Tackling Tween Boys!

Tween boys (and Men) are pretty superficial in the sense that there is not a lot of depth in their hobbies and interests.   Their needs are fairly easy to meet.  Most conversations vacillate between sports, food & the ability to burp the alphabet.  One usually does not need to wonder what subtext lies beneath their words. My husband insists that all of these reason are exactly why Men are happier than Women.  I disagree (this is for another post 🙂

When boys are young, the colors used are mostly pastel blue, yellow and green.  The palette I use for tween boys is muted and warm with lots of gray and black undertones.  Also, the hues are richer in color than the ones I use for tween girls.  Tween boys rooms can be just as much fun to create as girls rooms; however, the SAME themes keep emerging; sports, superheros (I amazed by this theme’s longevity) & sports again!! I love the rock & roll theme, the surfer theme and the campy man cave theme (what guy doesn’t love a gilded deer head hanging on his wall?)

Since sports themes are by far the most requested, I created a baseball theme for this post.  Ok, I would like to first state: For the love of all that is holy, PLEASE DO NOT PAINT YOUR SON’S WALLS IN HIS FAVORITE TEAM’S COLORS!!!! I know it sounds like a good idea, but it is not.  These colors might look good on a uniform, but they do not look good on walls.  It is very easy to incorporate team colors in a variety of ways that will let all those who enter know what team your son is a fan of.  The key is to use paint to establish the base, and then add colors and accessories to establish the theme.  Below, I listed my favorite color schemes for tween boys rooms.  I listed the main paint color, a coordinating accent wall color, ceiling and trim color and any other applicable accent colors (either used through paint or accessories).

Below, I created a baseball themed room.  The palette is gray, navy & white with brown and red accents.  Since the colors are muted in the room I added a lot of texture to add depth.  I added a chenille rug, faux fur throw pillow, distressed leather desk and accent chair knit pouf and galvanized metal on the locker style desk and night table.  The brown is repeated on the vintage bats hung over the bed, the distressed leather chairs & the hardwood floors.  The red accents are picked up in the locker, pouf, pendant lights, throw pillow, art, and bedding. The striped euro shams (I repeat stripes on the throw pillow) and zig-zag drapes added a much-needed pattern. I framed the Yankees and MLB logos to add some “art”, and I added the decal between the vintage bats. I am a huge fan of decals (any more than two is serious overkill).  This is such a fun and easy way to add team spirit without commitment.  When you are done with it, just peel it off.

A REALLY, REALLY important element that I add to ALL sports themed room are vintage accessories.  This is the element that keeps this room looking stylish and well done!!!  I can not stress this enough. It is the juxtaposition of the new and old that makes this look successful.  The internet has a vast selection of vintage accessories.  Although I couldn’t fit it in this frame, I added gray wire cubby type shelving on the left for storage (they are from Land of Nod) to add to the vintage vibe.  As I stated in my last post, I really like to add visual tension in the rooms I design.  I did this here by adding the single red locker and the zigzag drapes (which is an unexpected pattern to use in this themed room).

Tween Boy's Room

Tween Boy’s Room

So here are a few tips on successfully creating a themed tween boys room:

  1. Keep colors muted.  You can create interest by painting accent walls or painting the ceiling (which looks amazing in boy’s rooms)
  2. Try not to match every piece of furniture.  I used the galvanized locker style on the desk and night table.  I would NOT also use a locker style dresser.  I would have used a painted gray dresser that coordinated with the bed.
  3. Play with texture.  The texture is more interesting to the eye than color.
  4. Add an unexpected pattern as I did with the zigzag drapes.
  5. Add cubby type storage.  Boys will shove things on or under anything they can.  Cubbies (hopefully) keep things off the floor.

The nice thing about this design is that should he decide he doesn’t want a sports theme anymore, you take the wall decor down and the bedding and this can easily be a skater, ski, or man cave theme.  Also, your son can take the desk, night table & locker to college, and only the bedding and wall decor need to be swapped out to make this a great guest room.

Kid’s rooms are so fun to create!!  Let me know what themes you would like me to create, and I will post on it.  Message me if you would like to know where I got these pieces.

XO Laurie