Colorful Kids' Room Design

Try adding a squishy blast of color by plopping colorful beanbags in the room. "Beanbags are a really fun way to add color," designer Mary Wadsworth says. Kid-friendly seating choices can be fantastic for younger children, like this stuffed garden from HABA. For older kids who love to play video games, watch television or study in a comfy cove, Sumo Lounge bags spice up a room with bright colors and assorted sizes more pleasing to the teenage taste-meter.

Jazzing up a door can give an otherwise neutral room a pop of color. You can go boutique by purchasing a door ready-made for child-sized fun, such as this one from PoshTots, or you can let your child engage in some homemade door design with paint, stickers or permanent markers.

Bedding is probably the single easiest way to jazz up a room without painting the walls. For crib-sleepers, choose bedding that manages to be cool and colorful without becoming glaring or garish, like the "Motif" line from DwellBaby. Designer Becky Najafi, of the De Atelier Design Group, says for older children, choosing a bedding set they won't think is "babyish" in a year or two can be a challenge; bold colors and patterns will work as well for children moving into a twin bed, as well as teens heading to college. "When looking at a fabric, rather than keeping it completely age-appropriate, choose something your child can grow into," she says.

You can light up your child's life by thinking color when you flip that switch. For younger children, Ikea has fun and funky lighting designs that don't just spread color by looking pretty, but can actually bathe a room in a saturated glow when they shine. For girls, the pink light that flows from the Mammut lamp will thrill, and boys will delight in the fiery orange of the Minnen Fackla, which even has a "flicker" function. For the more sophisticated lighting aficionado, the Geometrix lighting collection, available at Expo Design Centers, sports funky designs and Swarovski crystals in glittery glam colors.