bmxmom, have you asked your son? Most nine year old boys have an opinion on how they want "their" room to look. I know mine did. I find kids are more likely to be proud enough to keep their rooms somewhat clean without too much urging from Mom if they helped decorate it.

He chose the general colors that he wanted, but is having a hard time deciding how he wants it painted. He thought that we should ask some people for ideas that he could choose from. Thanks!

Lime green is youthful and energetic.

bmxmom- Can you tell us what kind of activities or interests he has?

Here is a thought for you. You could look at the thread in our gallery on kids rooms and save to a folder all the pictures you like best, then show them to your son and you two could discuss what you do or don't like about them. This would give you possibly an inspiration room, and at the least some good ideas. I'll put the link for you here...

Here is a link that might be useful: Kids rooms

Groomingal- He races BMX, so is very big into anything bikes. He also loves lizards, snakes, ocean animals and Star Wars.
Oceanna- Thanks for the link...it was fun to look at. I'll have him take a look at it tomorrow and see if he sees anything he likes. I'm wondering about some of the geometric figures??
He wants to use all 4 colors and that may be a way to do it without having a room that was too overwhelming. I was wondering if I should do the walls in gray and use the other colors to accent??
Thanks for the input!

bmxmom- I thought your handle might have something to do with that ;)

I think your son would like the overwhelming aspect of the colors- BMX is extreme and he really enjoys it.

How about a curved line around the room- not just in the middle- but where it varies in height and width and the peak of the curve is not a triangle but rounded to the left or right. ***see like this....as she makes a curvy motion with a finger in the air****

Below the curve paint the white, above lime green or reverse it. Outline that curvy line with a thick black band. Use the gray in the bedding/drapes- maybe trim them off in black.

I think a pewter-gray wall and white trim would be great, with generous use of the lime and black in other stuff like bedding, throw rug, furniture etc. Maybe paint a secondhand dresser or desk lime green and put shiny black and chrome knobs on it, paint a bed frame high-gloss black. Frame some posters in shiny black or chrome frames. Target has some nifty and reasonably priced bedding in the colors he likes.

I found a bunch of websites that sell some cool BMX-themed wall decals (removable with no damage!), here's one sample. Google "bmx wall decal" for many more.

The nice aspect of Mari's suggestion (in addition to that incredibly cool decal, my kids would be salivating over that!) is that when he tires of black and lime green, pewter with white trim can get "teenage-ified" very easily -- so might save you having to repaint down the road.

Groomingal, loved the finger in the air -- I knew exactly what you meant. (:

Bmxmom, I would give some serious thought to color psychology in a kid's room. I'd read up on color psychology (easy to google) but also observe your own son. Certain colors might send him bouncing off the wall, whereas he might be depressed around others. Personally, I don't think I'd paint a kid's wall grey or black.

Hmmm, what's wrong with a nice pewter? With white trim, black-framed posters? Too depressing? Not if you went with a light pewter and perked it up with lots of lime green art?

My ds's room (and our MBR) are a light blue-gray, BM's Horizon. It looks better in his room with blue carpet than ours with green, but not depressing at all. I also like the accent wall of BM Light Pewter in the bathroom with White Satin (blue) as dominant color - thinking of repainting the MBR with that (was 1st choice for both BRs until I thought it looked too gray, should have just used it for MBR and bought Horizon for DS in the first place - instead of being talked into "you've got too many different colors in your house already, you can't have the bedrooms and bathrooms different from everything else!").

Gray, Black & White are all neutrals, maybe you can bring in one more color that's not a neutral like a gray-blue for the walls. Then you can have white on the trim and the other colors, with green as the primary in bedding, accents & accessories.

I would put the gray on the walls, white trim, black furniture. Then maybe add some chrome/silver lighting, maybe a large magnet board made of flashing to add some industrial accents. Pop with the green in the bedding, area rug, art... I would even just paint panels of lime green directly on the wall as art, or paint these boxes and put the flashing in the middle, or black frames or floating shelves. Or if you want just paint canvases solid green and hang them. I would not do anything fussy or he will grow out of it. If you do any window treatments I would use simple panels with grommets. They could be in another color to work with the green. I would go with crisp white like at Ikea. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00120979

Here is a link that might be useful: curtain style

These are all such fun ideas...thanks for all of your input. I showed him several pictures and he was very excited about the BMX decals (thanks Jonmari!). Will give some thought about the gray walls- I'm thinking if we add enough accent color it shouldn't be depressing for him. We also like the idea of the curvy line along the top and the canvases and magnet boards. Too many decisions!!!

I had a room with gray walls when I was a teenager that wasn't the least bit depressing. (Even though I did suffer from pretty severe depression, my room was actually one of the places where I felt safest and happiest.) The trim was white and everything in the room was either bright red, electric blue, shiny black, white, or chrome (SO very 80s LOL) or combinations thereof. I had so many things on the walls that the gray just served as a nice backdrop for them, I didn't have vast expanses of dreary, empty grayness. It was actually quite cheerful and fun.

Oh I'm glad you are involving your son in his own room. That makes for wonderful memories in the years to come. I know from experience both as a child and a mom. My Mom and I shared decorating each others home through out her life and our daughter now asks for help with her home.
I doubt I can help you anymore than what's already been said above other than if you have photos of him rasing you can have them enlarged for $19.99 at Walgreens for his room. I'm sure that he'd like that.

I like the idea of a light silver, almost white paint and the BMX Sticker with some bright bedding. Scroll down in this website to the lime green and black BMX theme
I love decorating kids rooms. So much more fun than adults...LOL

BMX Bedding

Another Decal

My 10 and 12 yr old boy's room is red, with a black wall done with chalk board paint. I love it, and they've said it's the coolest room of all their friends :)
But, I'd give up the red to do a cool lime green in a heart beat! I'm kind of over red these days.

We got a new flat screen, so they have a newer t.v. in there now. Although they loved the last one, because it belonged to their great grandpa!

BMX mom, I saw a photo in a magazine, where he had a black and white photo blown up to cover and entire wall. It was really cool. Perhaps you could get a great photo of your son on his BMX bike and have it blown up to cover a wall in his room (Black and White) and take the design from there.

You guys are awesome! Thanks so much for all of the cool ideas. My son loved the bedding and we are looking into the black and white picture of him for the wall.

Sounds like you've gotten some great ideas. Here are a few more sites to check out:

BMX mural
http://www.lelandswallpaper.com/images/BR-75039C(large).jpg

BMX black decal
http://cgi.ebay.com/Wall-Mural%2FWall-Decal%2FBMX%2FBike%2FExtreme-Sports_W0QQitemZ320385268408QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090617?IMSfp=TL090617187004r30320

Scroll down to the BMX decal (looks like you can choose the 2 colors used in this decal):
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18553777

2 BMX bicycle scene choices:
http://www.stevesblindsandwallpaper.com/1/3/bmx-scene-mural

Also, search ebay under Home & Garden-> Inside the Home-> Home Decor & Accents->Wall Decor->Decals, Stickers & Vinyl

Please be sure and post some before and after pics when you're done. I'm glad your son is getting excited, too, about his room makeover :-)