apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Color Survey: Do You Let Them Choose?

042209-blue.jpg Growing up we wanted our room to be two colors. Cobalt Blue and Kermit Green. Both of which would have needed a ridiculous amount of time and paint to make happen, so Mom kept her ground on telling us no. At age 16 we were frustrated by the decision, but click through to see how we came to see the bright light after the jump.

 
 

Last fall we moved into a loft in downtown Kansas City. It only has one drywall wall (the other 3 are solid red brick) and then a drywalled bathroom (thank heavens). Ironically enough, the bathroom turned out to be the same blue we had paint chips of back in the day. And the one wall in our apartment that's drywall... you guessed it, Kermit green. All the way up to the 20ft ceilings.

Now we wish we could say that it's all we ever wanted in life, but since our move in we've been living with the color scheme the way it was. Although we've grown to be fans of the blue, the green is just... well... not for us. We're glad that Mom was one step ahead of us back in the day, because it's rather unsettling to go to sleep against a wall covered in a brighter version of split pea soup! Check out the colors for yourself!


(Image from ABC Nursery)

Tags

Surveys, color, paint, kids, helping

Related Links

Share

Comments (12)

My daughter, at 3 1/2 asked for hot fuschia. She got it. Afterall, why not? It's just paint.

posted by mschatelaine on April 22nd 2009 at 3:40pm
view mschatelaine's profile

If it's possible, let them do it. I had to share a room growing up and always hated that I couldn't pick my wall color. Spending your formative years with green carpeting and wall paper that had little hearts all over it is not good at all. I was always jealous of my cousin who had a deep raspberry colored room with white trim.

posted by jensational on April 22nd 2009 at 4:13pm
view jensational's profile

My 7 year old daughter will soon get her own room and has always wanted red walls. I've been lobbying for doing each wall a different red, so when she decides she hates the fire engine red she's been showing me, it's just 1 wall to redo. I helped paint the room of one of her friend's and it was a great combo of bubblegum pink, apple green, tiffany blue and a bright purple-each wall was one of the colors. She loves it and has a different 'favorite' wall every time I see her.

posted by pelicolina on April 22nd 2009 at 5:25pm
view pelicolina's profile

When we remodeled our home, we allowed our older sons (7 & 8) to choose the colors of their rooms. My 8 yr old chose turquoise and my 7 yr old black. I wasn't hesitant because they both have wainscotting and molding boxes on the bottom half of the wall that are painted white, so those colors were technically on just half the wall. The rooms turned out fabulous, and not only are they happy, but we are happy as well!

posted by dm2123 on April 22nd 2009 at 9:30pm
view dm2123's profile

i think letting kids help decorate is great! my mom always let me pick my room colors... it gave me a sense of ownership... i was proud of my room! when my little guy is older if he requests a certain color i will be okay with it... it is only paint... plus i'm not afraid of color.

posted by erinpearce on April 22nd 2009 at 10:35pm
view erinpearce's profile

where is the rug from?

posted by rmw on April 23rd 2009 at 12:05pm
view rmw's profile

What better way to learn about color than to get to experiment with your own choices!?

(By the way, my husband recently accused me of being a Color Bully when I wouldn't let my 4 year old buy the orange shirt he picked out. So I'm actively trying to be more... open.)

We're moving soon, and my son has already asked for trees on one wall, the sea on another, and the sky on the ceiling. How could you come up with anything better than that??

posted by Suzyn on April 23rd 2009 at 12:25pm
view Suzyn's profile

The rug looks like it's the 'Sleepy Hollow' rug from CB2. It doesn't look like CB2 makes it anymore. Too bad because it's gorgeous!

posted by Solstice on April 23rd 2009 at 2:50pm
view Solstice's profile

I'm so afraid of that day. I always joke saying my daughter has impeccable taste. And will have impeccable taste...until she forms an opinion of her own. LOL. Fortunately paint is easy to cover. I think I'll enjoy these first few years when I can be a "control enthusiast" as much as I desire!

posted by Life in a Sippy Cup on April 23rd 2009 at 6:30pm
view Life in a Sippy Cup's profile

I have always let my son pick the color of his room since he was 3 1/2. this last time he first picked emerald green walls and red carpet. Lucky me he changed to light blue walls and tan carpet with red-orange accents. I love it!

posted by Icanmakeit on April 23rd 2009 at 10:41pm
view Icanmakeit's profile

He can pick the color, I pick the shade.

posted by some1else on April 24th 2009 at 2:42pm
view some1else's profile

When I was younger, my mom let me choose the color of my carpet (deep purple,) but I had to keep the walls white. I don't know what that was all about. Now I LOVE changing wall colors.

posted by kaylia on April 27th 2009 at 12:22pm
view kaylia's profile