Instead of black and white, I would use black and tan, or black and gray, or black, tan, and gray, or black and greige. The right shades would look great together, and not as stark as black and white.

To Carolyn Alber-Kincl: Thank you. My son is 3 and he is ready for a big boy room!

To Smileyface2013: The white we chose does have grey in it...hope there is enough grey, otherwise it's back to the paint store!

For a 3 year old, black and white stripes could work well on 2 walls.

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I would take into consideration the size of your room. One must be careful with dark colors because they can swallow up the entire room if it's too much! The bigger the room and the more lighting in the room, the more leeway you have with your dark paint!