to the eye will help your child get a good night’s sleep. Shades of light yellows and greens are the easiest on the eyes. Light blues are soothing and shades of orange or pink are warm. Keep vibrant colors for room accents, like a cute chair, shelf, or toy chest. Or reserve vibrant colors and designs to just one wall of the room, leaving the rest in more muted tones.

Design.
Design is of course the best part of painting your child’s room. Consider a design that reflects your child’s interests, and involve your child in conceptualizing the design. Maybe paint a dark green rectangle on one wall to get an instant chalk board that’s both fun and functional. Or, simple flowers painted at intervals to add a bit of country charm.

Knowing simple paint techniques (or learning them from a DIY book) can come in handy. You can stamp on designs on the wall just by using a thick cardboard cut-out. Alternatively, you can find ready-made cut outs and stamps, or decorated paint rollers at your hardware shop.

More complicated designs means finishing off your painting project using wall stickers. These are available pre-designed or you can cut your own. Whichever way you choose to paint and accent your child’s room, make sure you have fun with your child in designing the concept and putting finishing touches to your work.