Too often any decorating efforts in a young boy’s bedroom ends up being based on selecting a color palette of blues and neutrals. The room end up being somewhat boring. So when I began designing this young boy’s bedroom, I decided to go another direction and make it interesting. Additionally I had a goal of having the furniture transition easily into the future.

I started by focusing on a theme of trains and railroads. After I located various train accessories, I used their colors of black and red as the accent color palette. Next I chose taupe as the wall color because it complimented these colors. Rather than selecting a brown wood stain for the bed frame, I had the bed frame painted a matte black paint. Then for the bedspread, I selected a darker taupe fabric which I accented with a bed skirt in a red and black fabric. Doing this layered the use of these colors in the room.

Rather than choosing young boy casegoods for the night tables, bureau and bookcase, I selected traditional mahogany pieces with banding. These added variety in the furniture while being pieces that can easily be placed in future rooms. Underfoot, I chose an Oriental rug with hints of red along with neutral and navy colors. Keep in mind that not every item in a room has to have exactly the same colors; but, they do need to feel good together. Introducing an occasional new accent color can make the room more interesting, if it is selected carefully.

Finding a study cabinet that could include a train set-up ended up being more of a challenge. I ended up designing a piece that functioned both as a study/computer area and also held a hidden train track. I put the train set-up on a front panel that folded down when you touched it. This allowed an easy switch from study to play time.

Rather than relying only on pictures to decorate the wall, I thought a subtle mural might really pull the room together. After some thought, I settled on the concept of a flowing stylized curvy train track that would wrap around the perimeter of the room. To this I added an occasional introduction of an outline of a tree. Since most furniture and furnishings in a room are based on horizontal and vertical lines, adding elements of curves or round shapes are very good ways to add variety and interest in a room.

So, the next time you start to plan to furnish a young person’s room, consider some of these ideas. The room I designed worked for this young boy but could easily switch to being a guest bedroom as needed. Additionally, it became good exposure on the selection and thought of how to decorate a room.