Spring is a great time to conquer projects around the house. I’ve been slowly working on clearing out the basement, updating our kitchen eating area, and now I’m tackling my son’s bedroom.
When you think of bedroom ideas for a boy’s room, what comes to mind? Updating a kid’s room should be a fun project. You can go as bold and fun as possible when updating a kid’s room.
When my oldest son moved from his nursery into a big kid’s room, I opted for something that would last most of his childhood. I’ve always loved a beach/ocean theme for bedroom ideas, so I had painted my son’s room sea blue with hand-painted sailboats along the wall as a border, using a stencil.
This summer my son is turning 12! He’s ready for a tween/teen room, and it’s time for an update. I asked him if he had any bedroom ideas, thinking he was going to ask for a hockey theme with bright red walls to honour the Montreal Canadiens but instead, my son wants a WWE-themed room. Yes, World Wrestling Entertainment… both my boys are huge fans. I’m pretty sure my younger son will be asking me to repaint his room too.
What colour should we choose to paint my son’s room? Since the walls are a darker shade of blue, do we need to prime first? How much paint do we need? So many questions!
Paint Colour Visualizer
My son wants his room painted black. Black?! I think it’s too dark for a kid’s bedroom, no? Perhaps we could do a feature wall in black… or maybe it’s “safer” to paint the walls a bright fresh white to lighten up the space. Though a dark feature wall might look pretty cool…
Luckily, CIL paint has a visualizer tool to help you see how the room would look in various paint colours. Simply upload a photo, then, using the easy-to-navigate tools, mark what part of the room you want painted and which part you don’t want painted.
Next, choose your colours and simply add them to your photo, to see how the walls would look in those colours:
The CIL visualizer tool is a wonderful way to allow you to picture how the finished room will look before you head out to buy the paint. Especially if you’re unsure of the brightness or boldness of the colour. This tool can help you see the finished product before even picking up a paint brush.
After viewing the photos, I think the dark grey/black would be too dark and dreary for a kid’s room. If I opted to paint the room white, I could paint the WWE logo on the wall above his bed and add some other cool artwork to dress up the space. Or, we could paint one wall black as a feature wall.
I saved the project by creating an account so I could go back and edit and print my project or colour choices.
What would you do?
CIL Ask An Expert online service
Luckily, CIL paint also complimentary service online called where you can submit a question along with a photo of your space to be redesigned, and an expert will respond to you within two days.
The free CIL Ask An Expert service really helped me decide what colour to use and how to prepare the room for painting. Another great feature is that it is available on any device.
I received an email back from an expert who confirmed that to paint a room of 144 square feet, (as my son’s room is), I would need one gallon to paint two coats. I asked about the mid-tone blue currently on the walls, and if I needed to do anything special to prepare the walls for a lighter paint.
The CIL expert said that for optimal coverage, it is best to apply a primer such as CIL PLUS interior/exterior problem solving primer (available at RONA), first when transitioning from dark to light paint colours. Primer is always less expensive than the paint, but the CIL Plus paint and primer in one is a great product to do the whole job all at once because it can be used as your primer coat as well. If I decided to not use the CIL Plus paint and primer, I’d have to do one coat as primer, and the required two coats of interior paint. The CIL expert also noted that if I decide to go with the primer, I should use the same CIL paint brand as I’d be using for the finishing paint.
If I paint a focal wall in a darker feature colour, the CIL Plus paint-and-primer-in-one products would do a great job for the three remaining walls, with no separate primer to start.
How do I decide? What are your thoughts? Should I paint the room all white, paint it all a dark grey/black, or white with a black feature wall? Stay tuned to see how we decide to transform my son’s room over the coming weeks!
Visit www.cil.ca/ask-an-expert to receive free personalized advice from the CIL team of experts. Check out #CILAskAnExpert to follow my journey.
Disclosure: This post was brought to you by CIL paint via Mode Media Canada. The opinions expressed here are all my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support amotherworld.
17 Comments
Love that visualizer tool! So helpful!
I always think a bedroom should be a space for relaxation, calm, rest. With that said, I like the darker colour! You can always play up the brightness of the room with the bedding, wall art/mirrors.
How about DARK blue for one of the walls? Might be easier to decorate around instead of black. But, black is always cool!
My oldest is 11 and definitely needs an update to his room. I think he needs a more tween/teen look and feel to his room.
We need to update my sons room. We just moved into a house last year and I rooms are all quite boring. He’s ready told me what color you want so want to do Susan going to surprise him with yellow on his walls.
These are great tips on updating your child’s room! I need to get on the ball and do something with my son’s room. He is getting out of the little boy stuff and into something a little more, as he put it, “his taste”.
We are moving soon and will probably be doing a lot of painting and redecorating. I hadn’t heard of this helpful website, but will definitely be using it!!
The paint color visualizer is such a great tool. Sometimes it’s hard to decide on a color or really know how the paint will look. I’ve used this tool before and it really helped me visualize the final outcome.
What an awesome tool! You could really see what it will look like before committing to a color. I would totally use this tool in the future!
The paint color visualizer definitely makes it easier when you’re planning. They really have an amazing system!
I’ve heard about this before and instantly I was amazed by the service they provided. This makes DIY renovations at home easier, especially when we’re going to work on our kids room. You can even make them involved in the process. I love that they have a color visualizer!
I loved the paint color visualizer, it is very helpful.I have an idea now if ever I redecorating our rooms, provably it may happens. Thanks for sharing!
This is awesome! I haven’t heard it but it’s cool. Bookmarked this for more info 🙂
I’m gonna update my son’s room. He would love one of these.
CiL sounds like a good thing to have and have some ideas when changing kids rooms!
I like that visualizer. I think it’s hard to decide sometimes too, what color to paint.
wow, I would love to use this tool. How awesome and convenient! I love the transformation. Thanks for sharing!
Omg how helpful is this tool!!! We are in the middle of painting our whole house right now. Crazy what a difference a little paint makes!