Love your ideas, and I love the bathroom for a boy! The only thing that really jumps out at me is the dark blue on the walls. I did blue in my son's room, and I ended up finding it depressing, so we painted over it. Plus it makes the room seem smaller and more claustrophobic.

I don't have a color to recommend, but if it were me, I'd lighten the walls considerably to make the room a bit more cheery. A cheery room = a cheery kid. lol. Even light blue walls in a kid's bedroom bothers me. I have no idea why!

I know this is a home decorating forum, but I would love to know, Scoobyruby, what the plant on your hutch is. It is gorgeous!!

How old is your son? The question I ask is because I basically left my son's room as is until he was old enough to have definate opinions (that ended up being the summer before high school.) What we ended up doing was a paint technique I got from a Ralph Lauren folder that looks like denim fabric panels on one wall. It took several different paint colors and then dragging the wall with a special wire brush. The other walls were painted white with the moldings painted indigo to go with the accent wall.

It has ended up being a pretty good room for a teenage boy.

Barb,
I am not sure...MIL gave me 2 & I can't kill them!! You don't water the dirt - you put the water in the cup that the leaves make...she got them at Kroger(grocery store) they are a tropical plant.
I do like the denim paint treatment.
I have cut my wallpaper to 3 foot sections & will begin hanging that.

I think part of my problem is 2 directions.....when he was younger I was going for kinda classic Americana.....Norman Rockwell prints-one called A Day in the Life of a Boy(great) - plaids & denim - we also pulled in some cars/transportation(loved Thomas the Tank Engine & could spot cars on the road at young age) .

Now he is pulling in all this Star Wars stuff that I know (but he doesn't realize) will be out next year or so.

So, I want to try to make it just a classic boys room where he can throw in his current obsession & then we can take it down easily but still have the bones of the room in good shape. Does that make any sense??

Btw, he's 8.

I just love this print!!

Smiles:)

I used RL bedding in DS when we were ready to upgrade. Did a denim comforter (not a duvet) along with sheeting and Euros from the collection. The comforter had an Indian pattern to it and we pulled colors from there (dark blue, light blue, dark barn red and a ivory). Walls matched the ivory color.

Why do you want the bed floating in the middle of the room? How old is he?

The houseplant is a variety of a bromeliad. Yep, the are hard to kill.

Alpinia purpurata known commonly as Hawaiian Red Ginger.

Why is the bed in the middle of the room? Can't it go against the big blank wall?

What things in the room have to stay? Does the electric piano have to be in the room?

There is already built in shelving so bringing in floor standing shelving is not really a priority is it?

Alpinia purpurata known commonly as Hawaiian Red Ginger.

I have to disagree. Her bloom doesn't have the same characteristics. I used to have many bromeliads. I think it's a (species) Billbergia, a bromeliad that is found in Mexico/Brazil.

Too funny....about the plant - I don't know - threw away the little tags - but they won't die & the only plants in this house have to be hardy!! I do have some ivy that has made it for almost a year!! Yay me:)

Oh, the bed is in the middle of the room b/c I am hanging the beadboard wallpaper.

THe piano - yeah, I guess it needs to stay - I don't have anywhere else to put it - guitair, too.

Allison - I am saving my old RL comforter for him. It is their Estate collection - I love it - classic paisley. He might not like it as a teen but I could see it in his 1st apartment or such. He'll probably be total opposite of us, thou & go for modern contemporary!!

SMiles:)

Iam sure this will be unpopular, but the room has very, very nice woodwork - I would either do real beadboard or forget it. IMO, the faux wallpaper stuff will detract from the very nice existing woodwork, not enhance it.

I would go for the Star Wars -- a brillant theme with lots of possibilities! Switch out the bathroom shower curtain (for now!) and the artwork (for now!) Add some of his Star Wars "stuff" to the shelves.

In the bedroom -- move a full bed against (well put the headboard there!) the 13 foot wall. Put the Star Wars poster over the headboard. Add a night table and a lamp (or even put a couple of wall sconces over the bed)

THEN add a few of Target's bulletin boards (check the office supply section) for his "displays" -- easy to change out and less damage to the walls too!

Thank you all for the possibilities on the plant. The bloom is really pretty in the picture, and if it is hard to kill, all the better!

Scoobyruby, just a comment on the Star Wars thing. He will for sure outgrow the sheets and the R2D2 model, but he may continue on with his fascination with the whole thing. My son knows every plot, every character, every battleship, when and where the movies were filmed... It's kind of like how some guys are with baseball trivia. And then comes The Lord of the Rings...

Don't know if that changes your plans, but thought I should warn you that some of them don't outgrow it, they grow into it!!!!

I personally know more about star wars than I ever did about doing my hair...and I have just (at 45) quit collecting...the SW theme done well might last forever.

I have been planning my son's SW room since I was pregnant. I want to do a mural of the planet tatooine (where Luke lived with his aunt and uncle). You could immitate this easily with simple tan colored walls, and then add posters from that particular movie...

Okay, I give in to The Force!!

The battle between mom wanting classic Americana vs. Boy wanting his obsession....Star Wars is over - Mom lost. Away go the nostalgic Norman Rockwells....but he had them in his nursery...sniff-sniff.

I have another poster in his OLD playroom of the original Star Wars cast....so I can stand looking at young Harrison Ford:)

So....cool ideas around Star Wars?

Paint color? He requested blue & picked this color out but probably wouldn't notice a tweak.

Chalkboard Paint border above wainscotting (sorry Jen - the wallpaper is already up....gotta dry then I will paint it & add chair rail But I do see your point - :))

Shower curtain?

I like the idea of sconces, Teacats.....would it be bad to throw in some pewter/chrome even thou all other hardware is ORB?

Color to paint bookshelf for next to bed - something cool & unexpected!

I am even open to painting the surface of his desk - whoa that dark blue sure does show dust!!

I am getting excited even thou I was defeated:)

And ya'll that little r2d2 is adorable - if you have a child into Star Wars - add it to the list! He does all sorts of stuff - I even enjoy playing with him & he is stubborn.

Smiles:)

Okay...what about a peel & stick mural like this?

{{!gwi}}
53Hx66W - kinda neat?
Can always revert back to a space theme - which is always interesting if Star Wars thins out for him. I just think about the box of Transformers I have to pack up from the last few years.

Smiles:)

I have to agree about the plant--it's definitely a bromeliad. They're VERY popular in Florida where I lived for 7yrs and they were one of the few plants I didn't kill!

Hey I like the mural! Very cooool!

How about some glow-in-the-dark stars and planets? LOL!

And you can always hang models of the Star Wars ships from the ceiling with fishing line!

I think silver sconces would be just fine in his room!

And the bulletin boards will allow easy-and-fast changes around the whole room!

Here is a link that might be useful: art.com -- Star Wars artworks and posters

I believe you are right about it being a bromeliad. Billbergia pyramidallis? There are so many bromeliad types. A close up photo of the plant would cinch it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Billbergia

Here's some items from Target.com .....

Here is a link that might be useful: Target.com -- Star Wars

Fun shower curtain from Target!

Here is a link that might be useful: Shower Curtain

Hate to tell you, but you are just beginning the stage of your child wanting a greater say in how his room looks and his opinons may change drastically over the course of the next few years. I'd focus most of my time and money into putting in good bones--nice sturdy furniture, plenty of storage, a good place to study and house a computer, and a nice place to relax with friends. Bedding will probably change over the next few years and what is the latest fad now may seem too kiddish in another few years. I can see adding some neat space/solar decor to round out the Star Wars theme. You can even get glow in the dark stars/moons/etc. to put on the ceiling. I hope I do not offend, but I am not in favor of putting TVs in kid's rooms. The counselors at my DS's high school even discourage having computers in bedrooms, though I do allow my teenaged children to have them. The feeling is that it becomes diffcult to keep tabs on what they are doing and there are too many distractions from homework, family and other pursuits.

My 15-year-old DS really likes black furniture so more recent pieces have been added in black from IKEA and/or Target--shelving, wall cubes, frames, etc. I think black accents are popular with a lot of teens so may be a good idea to think about when working in new pieces. It works pretty well with his existing oak furniture. His walls are about the same color as yours. I'd prefer lighter, but he chose the color. It's only paint and your DS's room looks to get a lot of light.

Also, consider good task lighting: for the bedside, desk and any other reading area.

Your DS is lucky to have such a large room. All my kid's rooms are from 9x10 to 10x12.

I don't know if you are up for this, but as a mom who always looks for a learning moment- how about mocking up a real solar system on his wall or ceiling (don't know if a glow in the dark one is available anywhere, or how you feel about trying to paint one ) and then adding in where he wants to any Star Wars stuff- like other planets, battleships, etc. Could be homemade, or perhaps stuff is available commercially. Also, there have been some incredible pictures from the ?Voyager (I'm not sure of the name of what NASA sent up) that you could perhaps get copies of and put up if he likes. That could get his imagination going.

Just a thought. He would learn something, it hopefully could be a lot of fun, and it would be a one of a kind creative project. If it was painted, once he is sick of it, if ever, you could just paint over it.

OK, how about this? You have that white ceiling- the sun could go in the corner, and the planets could radiate out across the ceiling.Just for fun, a little house with a boy standing up on planet Earth. You could even draw in arcs for the orbits. Then, anywhere he wants, a Star Wars rocket, or tatooine, or let him tell you.....

Or the sun could go in the center of the ceiling of course....

I wish my son was younger.

Just an FYI (personal experience). My son covered his ceiling, walls and closet doors with glow in the dark stars when he was about your son's age. When he was in middle school he reconfigured them to spell a girl's initials! Anyway, when they fall off or you want to remove them they leave behind the "stick-um." Very hard to remove. The room will be cute and your son will love that his voice was heard. The mural is very cool!

Have fun.

JR

Gosh, this board moves fast!!
I wanted to thank you for your input!! I am working on the wainscotting right now so his room is a disaster area right now - where is the yellow caution tape?

The stars were aligned...my DH came back with some awesome shots of the stars - Orions belt that we are going to see how they look enlarged a bit - might be cool to add in with his Star Wars posters.

I might could get my MIL to paint something for me - the planets would be awesome & educational.

Smiles:)