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.