I would definitely let her choose the pink. I mean it's only paint and there are much worse colors she could want. Just be thankful she doesn't want black :) I would definitely get a quart of what she thinks she wants and let her see a section of it painted on the wall just to make sure it's what she has in mind.

Laurie

Yes, let her see a really large area on the wall, maybe of a few pinks that she likes. Place some of her things, or colors of things she will be getting, near them and see which she likes from the lineup. Include yours too!

How about a compromise - one wall done in the bright pink and the others a lighter shade on the same strip. Maybe the one wall done in the bright color could be the one not visible from the hallway?

I just looked at the color - wow, it is bright. How about a chairrail with the bright pink on the bottom?

I was actually in a model house where they painted the closets a bolder color than the walls in the rooms. It was sort of fun in the kids rooms. One boys room was blue but the closet was red.

Oh, cindyloohoo...you just reminded me that I'd originally wanted her room to have white wainscot panels so actually I might be able to handle the bright pink if it's only "on top"?
Something like pictured here...

My sister's friend let her very young daughter pick her paint, it was a bubblegum pink. She applied a pearl glaze over it. It was without a doubt the prettiest pink room I've ever seen and her DD loved it. It was a very subtle effect but it also muted the paint in the process a bit ;) Perhaps if that's a viable option for you, if your daughter sees a sample of it she might really like it? I think it came from HD, but McCloskey makes one for sure (Lowes carries McCloskey, as do some independent paint stores).

Absolutely let your daughter pick the color for her room!!! Her vision of what makes her feel good and special in her room is as important and worthy as your vision. Pick your fights carefully..........you will have alot more important issues to assert your authority in her future (lol).

There's no such a pink that's too bright for a 6 year old girl who loves pink! So I don't think you'd be too succesful getting her to pick a softer shade.

I like the wainscot idea. I'd actually consider doing it 2/3 up the wall with a display ledge on top. You could even get a similar effect with paint/molding. Then she can go as bright as she wants in a much smaller area!

teeda...what you suggested is exactly what I had in mind--just can't find a picture of it online!

You might also pick a softer or creamier white. The contrast of a really sharp, bright white will play the pink's brightness up, I think.

I let my DD pick her room color. When she first picked up the swatch I thought I was going to cry as it was the yellowest yellow I had ever seen. NYC Taxi cab yellow. After the painter finished I walked into the room and it was the loveliest color.

Let her choose, you may be surprised at how it will look once its on the walls :)

Don't hate me, but there's something fabulous about that pink on my monitor... It tilts off to the orchid, and I can see it going actually very elegant if complemented by the right shades of orchid, yellowy sage green and deep ivory. Like Squirrel says -- nothing too bright or you'll get glare!

{{!gwi}}

What happened to my picture?!
But the link below shows the same color scheme in a Gould Hummingbird print, which could be a fabulous addition to the room -- if not now, perhaps a bit later.

Here is a link that might be useful: Colors in Gould Hummingbird

Let her pick! :) I picked the colors when my kids were smaller but have let them decide as they have been getting older. DS had a bright green room to go with his beloved Hulk when he was in that phase and now has a nice tan with lots of camo and Army items. DD picked light pink last year with purple and white furniture. They both LOVE their bedrooms. They love to show them off and tell others about them and the rooms are so them. It should be more about them since they are their rooms, where they are supposed to feel comfortable and safe. I didn't get to choose as a kid and had plain boring white walls so I want to be the "cool" Mom for my kids that I wished I had! LOL

I guess I'm going to be different. I spent 3 months working hard on my last house to turn it back into a "new" house for resale, and painted absolutely everything. Before the deal had even closed the new owner's teenaged daughter had turned her new room into the most hideous shade of pink I'd ever seen. I literally cringed when I saw it, and had to bite my tongue. So that's my starting point.

I'd have picked out three colors of paint (even three shades of pink if that's what she likes) I knew I could live with and let her choose from those. Generally speaking if you give young kids too many choices, they're bound to make the choice you hate the most. Maybe you can search the web ("pink room" under "images") and find some really pretty pink rooms and use words like, "Oh, that's dreamy! It looks like a fairy princess lives in that room!" to sell her on something you like too? It's worth a shot.

Let your daughter choose what she would want for her bedroom but give her the three choices that oceanna suggests.

I always wanted a lavender bedroom with purple accents growing up. My mother would not let me and insisted I have a light pink room and slowly she started to add lime green accents that made me hate green all my life until about 8 years ago. Also the fake lime green coat with those cheap plastic button did not help as the kids at school made furn of me. But lime green was my mother's favorite color.

Fairytale baby,

As a mom of a 4 yo ds and 2 yo dd I am all for letting my kids have choices when appropriate. However, I am thinking that 6 might be a tad young to really "know" that she will be able to enjoy such a bright pink for years to come. Sure, it's "just paint," and it can always be repainted, but taping, priming and painting just one room is a lot of work and hogs up a whole weekend. Too much work for you to cave in to the whimsical wants of such a young child.

I would find as many shades of pink that you find palatable and paint swathes of those side-by-side on the wall. Upon being faced with so many choices, I am betting that your dd will feel that she has a say and a voice, and that her wishes do matter. That is, after all, what they are always seeking-a voice. This way both you and she can be happy. And when she's, say, twelve, she can go to the paint store with you and really 100% choose whatever she likes.

I could have written the original post. I too got "busted" when my 8 year old DD saw that the paint I was buying was NOT the color she had picked.

I went ahead and bought what she wanted and I could hardly stand it when it went on the wall. If there was such a color as "fire engine pink", this was it.

We compromised after she saw how garish the paint really was. We ended up going a few shades lighter. IMO, it's *still* too jarring, and I'd love to see a softer pink, but she loves it so it's staying.

I agree with the poster above who said that age 6 is a tad young to understand the effect color will have. The pink my DD picked was one of those colors that just seemed to make everyone uncomfortable when they went in her room (including her!)

Here are a couple of options for creating "wainscotting". The first is using thin wood strips (more of a craftsman style look) that once painted looks great (I found this thread in the bathroom forums, this photo was taken during the installation phase and was only primed). The second is actually paintable wallpaper that looks like beadboard. (This was posted by dianar95 a while back). Don't know what your budget is, but to do a full wainscot 2/3 up the wall would be really expensive for a kids room. These are some alternatives that wouldn't require a major investment (so if your tastes change you wouldn't be stuck with it).

Here

I'm in the camp that says to go for it! At the age of 5 going on 6 I let my DD start picking out all that pertained to her room...it was after all her space. She chose Raspberry colored carpet and asked me to stencil pink swags along the top of her walls, and she displayed her collection of tea pots. White bedding,white lace balloon valances, and her room looked amazing...and it was exactly what she wanted. Even though that carpet was a tough pill to swallow when she picked it, biting our tongues and going for it worked out wonderfully.

When she tired of the little girl room we went shopping for paint which turned out to be a bright yellow...with raspberrry carpets?! Uh huh...this neutral loving Mom was white knuckled grasping the Home Depot shopping cart due to whooziness, lol! When we went accessory shopping she then found a bright yellow pillow with a big raspberry bloom in the center of it...like it had been the inspiration for the whole room, and once again when she was done: perfection.

Nothing I would've chosen, but so glad I let her go for it.

Just recently when we picked up a couple of nightstands on free cycle I let her choose her paint and yet again was skeptical about her paint choice...I wanted them both painted chocolate brown with new brushed nickel hardwear...her choice: bright lavendar and crystal. Hers is the one that gets all the compliments! :)

If it is really really scary then having her pick out 2 or 3 possibilities and putting up swatches might be a nice compromise.

Best of luck,

Nat

When my daughter was 4 I let her pick the wall color. Well "Deep Pink 5" was a deeper more pronounced color than I expected, and I was more than a little nervous. It really turned out nice,rather sophisticated, and actually made her room look bigger. My son picked a medium blue for his room, and a very dark blue for the furniture. I was sure the color for the furniture was way too dark, and went a bit lighter. Well of course my choice was off, and his pick turned out perfectly. Every once in a while, my daughter will start murmering about a room redesign (latest topic was day-glo orange and green) but overall, they both still like their rooms, and take pride in having designed them. My feeling about children's room colors is "That is why they have a door" It is their space, and I really don't have to look at it if I don't want to.

I am old school: kids are kids and moms are moms. 6 is old enough to suggest a color but not to specify the shade or tint. When she is old enough to help with painting (in a labor-saving way) then she can have more say.

It would be a shame to create another Beauty Queen Alicia from WifeSwap:

Here is a link that might be useful: Karen Guastaferro has made her home fit for a queen

Hi Fairytale baby, I'm a believer of them being kids for just so long and it's only paint. My youngest decided he wanted a Monster Garage room. So...he helped me to do it. He hand drew the flames on his black walls (yes black), we got him a craftsman tool chest as his dresser, I made a faux leather bed coverlet that we covered in patches and pins collected over the years. Found a cute chrome tool chest for his hot wheel collection. The room grew with a few more additions before he turned 16 last year and helped me with two coats of primer and a nice warm milk chocolate brown and a silvery taupe grown up bedspread. All back to normal. But the years of fun and memories he and I had doing his room, his space, his oasis are stored away in both of our hearts and minds. And I actually had a lot of fun doing it too. My sister did comment she thought the flames were more hell like that Monster Garage like, but he was a happy kid. And isn't that what life with kids is really about?

Good luck to you!

(I'm putting a link here, I usually lurk and don't post often, so I hope this works... http://www.flickr.com/photos/milkmaid1979/sets/72157594477941651/ )

Here is a link that might be useful: Monster Garage Bedroom

milkmaid - that is one of the coolest boy's rooms I've ever seen! Kudos to you for letting him get the room of his dreams - His vision is awesome!!!

Oh, great......thanks milkmaid! Now my DH is going to want chrome blinds in the garage! LOL

That's really cool that you let him do that--I have to agree with those on the board who've said that this pink paint will be special to her because she chose it.

merry_me...I'm not Karen Guastaferro and I'm not raising a spoiled beauty queen. Even if I do let her choose her room paint it doesn't mean that we'll cater to her every whim and have a Christmas tree up year round so that she can have daily presents!
There are many, many aspects of dd's life that I control...I've decided that her room color doesn't need to be one of them. If it makes her feel special to choose the paint, then that just makes it a little easier on me.

Ok, F.T.B. as long as there is no Christmas tree with daily presents *grin*, have fun!

Cool Monster Garage Bedroom milkmaid, what great creativity!

merry_me...that family was nutty and both parents were so rude!

Teeda, thank you so much for posting those pictures! I remember when the gal posted about the painted wallpaper that looked like beadboard. Do any of you know where to get that?

I'm in the let your DD choose the paint color crowd. :)

I've been there, done that with the bright pink walls! My oldest daughter has always been very artistic, when she was 7 yo, she wanted vivid pink walls and stylized murals of french poodles in her 'ooh la la' room. I indulged her and boy did she love that room, so all of her girl friends that visited.

Here is a link that might be useful:

My dd has a bubble gum pink room. I asked her what color and I picked the shade. Yes, it is bright (I didn't meant it to come out that way), but she loves it. She's only 5, so I'm guessing it will get painted again in a few years as she gets older. Right now I'm in the process or finished the wood to create a rail to go around to top of her room so she'll have somewhere to put all those stuffed animals!

Robbi

I'm in the "let her pick her color" camp. Although I don't have direct experience with my own children (yet), a friend of mine let her daughter around that age pick the colors for her rooms. The ceiling was purple. Two of the walls were red (a more orangey red, NOT something that went with the purple). Two of the walls were green. Daddy helped her hang twinkle lights on the ceiling.

I guess most would cringe when they walked into that room, it was that - how do I put this - off the chart in regard to convention decorating styles. I have to tell you though, the way that little girl's face lit up when she proudly told me that SHE picked the colors and SHE thought it was beautiful is still cemented in my mind. She was 6 at the time and is now a teen and I'm constantly in awe of how her mom seems to give her enough freedom to be herself while still raising a respectful young adult who knows her limits. Her taste has improved as well :).

Anyway, I'm not such a control freak about something like paint color that I would focus more on it than on that radiant look of happiness on a child's face when they are in a space that the made look beautiful by their standards. It's a good lesson for adults to, about beauty being in the eye of the beholder.

zipdee...what color is that in dd's poodle room? I'd love to look it up and "compare" what my dd has planned...

Thanks!

If the pink is that bad in large doses, maybe she can do some original artwork with that as the background color. Someone had given ideas on here before on how to use some artist canvases and design your own artwork. She could embelish these any way she likes and hang several large ones on her wall that you can keep for posterity as well to show her when she has a child who wants do their own thing. :)

Fairytalebaby .. I'm sorry, I don't remember the paint color. My oldest is 12 now, so that was five years ago. I remember the color was from Lowes and in one of their kids selections at the time. My girls have always picked up every paint chip that has caught their eye walking through the paint section. *LOL* I'm sorry I can't help out more, good luck with the paint decision!

milkmaid - As the mom of two boys, I adore your son's Monster Garage room!

Laurie

Thanks to all that commented on the Little Kid's room. It really WAS fun to continue on collecting signed posters by all The Orange County Chopper peeps (he did get to meet most of them as well) and we found an old red Camaro hood for his headboard. It was just a fun time and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

FTB, I hope we get to see photos of the creation, enjoy it! And I have two sets of chrome mini-blinds I'll make your DH a deal on LOL

As a mom whose kids are all grownups now, I'm on the "let her choose" side also. The memories you and she will have of her dream room are worth more than the cost of repainting if she can't stand it after a while. (And, on the other hand, if she really doesn't like the color after it's on there might be a little lesson there for her in living with your choices!)

After a while I didn't read all the replies but what about this: YOU pick out 3-5 pinks from the paint store squares that you'd be fine with. Bring them home and let her choose from them. Everybody wins. She gets a choice and you've eliminated some crazy ones you'd have a problem with. Just a suggestion.

I have a 5 year old DD, and I vote for letting her pick! When we moved into our new house I gave my daughter the choice of a couple of pinks but I gave her the choice from the fan deck. Well she picked out the brightest pepto-pink she could find (that was not one of the options!). Once I explained that we should try to find something that matched her bedding, we both then decided on a bright pink that worked for her and matched. And it's bright. I remember when they first painted it before any furniture was in the room, the hallway glowed pink outside her room.

It all boils down to the fact that she loves it and we can live with it. I'm just grateful we painted before red became her second favorite color!! I tried to find a picture but I must have deleted it along the way.

I'd let her pick too. When my DD was 10 she wanted a bubble gum pink room and I let her, now she is 22 and she has her own home now. Her old room is now a neutral color, but sometimes I wish we could go back to the bubble gum pink room...

I'm very late to the opinion party here, but I just wanted to point out that I think it's wonderful to partner with our children on decorating their rooms. Letting them experiment with color, helping them with furniture placement and other design elements ... I think essentially it's really helping to develop the inner decorator in each of them! Think how many adults are afraid to paint anything other than white -- would life be different if their moms & dads had encouraged color exploration in their own homes and rooms?

Last year, before loading some gorgeous Art Deco furniture we bought off Craigslist into our then 10-y.o. daughter's room, I talked to her about how the yellow that was on the walls (which she chose) just didn't work with the light bird's eye maple furniture. (Truly, it was going to be a terrible combo). We talked about potential colors and we went to the paint store. She went straight to BM French Lilac as her one and only choice. I, of course, picked out several other paint chips for variety and home we went. Well, we ended up with her first, instinctive choice and the room is just gorgeous. It better be, because that furniture is never going anywhere. Heavy doesn't even begin to describe it! LOL

Anyway, I love that my daughter loves her room, and that she chose the paint. I never had that chance when I was a kid!

I tend to agree to let them specify the color, but perhaps you tweak the shade/intensity. Or as Kabergs suggested, tell her it must match her bedding. I did the same with my 9 year old. We painted her room SW Fussy Pink on two walls and SW Dancing Green. I tell her that we'll have to keep her door shut to keep out the "atomic glow" from the rest of the house! HAHA! The truth is, I think it's really gorgeous and looks great with her off white furniture. I would've have loved a room like that when I was her age. Sorry I don't have a good pic with the furniture-all I have is DD's crappy camera!! :) The pink is more accurate with the first picture. But none of the pics do the color justice. It really is gorgeous!
{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}

I went through this with my almost 5 year old daughter. She wanted her room painted pink and when we went to the store she picked a very bright pink. I told her it was too bright and showed her a few she could pick from.

I still thought it was too pink, but I could live with it. She was happy, too. A young child really doesn't have the vision to understand just how pink a bright pink will look on the walls.

I chose my daughters wall color when she was still in my belly, and am lucky that at 5, she still likes it. I chose Laura Ashley Deep Pink 5 (just like your daughter, mildredpots). It turned out very nice. I use LA Apple 4 to do a scallop at the ceiling. It made a sweet nursery and transitioned well into a big girl room. When she is ready for a change, I will give her choices based on the color she wants and we will go from there. I am a color junkie, so will most likely only be disappointed if she chooses beige, LOL!

Here is a link to pictures of her room. I don't have any good pictures of it made into a big girl room. In fact, I still have stuff to do in there. Maybe this summer I can finally get it finished up.

good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Emma's Room

I am all for letting kids have a say in their bedrooms but within reason. Maybe you should give her a selection of 4 or 5 colors to pick from.

My brother let my neice pick the color for her room. She is 13. She picked Pepto-Bismol pink and electric blue. It is just awful!!

Thanks for all the great advice! The walls have been painted...(drumroll please)...SW Fussy Pink which is just slightly lighter than the Vivacious Pink she originally wanted.

I don't have any "good" pictures yet but will be posting ALL my paint pics soon once the crown molding and lighting is installed in the new house.

I warned our builder that we were choosing "Easter Egg" colors for that end of the house, lol. ODD's room is bright pink...younger DD's room is lavender...their shared bathroom is light green.

I'm excited about seeing all the colors together--I can't wait! So much agonizing went into the choices and in a few weeks we'll be visiting the house to see it all in person!

I have been scrolling thru the posts only to see you already painted. Well, I was going to be the one to say "dont do it, if your gut says no". When we moved into our new home I let my daughter pick her paint. I wanted a pretty light lavendar....she wanted lavendar too. She picked a SW shade several darker than I suggested. I tried nicely to persuade her that it was too dark, but she was persistant that this was the color she wanted. I had 2 gallons mixed and started painting. IT WAS JUST AS I expected...awful. She agreed with me. Back to HD, and we got the color 3 lighter on the same stick. Its very pretty. But it was the color I suggested as the darkest we go. I learned the hard way that MOM IS USUALLY RIGHT. Her color looked like a neon Barney...which is not cool for a 11 year old. Now its a darker lavendar, its not super pastel like I would have picked....its still pretty. When it came time to paint my sons room, I said, here are your choices, which do you like...I didnt give him the paint deck:)

Looks like I'm late to the game, but I was going to suggest just painting it a shade or two lighter of the same strip as I doubt they'd notice as it probably would be the shade she imagined in the end.

I agree, lyfia. When she looks at the paint chip, she's imagining the look she wants, but through experience, we know that she's likely not choosing the paint chip that will actually achieve what she has in mind. I let my 5yo choose the color card and pick her favorite. Then I used my own skills to choose a color which I expected to give the final product that she actually was trying to communicate that she wanted. At that age and experience, they don't really know what the outcome is going to be (shoot, most adults have trouble with that.)