If you’re a parent, you know just how to prepare your home for a baby. First, you get down on your hand and knees and crawl around, removing things that might be interesting—but potentially dangerous--to a child who is just learning to crawl or walk. You also make your spaces baby-and-toddler friendly by doing things like placing a stool in front of the bathroom sink.
Although my days of having babies and toddlers in the house are behind me, lately I’ve had to make some decorating adjustments to accommodate my kids—a pre-teen boy and a teenage daughter. I don’t need to crawl on the floor looking for potentially dangerous knickknacks or exposed electrical outlets, but since my kids make up exactly half of my family, I thought it was time to make some changes for their needs and comfort.
So here are my top three, teens-in-mind decorating tips:
1. Don’t decorate bedrooms with a theme. If your child wants a bedroom makeover, I suggest you stay away from a theme, unless they insist on it. Even though your son may love baseball in 7th grade or your daughter may live for cheerleading in 9th, kids this age are changing quickly. Themes they once loved can seem “too young” for them almost overnight.
So what can you do? Start by letting them pick out a paint color, and throw in some neutrals that work with it, such as ivory sheets or a tan chair. After those basics are selected, add a few “interest pieces”. In my daughter’s green bedroom with white sheets, a black comforter, and white blinds, the interest pieces include black-and-white polka-dotted pillowcases, fuzzy green throw pillows, a tan faux-fur throw blanket, and beaded curtains hanging in front of a window seat. If she gets tired of the room’s style, we can just get rid of the interest pieces and get some inexpensive new ones. The main points of the room—the wall color, sheets, blinds, and a solid-color comforter—can remain for years.
If your child is very interested in a sport or hobby, dedicate a wall or bookshelf to it, rather than decorating the entire room around it.
2. Teen-proof your common areas. My son has a habit of losing the T.V. remote. (Although I typically find it somewhere in, under, or behind the couch.) I got tired of telling him to leave it on the coffee table, so I bought a very inexpensive, decorative tin box, and proclaimed it the “remote control holder.” I’m not sure why, but most of the time, the remote now ends up in the box. Perhaps because “on the table” seems to be a vague request, yet “in the box” is much clearer. Think about your teens’ habits, and try to incorporate them into your décor. Do they have heavy school backpacks? Create a drop-off stylish center in your most-used entry area. Use hooks (check for sturdiness), wooden crates, or old locker bins— whatever works for you and your decorating style.
Also remember that although you may love your white chenille couch, it might not be the best place for teens to hang out and watch T.V. Stacking a few bean bag chairs in the corner of the room makes it easy for them to retrieve a comfortable, fairly durable place to sit, and you won’t have to worry about soda spills.
3. Create a hangout. It’s a scary world out there, and teens are exposed to dangerous things on a daily basis. As they get older, and especially after they begin driving, it’s difficult to know exactly where they are, who they’re with, and what’s going on in their friends’ homes. Even parents who keep very close tabs on their teens still can’t be with them every minute.
When my oldest entered high school, I converted an unused, but finished, basement room into a “teen lounge.” We moved a T.V. in, and my son donated his foosball table for the new space. My sister-in-law gave me an old couch she no longer needed, and I purchased a $30 slipcover (black, since teens tend to spill) for it. I placed a small bookshelf in the room and loaded it up with games, and brought in a wicker loveseat I’d had in my garage for years. I bought some black throw pillows for it at a discount store for $5 each, so the loveseat would more-or-less match the couch. Then I positioned the furniture so there would be plenty of space for sitting on the floor. (They always end up on the floor.) My goal was to give my kids and their friends a place to hang out where they had a little privacy, in hopes that they would spend some time under my roof instead of somewhere else. So far, the “teen lounge” has been a smashing success. (I’m just not allowed to call it that. Apparently it sounds dorky.)
So if your kids are pre-teens or teenagers, take a look around and think about ways to make your home decorating choices work for them, as well as for you. Why battle them? I say pull up a bean bag chair, fish the remote out from between the couch cushions, and have fun together!
