ParenThots - Features
By BRIGITTE ROZARIO
The teenager's room is usually a cross between a war zone and no man's land. It's their turf and they guard it preciously.
Eric Leong, celebrity designer and TV host, says parents should leave the decision of how to decorate the room to the teenagers but give them a budget to work with. While parents shouldn't be making the decisions, they should guide and advise their teenage children.
“Teenagers don't know how to limit themselves when spending so set them a budget. For example, you might give them a RM400 or RM500 budget for furniture and paint,” he says.
The space in a teenager's room should be divided up into several zones for:
- Sleeping
- Storage
- Study
- Free and easy
The sleeping area must be conducive for sleep so avoid having too many strong colours in this area. Pinup posters on the wall are fine as long as they are on the wall behind the bed.
The study area should be near the window so that they get daylight coming in. If the room belongs to a teenage girl, then you would also need a dressing area in this study area so that they get daylight streaming in through the window as they look in the mirror.
The storage area is where you would place the wardrobe. If possible, have it near the bathroom so that it's easy access after a shower.
The free and easy area is the teenage equivalent of the “play area” for a child's room. Leong suggests putting a bean bag in this space so that the teenagers can sit there and read books or even listen to music.
Colour my wall
Leong advises using the teenager's favourite colour when deciding what wall colour to have. This is so that they will feel a sense of belonging to the room. If they want colours that are too strong then parents need to advise them.
Leong: 'Teenagers need to concentrate so actually green is the best colour.'
“Teenagers need to concentrate so actually green is the best colour. It will help them to concentrate so it is a good colour for the study or library. You can use different shades of green but of course if your child hates green then please don't use it.”
Leong says one mistake parents sometimes make is to choose a dark blue for teenage boys' rooms.
“Try not to do this because dark blue is actually a depressing colour. If the teenager has failed in the exams or is going through a relationship breakup, the dark blue will make them even more depressed. So, try to avoid this colour. Grey is another depressing colour. Try to avoid both dark blue and grey.
“For the walls, try to use lighter colours. For boys you can use sky blue, and mix and match the furnishings with dark colours. Perhaps you can use the dark blue as an outline or a highlight for the curtains,” he says.
The feature wall is always the wall behind the bed – that's where you can use a stronger colour and pinup posters, or even wallpaper.
Leong says the other walls need to be a pastel colour. You can use a shade of very light purple so they will feel very comfortable.
“Red is a very dangerous colour. It represents love and it also represents anger. Red will also stimulate their appetite and make them hungry. So, red is not so suitable for the bedroom,” he adds.
What type of bed
“If the room is not big I would suggest getting a single bed. If the room is slightly bigger then get a super single. If the room is of a reasonable size, then get a queen-sized bed. Why get a queen-sized bed instead of a single? Because if your teenage child has cousins visiting, they can share the room and the bed.
“Otherwise, get a bed with another pullout bed underneath. So, if they have a friend who is spending the night there, the friend can sleep in the drawer bed,” advises Leong.
What if you have siblings sharing the room?
According to Leong, a double-decker bed is a no-no for siblings. This is because the one sleeping on the bottom bunk will feel a sense of belonging to the room but the one sleeping in the top bunk will not feel that sense of belonging. They will instead feel very mobile.
Leong also advises against having a pullout drawer type of bed for siblings because the child sleeping in the bottom bed will not feel a sense of belonging because he has to hide his bed under the main bed each day.
For siblings sharing a room, Leong says it's better to have two single beds.
Curtains and boards
Getting a soft board or a magnetic board is a good idea for the teenager's room so that they can pin up pictures or notes to themselves or from their friends.
“It is good for teenagers to have a noticeboard in their bedroom because then they can put up messages and even parents can leave messages for them,” he says.
As for curtains, Leong advises getting them in a darker colour or even blackout curtains so that on weekends if the teenager wants to wake up late, the curtains will block out the daylight.
Throw cushions are also a good idea for a teenager's room because then when friends come over they can sit around on the floor and just relax.
Leong says laminated floorboards are best for the flooring. This is because they are not as cold as tiled or marble floors.
“As for the lighting, you will need daylight in the study area. For the rest of the room, you can use warm lighting.
“If possible get them a bedside table and put a lamp there so they can read before they sleep or if they wake up in the middle of the night they can switch on the light. Use a low-wattage bulb for the lamp by the bed. 25 Watts is good enough because it's not for extensive reading. The bedside lamp is often used for a short time for reading before they fall asleep, not for extended reading.”
Storage options
Leong advises having wardrobes or a chest of drawers for the teenager but make sure they organise their clothes and undergarments for easy access.
In addition, storage boxes are a good option to help them further organise their belongings.
“Teenagers like to collect items so you can get them boxes to keep those in but the boxes must be properly labelled. Without proper labelling they will forget what is in which box.
“If the boxes are exposed in the room then you want to have complementary colours but if they're going to be in the wardrobe and out of sight then you can mix the colours.”
Conclusion
Leong emphasises the need for parents to allow their teenage children to decide how to decorate their own rooms.
“The biggest mistake that parents make is in deciding for their teenage children. This is a no-no because when you decide for your teenage child's room then they will feel that it is not their room; it is your room. Let them decide and get them involved,” he adds.
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