Themed Rooms for Kids

A little boy with a big firefighting obsession can sleep easy in this room starring a wooden fire truck bed. The designer used solid light blue paint and coordinating wallpaper with a subtle firefighter pattern on the walls, providing a soft counterpoint to the room's main color attraction: fire-engine red.

The decorating mission for this boy's room was clear: Make the room live larger than its size, keep it uncluttered, and give it a sophisticated look that can grow with a boy from infancy into grade school. What better place to start when creating a boy's favorite space than man's best friend? The family's Cavalier King Charles spaniel provided the inspiration for a few accent pieces and the classic, masculine color scheme of neutral khaki with bursts of red and black.

Satisfy a desire for all things amphibian with this frog-inspired room. Cool blue stars in the "outdoor" space, painted frogs, reeds, and clouds create no-worries artwork throughout the room.

Cuddly jungle animals were the way to go for a quiet 3-year-old. A subtle plaid pattern painted on the lower half of the walls leads to a soft green "field" where a menagerie of painted animals roam beneath a canopy of leafy branches.

An insect-pattern bedding fabric served as the inspiration for a colorful room. Easy-to-stencil embellishments on furnishings add whimsical touches in unexpected places. Winged creatures cut from fabric flutter atop windows dressed with white wood blinds.

Inspired by a Scottish castle, this bed and playhouse combination includes bunk beds, secret hiding places, and a book nook in the ladder-accessed turret. Fashioned from stone-look laminate, the castle has no back walls, so mattresses can be moved in and out easily.

A plain-color wall is a great backdrop for a child's room. Here, a stars-and-stripes theme predominates, yet it could have easily been black racing stripes or yellow stars. Allow for a child's creativity by providing blackboards, personalized pillows, and tackboards.

A little boy's love of water was the inspiration for a sea theme using blue and white. Stenciled sailboats and billowing clouds float dreamily over pale blue ocean walls. Small pops of red and whimsical touches of rickrack and fish bring a sense of fun to the space.

Sophisticated pink cabbage roses and tan checked fabrics are layered into the bedding while charming trompe l'oeil ceiling swags, sky niches, and crown canopy create an aura of princess-worthy grandeur.

This yellow-laminate fire truck houses not only a bed on the lower level but a carpeted play area up top and ample storage closets. Each element of the room displays a firefighting theme while also serving a practical purpose.

An artistic parent may want to tackle this playful project. Simple shapes are enlarged and traced onto the wall, outlined in black, and filled in with a palette of pastel tones. Once the words in French and English were added, the background was washed with pale lavender.

The move from a crib to a bed often signals a big change in the decor of a child's room. Here, neutral walls and flooring create a background that will last for years. Bright red shows up on the bed, dresser, and accessories, while blue bedding signals a nautical theme.