Tinkerbell Bedding Or Keeping up with Children's Changing Tastes

This month it's Tinkerbell, last month, it was Hello Kitty and before that it was Heart Catch Pretty Cure--next month, who knows? Of course what I'm talking about is my daughter's interests at whatever second, you happen to catch her and right now she's on us to get her Disney's Tinkerbell bedding and of course being the soft, wimpy parents that were are, we'll give in. Now when we first started this parenting gig, we tried to redo the entire room everytime she went into a new phase. For a long time, she loved the Powerpuff Girls and so we painted the room in all three of the Powerpuff Girl's colors, you know, blue, pink and green, and also applied a Powerpuff Girl's border. And then one day she didn't like them anymore but instead it was know the Little Mermaid. Thank you very much Walt Disney! Suddenly, that blue, pink and green looked out of place among the pinks, reds and yellows of Ariel's world. But not only that, it didn't take us long to figure out that it was going to be impossible to keep up with her changing tastes. This was going to take drastic changes.

What we ended up doing isn't rocket science by any stretch of the imagination and that's think modular. In other words, if there was a common theme among any possible interest that she could have, use that as the base for creating her room. One thing you'll common among all the sorts of things she liked is copious amounts of the color pink. It doesn't matter if it's Hello Kitty, or Snow White, there's lots of pink and white lace. So the room was painted in a light pink color and a white lace wall paper border was around the top of the room. Pretty much all of the permanent fabrics, like the curtains, where kept in coordinating but darker "neutral" colors. And when I say neutral, I'm not referring to beige or off-white, I'm referring to colors that work well with any cartoon character my daughter might like.

And don't think this won't work for a boys room but I think it'd take a little more artistic ability as well as tolerance on the part of the parents. For the most part, boys interests happen primarily in jungles or in space. G. I. Joe--jungle, dinosaurs--jungle, hotwheels--jungle, ok well maybe not all take place in the jungle but you get my drift. Find something that will work as a base for all of the things your boy might like.

As far as children's bedroom furniture goes for something, try to go for quality and again something that's neutral (nothing that looks like it came out of Beauty and the Beast). Quality to me means real wood and that's what we've put in her room. Real wood has the advantage that it can be refinished many times over, something you can't do with particle board.

So now that you've gotten everything in place--the walls are painted in a way that bridges interests together with the furniture--now comes the real fun, accessories! Posters are cheap. Sheets and bedding items are too costly either. So today, it's Tinker bell Bedding but tomorrow who cares. If she changes her mind, the only thing that has to be changed in the room is a few accessories.

My wife and I have been running the same paint and wall border for the last four years and it's worked out great for every new thing that's come along. And it's not that we're trying to teach our daughter to be wasteful, throwing away money on every new fad that comes along. In the long run, it's teaching her to be resourceful. The posters and other accessories she buys come from her allowance from keeping her room clean and doing the dishes, and bedspreads come around birthday's and Christmas. All in all, it doesn't take to much effort to keep in style.

I've been interested in design since childhood. Most kids liked to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings but not me. I got up and watched This Old House with Bob Villa, and The Christopher Lowell Show, with none other than the fabulous Christopher Lowell.  If you enjoyed this article, perhaps you might like this other interior design related article on leather furniture.