Our 3 1/2 year olds new room theme, Can you help?

Question

Hi!
We are moving into our first home this week. :o) And we were wondering how we can design our 3 1/2 year old's new bedroom. He is speech delaid so he really can't tell us what he wants.
We had 3 ideas.

1: A zoo theme: He loves to watch the Croc Hunter and we have pictures and posters of the croc hunter.
If you like this one: How would you design it. What colors would you use? What kinds of sheets would you buy?

2: Nemo: We would put in a 29 gallon saltwater tank in. And we would buy Nemo sheets.
But, other than that we are open to other ideas.

3: Cars, the movie: Right now he is really into this movie. We watch it at least once a day. I know we can buy the sheets at Wal-mart or Target.
If you like this idea how would you design it? What colors would you paint the room?

We are also opened to any other ideas. We would like a room he can grow in for the next few years ( at least to age 10.)
Thanks
Jennifer

Answer 1

I like the crocodile hunter idea because you can do it like the jungle and paint the walls camouflage colors(greens/browns and a little black), put up you posters of animals or the Crocodile hunter, then add a plastic potted plant and some fake ferns plus you can still add the fish tank. Also it's easy to change into a G.I.Joe room later if he wants or an Army theme.
you can buy camouflage sheets and comforter or green/brown colored sheets or even an animal print sheets and comforter.

If you do go with Cars you can buy a race car bed and race car boarder at Wal-mart. I'd keep the walls white and add some checkered flags and car posters to the walls.

Nemo.
paint the walls an aqua color and add fish stickers and Nemo boarder.

Answer 2

I have 2 boys about that age (ages 3 and 4) and we painted there room to fit the theme Cars.
There was a How-To card and plan that we picked up at Home Depot.
Most of the walls (about 1/2 to 2/3s of each wall) are Lightening McQueen red. There is also a "sky" blue on top with a yellow and black checkered flag border. (It is hard to describe how it will look, if you are interested, email me as I have a picture of our boys Cars room.) We have a feeling that we might have to paint over the checkered flag. The red and blue will transition nicely to a superhero room, a firefighter room, or almost anything else that I can think of.
If you were going to do the Croc Hunter room, you could go with Camo bedding and paint one wall various camo colors and the rest of the walls the light camo green. This would be a great room as it will be able to grow with him, and from experience, most boys go through a phase where they love camo.
I really cannot think of a way to paint or fix a Nemo room that would be able to transition as he gets older.
I think that you could put a fish tank in any of these rooms as you can get fish that can coordinate with any color combinations.

Answer 3

I agree with some of the responses here... if you want it to last until he's around 10, I'd stay away from the movie themes because they'll be pase in a few years. I like the zoo idea - I'd do what you suggested and use lots of greens and make the decor heavy on the alligators and reptiles in general - Pottery Barn Kids has adorable sheet sets for boys.... and CompanyKids does as well, and they're a little cheaper and have matching lamps and stuff... hope this helps!

Answer 4

I have a 9 year old son.His room has been decorated in the cars theme for the past year.we have the whole bedding we bought from wal mart along witht he wall border,lamp,trash can,etc...we also bought stickers to put up and u can find those at lowes or home depot.i really think he will enjoy it.I also like the nemo idea but i think he will outgrow that a little faster and a fish tank is hard to take care of also...are u willing to do that.my son also has the cars mat for the floor and he has all the cars from the movie on a shelf that looks really nice..i hope this helps.

Answer 5

Go with Nemo because he will never outgrow the fish tank, but use things that you can remove from the walls or paint over as he grows. Start with a base color, I'm thinking blue...Paint aquatic life on the walls or get wall stickers that are removable. Lowe's and Home Depot carry a magazine about redecorating kids rooms right by their check out area. Land of Nod is great for furniture, along with pottery barn kids. Just looking through those magazines might give you another idea you like better.

Answer 6

let him pick by placing the 3 in front of him and telling him pick one and the first one he touches or hands you that's the theme

my daughter is almost 3 and also has speech issues and this is how she picks things

1. zoo theme
i would paint the room croc green or steve irwin khaki , for sheets get lepard or jungle print jersey sheets (walmart)

2. nemo
paint the walls orange or water blue and sand colored carpet

3. cars
i would paint the walls or one wall red but with two white stripes across the center like racing stripes
get him a car bed

Answer 7

One thing that my 4 and 5 year olds loved: I let them pick their own carpet color for their rooms. Even if he can't talk, he can probably pick a color on a deck board. Because he is little and will destroy it anyways get him something that is cheap, bright, and colorful. You can save the carpet that you take out, if it is nice, to put back someday when you sell the house or whenever).

Any Mohawk dealer will have a carpet called "Salsa" it is super cheap and comes in some wild colors. My son picked "chile pepper red", and my daughter picked "cha cha purple".

They are only kids once, have fun with it!!

Answer 8

Don't go overboard on movie themes, since they will not be the same in 7 years. My son loves frogs - we did his entire room in it - green paint and floor and frogs everywhere. He loves it 3 years later.