Painting a room black -with neon splashes

[laurie31]

DD11 has been BEGGING to paint her room black with "splashes" of neon colors (blue, pink, yellow, green, and purple) for over a year now. We initially told her no, as we were sure she would get tired of it quickly and we know it will be an ungodly horror to paint over. The splashes would have to be sanded and a river of Kilz would be needed to prime over it.

But we did paint DD13's room in teal, lime, and chocolate stripes, which was a huge PITA and will be almost as bad to redo one day.

It is just paint, after all, and it is her room. All the "going away to college" threads remind me that she'll only be home for 6 more years.

So...does anyone (or anyone's kid) have a black room?

BTW, DD is not at all goth or emo or anything like that. She just thinks the neon on black would be "cool" and that her current purple room is "too babyish" now.

 

[catycatcat4]

I think a black room with neon splashes sounds epic.

As long as she doesn't have a small room go for it.

 

[minkydog]

Not a black room, but DS23 wanted a Tupperware Green room. I swear, it made his face look green He decorated with Coke paraphenalia, red, black, green and white. It was quite something. DD17 has her room painted a dark tuquoise and sea green. Yeah, it's gonna be a bugger to paint over but I feel the same way you do. It's only color. When the time comes we'll dose it with Kilz and move on.

Good luck with the black. I'd totally do it.

 

[LisaR]

My nephew did and it is the only color I will not allow my kids to paint their room. We are big fans of paint. We love bright colors and we think nothing of repainting a room after only a few months to freshen it up. My sister couldn't get the black to cover for anything. Granted, that was many years ago but it has always stuck with me so I refuse to allow black on any of our walls.

DD (15) just had her room painted along with a new comforter and furniture. She wanted black and white. I got a mix of black and white cubicle furniture from Ikea and a black and white bedspread. Since I don't allow black paint, she picked out this really cool blue. I was leery about blue, black and white but her room turned out perfect especially since she wasn't going for the dark, emo look. She loves it and so do I. The Ikea furniture was bought with the intention of traveling with her when she goes away to college (she does not want to live in a dorm) so hopefully she will get many years of use out of it.

PS: Her room color before the blue was bright orange! It covered fine with Kilz.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I would do it, sounds really cool.

I once babysat for a family who had a black office. The room was small, but had big windows that offered a lot of natural light during the day.

I've always wanted a black room since then.

 

[treehugnmama]

I am 34 now but when I was 14 I wanted an all black room...mom said it would be too depressing so we compromised I had:
black ceiling
black wall to wall carpet
black drapes
white walls with black airbrushing

I loved it. About 5 years a go we painted it for my mom for my kids and it was very easy to paint over....i thought it would be apain but it wasn't bad at all.

I would let her!!

 

[hereyago]

I say let her do it!

When I was a teenager in high school, once a week I wore something black. I wasn't goth,but I just loved black. I was in a car accident when I was 17 and spent 8 days in the hospital, my friends were like< you cant wear black there. Um, yes I did, my robe.

I even had a black and white bathroom. I have black appliances, which are a pain to keep clean, but aside from the stainless steel appliances, black is my favorite.

Dd11 has a wall in room that is the type paint you can write on and it washes off, so her friends decorate the wall, she takes pictures then washes it.

 

[Magic Mom]

I think it sounds awful...and a royal pain to paint over. Maybe you could start with one black accent wall and a bright neon color for the other walls.

 

[valeriemouse]

When I was a teenager, I begged my room to be painted bright bright green. After it was finished I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it. It's little things like that kids remember when they get older. My mom was stricter than strict about HER house, and she still let me do this. I still look back at what my room looked like with fondness. She let me be me

I kept it that way for a very, very long time after. The walls have been painted since, a very light color and no traces of green remain. I was the one to paint over it and it wasn't hard at all.

I say go for it, it's only paint to you --- and to her it's a way to express her individuality!

 

[golfgal]

I would start with one black wall and see how she likes it and then do the rest if she does like it. I would do one black wall and the other 3 in the lime green. I think THAT would be a cool room.

 

[luvmy3]

I agree with the pp's. Let her have one black wall with the color splashes and then pick one of those colors to do the other wall.
If it were my dd I would suggest she pick one of the other colors for her wall and then we could paint like a 2-3ft stripe all around the room and put the splashes in it. (My dd would pick polka dots ). I think it would look pretty cool, but I'm in my late 30's so what do I know about a teens room

 

[TaraLee4]

Our bedroom is black. Like, Dead of the night black. Inside of a cave black.

However, ours is a functional black. DBF works nights and sleeps most of the day, so he wanted as dark a room as possible.

The whole room is painted black, and we have those light blocking curtains on the windows. They're black of course.

I thought i'd hate being in that room, but I love it!

 

[FINFAN]

I would stretch some canvas myself...building a frame is easy, you can get the wood at home depot etc...loose fabric at Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics...even muslin works if you prime it...anyway, make them as large as you want even floor to ceiling, shapes you want even butted right next to each other. Paint THOSE black first, let your DD help along with the spalshes of color, hang them on the wall. very non-committal, she can have flexibility with chnging furniture around etc, simply move the paintings around, if she tires of it, paint over them or just recycle them. Extra bonus? Ifshe changes rooms, ro you guys have to move and she loves it, the canvasses can go with her...even take one to college for a little piece of home!

 

[clh2]

Well - yes it is just paint. (We've got a navy accent wall in our family room - the reality is - that is going to be just as hard as black to "undo". I LOVE this accent wall - so we'll just deal with it when we are getting ready to sell the house.)

My thought would be - paint 1 wall black, and then do some accents in the neon colors. Just a thought - and I learned this from a stenciling class I went to. To do accent colors - you may need to paint the accent areas white first, and then the neon shades. (Again - I haven't ever done this, so I do not know for sure.)

 

[sunnyday123]

DD's room is this purply-pink color, with black trim and a black accent wall. Her bed is on that wall and she has some Ikea furniture so it looks like a built in headboard kind of thing. It's really cute. I figure some primer ( and new trim!) will fix it when she's tired of it.

 

[pixiewings71]

I would do 1 wall to start, she may not like it once it's done......but then again you may all love it. But I would still start small.

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

some tastefully done black and white rooms http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/black-and-white-rooms

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

target has some nice Back to college bedding and conforters on sale in bright neon colors. You could also buy a black quilt and fabric spray paint. I think your one heck of a cool mom to even consider this!

 

[elgerber]

I agree with the pp's. Let her have one black wall with the color splashes and then pick one of those colors to do the other wall.
If it were my dd I would suggest she pick one of the other colors for her wall and then we could paint like a 2-3ft stripe all around the room and put the splashes in it. (My dd would pick polka dots ). I think it would look pretty cool, but I'm in my late 30's so what do I know about a teens room

I agree with this also. My dd's room has neon orange and green (yes Home Depot Toy Story green LOL) wavy wide stripes on a DARK purple wall. We were originally going to do 3 walls in the purple, but it was too dark. So, we switched plans and painted 3 walls day glo fuschia, instead of the 1 wall we originally planned. It makes the hallway outside her room glow pink LOL, but it looks great.

 

[canadianjovigirl]

my oldest had a hot pink and black room and after 3 years she changed it..........it was very cool looking and her friends loved it, but it made the room very very dark and depressing........... she had one wall hot pink and the rest black and then we hung hot pink satin fabric in swags from the ceiling (basement bedroom) and she had black and pink rugs and bedding...........needless to say when she moved to a smaller room upstairs i had to repaint the room to make it my scrapbooking/sewing room and it was not nearly as bad as i thought it would be to re-paint..............