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Design Dilemma
khrach

Make purple room work for little boy

12 years ago
We just moved to a new (to us) house. We have a 2.5 year old son. Previous owners had little girls. The room we're moving our son into has light purple walls - looks like pretty new paint job.

I really don't want to paint his walls right now. Maybe in a year or so. Eventually perhaps a light grey. Looking for ideas on somewhat temporary ways to make the purple look less princess-likr. I'm thinking using green, brown or black accents. Maybe a funky wall decal? He loved trains, dinosaurs, & cars.

I've attached some pics of the wall colors - hard to capture the true color on my phone. I'd call it lilac.

Thoughts?
Featured Answer
  • 12 years ago
    Just repaint now and get it over with!

    Comments (26)

    • 12 years ago
      I agree with Patricia Kent. Paint it and get it over with. You're not going to make a boy's room out of this. Paint is not that expensive if you do it yourself. Paint the walls a neutral grey or beige and the closet doors and trim glossy white until you decide what you want to do long-term. Long-term means 2-3 years. He'll have his own opinion in no time!

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    • 12 years ago
      last modified: 12 years ago
      I couldn't disagree more.

      Check this out: https://www.houzz.com/magazine/power-to-the-purple-stsetivw-vs~2805320

      Purple can be made masculine with just the colors you suggested.

      [houzz=
      Playroom · More Info
      ]

      Also, adding animal prints will work.

      Do you have furniture? I think black furniture or dark walnut will look stunning. Black, brown, green, red will all look good.
    • 12 years ago
      As part of my training as a holistic therapist I studied Colour Therapy. Purple is considered to be too strong psychically to use on walls. I would paint it all out asap!
    • 12 years ago
      I agree to bite the bullet and paint. Your investment in bedding, window treatments, etc may be more in the long run than to just paint and do what color you really want. Having said that, if you really, really don't want to paint, I'd suggest a combo of red and lime to go along with the purple walls for a boys room.
    • 12 years ago
      i think you should have some fun with it and spray paint camo on it, start with sand followed by dark green, some solid brown, some black and little white. nobody will think its girly room any more.
    • 12 years ago
      I am astounded that a holistic therapist would dis purple. Purple intensifies creativity and spirituality.

      I will repeat: look at the houzz ideabook I linked to. The idea that purple is for little girls is just cultural prejudice. It is the color of royalty as only the very wealthy could afford it.

      In any case, adding black and brown furniture and strong accent colors will balance the whole thing out.

      There is no need to worry about damaging your boy's gender identity.
    • 12 years ago
      $30 bucks and a few hours effort, just paint the dang room.
    • 12 years ago
      I am no designer, but I would paint a big black stripe a foot or so down from the ceiling around the entire room, buy some black accesories, etc and encourage him to support a football team or nascar driver with purple colors. Panthers? No football expert either, but think you could man it up for him without a complete repaint just yet. Maybe just an accent color and the trim..besides does he like it ?
    • 12 years ago
      @ Ramona, I don't think anybody is concerned that it will hurt his gender identity. It's a hideous shade of purple, and the amount of effort to " make it work" would exceed the effort used to repaint.
    • 12 years ago
      He's two and a half. He doesn't care that it's purple. He only cares that you love him. Decorate with what you have and what he likes. Change the color when you have more time/money/inclination, etc.
    • 12 years ago
      Choose your big items, then match your paint to those.
    • 12 years ago
      you could update it to the hulk his colors are purple, green and black. Or a villain type would be the phantom but he is more on the older side... hope it helps! :)
    • 12 years ago
      Some inexpensive ideas that can be used now and later:
      Paint the windows and moldings in high gloss black.
      Use wrought iron curtain rods.
      Hang a deep coloured swag valance
      Pick a theme - Harry Potter, a knights castle, Shrek, Scoby-doo - all look good against purple. Your little boy may have his own favourite.
      Look for bedding and posters in your theme. Add dark woods and shots of an appropriate accent colour ( slime green for Shrek, navy for Harry, etc) for little extras like lamp, floor cushions, or a stuffed animal besty.
    • 12 years ago
      Thanks everyone for your input. Since we have so many other things we want to do with this house, I decided to just move his stuff in and get him settled in with the purple walls. Now that his furniture and toys are moved in, it just looks like a child's room - not a purple princess room. As someone else mentioned, he won't care right now anyway!
    • 12 years ago
      Isn't Barney purple? Any other children characters? Grape Ape is another. Google "purple children characters" and you will find some inspiration!
    • 12 years ago
      I've seen a lot of purple and red combos. Red is traditionally a boys color and can add some fun and boldness to the soft shade on the walls. I would say that some folks have a point about the effort to make it work - I would make sure that if you do add new colors/items, you can use them for a long time and after a wall color change.
    • 12 years ago
      Add some red or orange to the room as a n accent color. It will be just fine.
    • 12 years ago
      Please paint it. My son's room is blue and grey, he chose the colors.
    • 11 years ago

      Re-painting the walls may be the better option


    • 11 years ago
      last modified: 11 years ago

      Put up shelves and put his favorite things on them. Decorate with what he has. Your changing the paint in a year or two, so why spend money when he may be into other things by then. Or may want green on the walls, etc.

      If you really feel you need to decorate, just pick out a comforter. Here is one that may work, but it is not trains, cars or dinosaurs.

      This Plaid, but you can add pillows of dinosaurs, cars or trains to make it boy like!

      http://www.jcpenney.com/drake-plaid-complete-bedding-set-with-sheets-collection/prod.jump?ppId=ens6004030053&catId=cat100250063&deptId=dept20000012&pageSize=72&topDim=Bed+Size&topDimvalue=twin&dimCombo=Bed+Size%7CGender%7C&dimComboVal=twin%7Cboys%7C&currentDim=Gender&currentDimVal=boys&_dyncharset=UTF-8&colorizedImg=DP1017201317075297M.tif

    • 11 years ago

      one of our buyer's sons ended up with our daughter's bedroom... coral and peach, with a full wall of mirrors (she danced). so, purple is a snap. dont fret another moment you can paint some day when/if it bugs you.

    • 10 years ago
      I have a gray room trying to incorporate purple my sons favorite color?
    • 10 years ago

      If he were old enough to be into sports, I'd suggest finding teams that the purple would work with like the Ravens or the Vikings and working a couple of decals into it. Louisiana State University also is big into purple. But at 2.5 he's probably more into cars, trucks, dinos, and construction equipment. However, purple goes pretty good with yellow (see photo below) so I think I'd rock the space with big bright artwork of yellow construction equipment like bulldozers etc.



    • 8 years ago

      My son loves purple, and he and his twin brother just picked out chairs in purple and teal, so I'm decorating their room around those colors. They're just colors.

    • 8 years ago

      Is your son's room still purple?

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