apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The blog owner at Making it Lovely has a pink living room that manages to be pretty neutral. I think a lot of it has to do with the color you paint the walls. Don't paint them a sugary pink, find a more neutral beige-y pink, or don't paint the walls pink at all, leave them white or neutral and use the pink in accessories, stuff that can be taken away quickly if your son gets teased for having a pink bedroom and he wants to change it ASAP.

what if you did a charcoal and kelly green emphasis with a little bit of light pink or neon pink in the form of cushions or a painted dresser. That way, if he changes his mind later, you only have to swap out accessories.

I loved the colors in this set of blocks from the December Domino issue. They are from Kidonyc.com.

http://www.kidonyc.com/detail.htm?item=City_and_Country_step_III%3A_geometric_extension_blocks&path=search

Good luck!

I imagine a light, warm pink with brown, red and caramel furnishings/accents.

It could be great! I agree with Pencils on a light, warm pink. Then use brown, orange-red, and caramel furnishings/accents.

I have a pink loving 3 1/2 year old boy too. I don't have a problem with it either, but I don't want him to get teased by kids during playdates. When we redid his room we went with orange rather than pink which I sold as a pinky orange. We used brown as the accent color. If he truly wants it to be pink try the pink in the Serena and Lily catalog (shell I think, it is the one on the walls in the Grace room). It is very light. Then use chocolate brown as the accent color. OR if you can convince him that pink walls arent the answer, try brown walls with light pink sheets and duvet which can easily be changed out if he ever gets over the pink phase. Our boys have good taste! Pink is a nice color!

I like the colors in this pillow!

http://threepotatofourshop.com/alphabet-pillow-sukie-p-213.html

If you have the time or inclination, I would go with a neutral color on the wall, and then give one or all of the walls large polka dots with paint or wall decals that include pink. Something like this great room which was already posted on AT:

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/inspiration/hugos-colorful-dots-033523

When we first started dating, my husband had a caramel-walled room with rosy-pink-and-cream striped sheets. Lots of dark wood accents. It was warm and masculine all at once. Hope you find the combo. that works for your son!

Most children are drawn to the warm colors of yellow, pink, and orange when they are in preschool and the early grades. If you google the term "lazure" you will see some beautiful walls done in a sponge-paint-like gradient. Pink-to-orange or pink-to-yellow are both beautiful, like a sunrise on the wall. If you don't want to jump in with both feet and paint the walls with pink, you could try a pink-tinted white, or another warm color like yellow. Natural wood goes well with both warm and cool colors, for furniture that will last a long time.

thanks for your ideas (I'm the original Nicole) - I really like some of those colour combinations (especially that beautiful pillow, driftandfloat!), but things like pink polka dots and pink accessories have both been suggested and are just not enough for this boy - it has to be the walls! But I agree they'd be great options.

I was leaning towards painting it Benjamin Moore's Autumn Red, because it would match the turquoise check curtains and it looks beautiful with some deeper blues. Then I thought I could throw some orange in for good measure too. But I really do like the idea of the lighter pinks as more of a base with browns, especially since he loves all his brown clothes more than anything else. Not sure whether the curtains would work with that or not though.

just use pink accents-this is just a phase!

Ironically, until fairly recently (some time in the 1930s), pink was considered a more masculine colour, not appropriate for girls, whereas blue was considered a more "delicate" colour, and this was associated with girls.

Our reaction to this situation though speaks volumes about social pressure.

Anyways, I've seen considerable use of bright fuschia here in Europe, and it strikes me as perhaps a sufficiently bold colour for a little boy's room.

It would look great with a vibrant shade of orange, and a good strong does of turquoise thrown in, and maybe deep blue as well. I'd do colour blocking, or an accent wall, and combine with white "breathing space".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/design_inspiration/factsheets/112.shtml

I really love this room by MckMama: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2008/10/t-minus-6-daysand-counting.html The bed spread is from target and has a bright pink in it

I'm surprised you're worrying about the design tastes and opinions of a toddler. I don't recall ever being asked how my room should be decorated before I was a teenager.

Why not paint it pink, if you want to paint at all? My husband picked out the paint for our pink bedroom, and I assure you it hasn't affected his masculinity in any way. Light pink is actually a great color for bedroom walls as it's very soothing and calming. Paint is pretty easily changed and doesn't have to be that expensive. By the time he's over it, it might be time for a new paint job anyway.

A lot of the "gender neutral" kid bedding sets at Ikea have pink in them: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/10443-2/. If you used one of those, you could pick out all the individual colors to use throughout the room, and pink would be just one of the colors.

I'm definitely not worried about a 3-yr-old's masculinity! I want to paint his walls pink because this 'phase' has been going on a long time, and I'm happy to oblige, since the room needs desperately to be painted anyway - we moved in nearly 2 years ago and it's one of the last rooms not to have been done. And I'm expecting to change the paint in a year or 2 really. I'm really more trying to figure out what I can find out there that will match and not be overly princessy-girly.

interesting how the OP asked for gender neutral, and many of the commenters jumped in with suggestions for "masculine" pinks.

if the kid wants pink walls, paint the walls pink. let him pick the shade, and use whatever he picks as long as it doesn't make your eyes bleed. in fact, have some fun with 4 oz pots of paint to try out various shades. he'll probably love that. if he changes his mind later, well, paint again, but set some limits so he doesn't make this a monthly thing. 3.5 yr olds have aesthetics that adults simply cannot understand. he might even end up loving the random blotches of tester shades and insist on leaving them just as they are. roll with it. he'll never be 3.5 again.

vibrant 80's colors are definitely back, hot pink and orange/turquoise and bright yellow greens/black and whites, bolts of lightning, checkers. On extreme home makeover last week they used huge homemade wood stampers to make a large woodblock pattern on a boys' wall, very cool and would work with hot pink...

I agree with frum, and want to recommend you use no-VOC paint in the frilliest shade of pink you can possibly find.

It's really so sad that, in 2009, a little boy can't have his pink room without the grown-ups having neuroses about it -- all because of some out-dated, rigid, & perhaps homophobic social conventions. What rule book is everyone reading from, anyway? It's sad how much we internalize without anyone ever having to actually spell it out for us.

Pink really is just another color, and in the eyes of a child, it is certainly not a political statement. And I hope I don't sound too much like my own mama when I say that if you're really afraid of losing any playmates over this, then trust me, you didn't want to be friends with them anyway!

Pottery Barn Teen has a fun striped bedding called Sayulita... They have it paired with greens and browns but there are lots of things you could do with it.

I like the way frum thinks...I'll have to keep that in mind when my son is 3!!!

Pigs! Pigs are pink and what little boy or girl doesn't like having lots of cute stuff pigs to hug!