"Design on a dime"

[Goofyest mom]

We just bought our first house. My daughters room has hunter green carpet in it. We can't afford to replace the carpet just yet, so can anyone give me any ideas on what to paint it or how to decorate it?? By the way she is 8.

 

[ranthony]

Perhaps a "fairy garden" or butterfly garden. Good luck.

 

[mum of two pirates]

I know our Dollar tree just had 4 different colors of butterflies. They were nice and about 6x8. The wings were made of netting what ever color the whole butterfly was. They also sell the vines there, pretty nice, and "vines" of flowers. You could do a tinkerbell room. They also have the big strips of tinkerbell stickers. two tinks that are 3 or 4 inches tall and then flowers also. I think it would be cute.

 

[beavismom]

Stencil flowers on the wall and cover it with a faux picket fence. You can add trees and whatever other embellishments your artistic talents can create. You can continue the theme with shelves made with a picket fence around them to hold stuffed animals and other momentos.

You can also cover much of the carpet with a more neutral area rug so that the green just looks more like a border.

 

[TENIA66]

I was thinking country garden....Watch for jeweltone floral swags and items at dollar tree, dollar general. burgundy, navy,hunter green,cream would be beautiful

 

[TENIA66]

 

[writersblock42]

I wouldn't paint the carpet..

 

[Goofyest mom]

I wouldn't paint the carpet..

Good tip. LOL

These are all great ideas. Keep them coming. THANKS!!!

 

[TENIA66]

http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_...e+Home&cName=Bedding&sName=Quilts+&+Coverlets

another pretty option

 

[sk!mom]

You could rip the carpet out and paint or stain the concrete underneath an easier to work with color.

 

[shelly3girls]

It really depends on your DDs taste but I know my DD8 is much more into funky than pretty. My SIL painted my DN room in purple and pink then used orange and lime green accents. It sounds crazy but looks awesome. You never know what will look good together until you try. If she likes the pretty florals I think the above link would look beautiful!

 

[Aristomommy]

I really depends on you DDs interests or taste. My DD is also 8 and we are moving in a couple of weeks. She loves animals and wants a safari room. I will paint the room sand color and add a vine border and animal decorations from this website.

http://www.artisticsensations.com/asp/category.asp?categoryid=570&maincategoryid=258

They also have other ideas and bedding, but I think I will go to our fabric store and make a duvet cover myself. Ask your daughter what kind of room she would like. You don't have to change the carpet, if it's a cost issue, just work around it.

 

[tink2dw]

Big Lots has had cheap area rugs. Even if you needed to get three or four to cover the green carpet, you wouldn't need to cover the area under the bed.

I've heard of dying carpets.[maybe they will bleach yours!lol! say a blonde color?? ]

Have you pulled up a corner to see if there is hard wood beneath?[don't laugh, it happened on Sell that House, the owners had never looked and they had really nice hard wood and they had lived 4 yrs with crappy
carpet! ]

 

[Littlemotherhaywood]

I second looking under the carpet. We had hardwood floors under all of our carpets and the best one, ironically, was in our dd's room.

 

[hsmamato2]

it's amazing what a little paint and imagination can do to transform something you thought was'ugly'
I love the garden or animal theme ideas- if your dd likes those things-
just think color wheel, opposites of green on the wheel,and you get a funky type room, similiar colors,and it becomes an oasis....
I just redid ds's new room, using leftover paints, just painted each wall till we ran out,,bright orange,stitch blue,slime green,with contrasting trim(green wall,blue trim,blue wall,orange trim,etc)
then to tie it in, I used the 'slime green' to create a Nick slime effect down the corner of each wall as if it's dripping into itself- for next to nothing, he now has a Nick slime room,and it came together while we were painting,we had no idea where we were going with it at the time!
Go to Home Depot and Lowes, check out their paint cards and ideas charts, something will strike you,and you can duplicate it without a lot of $$$

 

[kbkids]

I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who thought OP was contemplating painting the carpet. And why did I think this - well, because my MIL paints her throw rugs when she gets tired of the color. Yes, she can't spend another $10, so she spray paints them!

 

[ElizaB39]

Well, I usually think of hunter green as a nature color, so anything that is in nature would go with it. Think flowers that have dark green stems and leaves and pretty colored petals. Decal sets from target have all sorts of colors in them, look to see if one has the hunter green (stems, leaves and trees) and what flower colors are also in the decals. Pretty fabric with dark green and lighter colors maybe in a plaid or print can be used for curtains, pillows, dresser scarf and etc.

 

[dizcrazy]

too funny!

 

[liveforthemagic]

Our last house had hunter green carpet in the basement. It was great for hiding stains but horrible with showing white lint.

I have 2 ideas.

When DD first decided to give me input on her room, she wanted a secret garden. I bought a roll of white contact paper, and sponged it with hunter green paint. Then I cut it out in the shape of blades of grass and stuck it to the wall right along the baseboard. (Much easier than actually painting it cause I'm not at all artistic. ) Then we went to Michaels and she picked out pretty flowers. I cut the flowers off the stems and glued them to the wall for dimension, and painted little stems going down into my contact paper grass. Then we put a little birds nest (store bought) on her headboard and perched a tiny pretend bird and some fake birds eggs in it. We bought butterflies at Michaels and glued them around the room, some sitting on the flowers, some higher up. We got a silk plant that was ivy in a rectangular wicker basket and set that on her window sill so it looked like a flower box. Then we took her little armoire and painted it to look like the front door on the outside of the house. I don't think we spent more than $40 or $50 total....and she loved it. Grandma made her a pillow sign for her bedroom door that said Marisa's Secret Garden--it was too cute.

Alas--when we moved, we lost that room and now at the tender age of 9 she has decided she wants funky. So her room is hot pink and lime green. (I got a little preppy in there). I think with dark green you could find a shade of pink or purple that would work with it. I just saw a really cute bedspread at either Target or Kmart for a twin bed that had all those cool colors in it. If you have a Wal Mart near you, check out their paint. The brand is Color Place. Its only $10/gallon and I swear by it. If you purchase the Satin, its very washable. They also color match if you bring in something at least a quarter in size.

good luck!

 

[TwistofLemon]

What's her favorite color? I think lavenders/purples could work well with the green.
There's features on some paint company websites where you can "paint" rooms. Might help you get an idea what color scheme will work for you!

Donna