Do you have 2 kids sharing a room?
Perhaps they are opposite sex or are more than a year apart in age?
This can pose problems when decorating, especially if you have opposite sex children or are on a small budget.
To start with, choose a wall color that will be liked by both children. If an agreement can’t be reached between the children, then just choose a neutral color.
Wallpaper Kid's Room Decorations
As you were walking through the wallpaper aisle, the kids noticed all the different patterns and designs and one is now begging for tractors while the other is begging for Spiderman. What do you do now?
The solution to this is really quite simple! Go to your local fabric store and find some neat cotton fabric that has tractors and some that has Spiderman designs on them.
A couple yards should be good enough and should be cheap enough.
Then head on over to your local store and buy some starch and a sponge and make sure you have a sharp fabric scissor or one that will work so you can cut nice straight lines.
When you get home then start cutting out all those tractors and Spiderman designs like you would cut someone out of a picture.
If your walls are already painted, then you can get right to it. If not, then make sure you use that agreed upon or neutral color first and allow it time to dry.
Instructions
Take all those designs you have now cut out, pour a bit of starch in a bowl, put a big plastic garbage bag down on the floor directly under where you are working and keep your sponge handy!
Dip the designs in the starch making sure they are fully coated and soaked through.
Then squeeze out just a bit of the starch so its not dripping everywhere and stick the design on the wall.
With your sponge that should be just a bit damp pat the design to get the excess starch off and make sure the design is stuck on the wall.
This way you can make one wall just for one child, and another wall just for the other child and you aren’t spending tons of money on wallpaper. Not to mention these designs are a cinch to get off!
You just peel them off with your fingers and use your sponge again with some soapy water to wipe the spots clean. When the kids decide they want something different like Ninja Turtles or Planets or stars you can easily and cheaply change them out and the kids can help too!
Chalkboard Kid's Room Decorations
Another cheap and fun decorating idea for kids is a chalkboard!
Buy a piece of wood of good quality and smooth surface and just a bit of primer to make a couple coats over it.
At Wal-Mart there is a paint called a chalkboard paint that comes in different size cans so grab one that will work for the size of board you bought.
This paint is quite messy so it would probably be easiest and cleanest to paint the board outside. Not to mention if it’s breezy outside it will dry faster too.
Make a couple coats on the board with the chalkboard paint then wait for it to fully dry.
While you are waiting, find a spot on the wall or back of the door that will work for hanging that board up in the kids’ room and grab yourself some screws, a level and a screw gun.
When the paint is dry, screw the screws into the board in the corners just a bit, and don’t go all the way through. Hold the board up against the spot in the room you chose, put the level on top and wait for the bubble to be in the middle of the lines before screwing the screws all the way in.
Run to the local dollar store and buy a bunch of chalk and grab a couple old socks for erasers and let the kids loose to draw and color all the please on their new chalk board!
This board can be removed anytime you want it to be, it can be cleaned with a bit of water and it can provide hours of entertainment for cheap! Kids can also help paint this project too!
Glow in the Dark Paint
There is also glow in the dark paint that you can use on walls.
You could use stencils with different designs or letters or stars on the walls or ceiling.
You could even write a little message to you kids like I love you on the ceiling above their bed for them to see as they drift off to sleep.
Girl's Room Decorations
If you have girls who like being princesses a round canopy can be made cheaply too.
You will need the following
- an 18 inch embroidery hoop
- 10 ¼ yards of a sheer fabric (cheesecloth, tulle or other)
- some light thread and a needle
- 2 ½ yards of white cord, and a hook to screw into the ceiling.
Instructions
Cut the fabric into 3-108 inch strips, sew a zigzag pattern on the raw edges of the fabric to prevent unraveling and lay them out in a circle.
Put the hoop on the top of them and wrap the fabric around the hoop. With a needle and light colored thread, sew the fabric around the hoop.
Now you can take your cord and cut 2-40 inch lengths. Wrap the cord one end around one side of the hoop, the other end around the other side of the hoop across from it and tie a knot.
You should have 2 hoops of cord that cross right in the middle that you can now hang from the hook screwed into your ceiling in the spot you chose above your bed.
Fan the fabric around the bed sides and you now have a hoop canopy fit for a princess. You can also add different decorations to the fabric if you choose to dress it up a bit.
Another easy accessory to take down if or when it’s no longer wanted.
Cheaper ways to decorate a kid's room
It is not necessary to spend a lot of money decorating your child’s room. There are a lot of cheap options that will still look very nice and create a fun space for your child.
Where to find cheaper supplies
A wonderful place to start when you want to find cheap decorations for your child’s room is teacher supply stores.
It is astounding how much cheaper posters, wall decals, and other decorations are at a teacher supply store than if you were to buy them somewhere else.
I recently purchased several large, brightly colored educational posters for my children’s room, and they were less than $2 each. You can also buy wall decals with letters, numbers and tons of other themes very cheap at a teacher supply store
Online auction sites are another good place to look.
Kids are always outgrowing the themes in their room, and parents are always trying to sell the old stuff.
You can find used decorations for your child’s room at a much lower price than buying them new. Your child will outgrow the theme soon too, why spend more than you have to?
Bonus cheap options for kid’s room decoration
Stores and video stores frequently have large cardboard cutouts and displays of popular children’s characters.
When you’re looking for a cheap way to decorate your child’s room, these cutouts can make a wonderful addition to your room.
If you see one you are interested in, ask the store what will be done with the display when it is no longer needed. You may find that they will give it to you or sell it to you for next to nothing.
If you are fortunate enough to know someone who works at a place that uses cardboard displays, ask them to keep an eye out for characters your child might enjoy decorating their room with.
Oversized balloons are an easy and cheap way to decorate your child’s room on a budget.
If your child has a birthday party with large balloons in the shape of a character that they like, deflate them and hang them on the wall afterwards.
If you want to dress up your balloon, a cheap way to do this is to get a plastic poster frame and frame it, or attach it to brightly colored poster board or foam board.
Conclusion
Now that you have a few ideas for kid’s room decorations, gather up the little ones and your supplies and have fun!
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