Creative Decorating Ideas for the Teen Bedroom

There comes a time in every teen's life when their childhood bedroom suddenly begins to look juvenile or childish. It could be the piles of stuffed animals, cutesy flowered curtains, or the baby blue walls with wallpaper border featuring Tonka trucks, that begins to look strange, and most teens come to a point where they want their bedroom decor to look more adult. Teen bedrooms can easily be turned into a safe haven and a place where the bedroom decor reflects the interests and personality of the teen.

A New Coat of Paint

A new color of paint can go a long way for revitalizing a bedroom and updating the color to reflect a more teen or adult color scheme. Teens can find many different modern color schemes for decorating by taking a trip to the local Home Depot, Lowes, or other paint store. The paint swatches can be brought home to match up with existing room decor, or used to coordinate a new color scheme in the teen bedroom.

The baby blue paint of childhood can be repainted rather easily, with some paint primer and a new color batch made at the local paint store. Sometimes, adding a fresh coat of a similar color of paint will work wonders to update a childhood bedroom to a more mature teen bedroom.

Keep What You Can

The piles of stuffed animals on the bed may have to go, but not every reminder of childhood needs to get put in storage or sent to the Goodwill. To adapt a childhood bedroom to a teen bedroom, keep the most essential bedroom pieces and accessories. New furniture will cost the most to replace, and most furniture pieces can be updated to fit in the teen bedroom. A flowered canopy bed can be turned into a modern teen look with a simple change in the bedding and canopy draping. For teens, solid colors or adult bedding sets can often replace a more juvenile themed bedding set for under $100.

New teen themed appliances can often be found at retail stores such as Target, in modern designs, for reasonable costs. Adding new lighting, shelving, or a few framed prints can change the entire look of the bedroom. Old fixtures can blend with the new, and save on the cost of completely redecorating the teen bedroom.

Themes

Dawson Leery, from the popular teen show, Dawson's Creek created a unique teen bedroom based on his love for movies and all things Steven Spielberg. Teens often have interests which can be the basis for a new teen bedroom style. Themed teen bedrooms are easy to create. Start with a general theme, and add small details, such as unique accessories or accents. A music loving teen might decide on adding some framed music posters to their walls, while an athlete might want to showcase awards or trophies related to their sport. Art loving teens might want to use their bedroom to display some of their own artwork. The list of potential themes for teen bedrooms is endless, and creative teens can take the opportunity to create a bedroom decor that fits their interests and personalities.

Visit the Local College Bookstore

Another way to find creative ideas for the teen bedroom is to make a visit to the local college bookstore. Most college bookstores sell a variety of dorm room decor and accessories, which could be used to decorate a college bound teen's bedroom at home. Teens who spend time studying or working on the computer in their bedroom are likely to find some interesting desk decor at college bookstores.

Local retail stores, as well as online retailers, often have many college dorm themed items and accessories on sale in late summer, right before college students return to school. Teens can get bedroom ideas from the college dorm decor advertised at back-to-school time. Ideally, parents might want to consider shopping for dorm-themed merchandise for their teen's bedroom in late summer.

Find Inexpensive Bedroom Accessories

Redecorating a teen bedroom does not have to stress the pocketbook. One way to prevent overcharging or buying teen bedroom decor is to give teens a budget to work with. Teens can narrow down the most expensive items and do some comparison shopping before redecorating. Local thrift stores may have some unique bargains for decorating the teen bedroom, and many times a little refurbishment or good cleaning can add additional teen bedroom decor items, without paying top dollar for new items at retail stores.

Ebay is another outlet for searching for affordable teen bedroom accessories. Teens who want to really stretch their bedroom decorating budget might want to consider visiting some local garage sales during the summer.