Painting a room black -with neon splashes

[SandrA9810]

What would be cool is the chalk board paint. Then you can use chalk for decorating and she can change it as often as she likes.

You can always get those carpet squares too if you want to change the flooring a bit without taking up the current carpet. When I was in high school I was finally able to paint over the horrible yellow paint... but I could not get rid of the awful bright red carpeting that was original to the 1950's house.

 

[laurie31]

Thanks everyone!

I love the idea of doing it on canvas. DH was worried not only about painting over it "one day" but that in the process of doing the splattering, that paint might get on the ceiling or floor, or well, everywhere.

If we painted a canvas, the splattering could take place out of doors.


This is her room now, btw. It seems like we JUST did this, and it wasn't THAT bad, but it was more involved than just painting. She wanted a purple room with pink hearts. Well, looking back to find a decent pic, we did this in July '04. She was FIVE! No wonder she's tired of it and thinks it's babyish; she's about to turn 12!

This is DD13's room...I know there are better pics, but I can't put my hands on them at the moment.

I think I'm pricing canvas tomorrow. I don't want to tell her yes until I know what kind of money we're talking about. But I think I'm going to tell her yes. Her room is about 12 x 14, not huge, but not tiny either. I think it will be cool.


(and I did think of chalkboard paint, but she wants the glossy look with the splatters...so we shall see.)

I promise to come back and post pics if we go through with it!

 

[portocall]

I LOVE the pic of the striped room, it came out awesome.

I hope she gets to do it, it sounds like it would be awesome. My cousin did splatters for her nursery (in the early 90's white wall, primary colors) and just used a drop cloth for the floor and taped newspaper to the ceiling.

I do like the canvas idea. I would have loved to take a piece of my childhood bedroom with me.

 

[wendy46001]

I say go for it

I had a dark purple almost black room in high school...took four coats of paint to get the color right...I loved that room growing up.

In our last house also we did a dark merlot room (i was so happy when that only took 3 coats of paint)...

 

[NotUrsula]

I'd go with one wall, especially if she doesn't have many windows in her room. (BTW, I'd agree that the current room is a bit on the babyish side. However, changing the bedding and obliterating the hearts would help IMMENSELY to make it more mature-looking. The biggest issue is the furniture -- that stenciled French Provincial is going to look rather off with a neon-colored room.)

A house we rented years ago had a COMPLETELY black room in the basement. It was painted in gloss black, walls, ceilings, floors, and boards over the windows. Even the cat refused to enter that room because he could not see in there. You will need some really high-powered lighting to compensate if you go with full black.

We just did DS' room this weekend, but we compromised on grey. Even so, my chore for NEXT weekend is to go out and buy him new lighting; the old stuff isn't strong enough to compensate for those grey walls.

 

[Juliegirl1]

When I was 13 my parents went away for the weekend. I worked part time giftwrapping and babysitting so had my own money and decided that I didn't like my baby pink room anymore. I rode my bike up to the paint store and bought paint, rode to Woolworth's and bought black sheets and a dark gray comforter. I went home with all my goodies and proceeded to rip shag carpeting out of my room (had beautiful wood floors below). I painted my room dark gray with white, red and black splatter paint (which did get on the ceiling and is still there 28 years later). I didn't cut up the carpet so it only got moved to the hallway where it sat until Mom and Dad came home. I loved it! Mom and Dad weren't so sure about it at first, to say the least. Mom finally forgave me until she decided to repaint after I moved out, lol.

Anyway I wanted to give the op another tip besides canvas. My mom and I redid her bedroom one time with sheets! You could easily purchase king size black flat sheets and paint the neon colors on them, staple or use sizing (google instructions for that) to attach the sheets to the wall. Very easy and it looks great! And it comes down very easily if you decide you want to change the look without all the hassle of primer.

 

[SandrA9810]

what about attaching the canvas slightly away from the walls at different angles, with white or a bright color behind to help reflect the light. Then they can all be different sizes.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Anyone else now unable to get the Rolling Stones out of their head?

 

[shortbun]

My sister painted a huge wall length, black lightening bolt across her wall. I was nearly impossible to cover later. It looked great while it was her room. when she moved out, it was a pain.

 

[NotUrsula]

Anyone else now unable to get the Rolling Stones out of their head?

LOL, Saturday when we were at the store picking out paint, DS said that he wanted to paint his door red. Since he was bargaining to get his walls painted black, I asked why. His answer: "So that I can paint it black afterward -- like in the song." (Note that our house is old and the doors are solid mahogany and stained -- needless to say, he is NOT painting that door.)

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

If your willing to go a bit indrustral with your look, My best freind and I bought a huge canvas tarp for $5 at menards. It was good quality and looked very good when painted. We used it for a rug for many (MANY) years.

 

[JustineMarie]

You could also use these:

http://store.modernwallgraphics.com/-strse-231/Splatter-wall-decals-stickers/Detail.bok

My daughter has flower ones and they stick well but still come off easily.

They also have a ton of colors to pick. Obviously it ill be a little bit more expensive than painting them yourselves but it ill be cleaner!

 

[Heidict]

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.

Yeah, something like this sounds good. A whole room of black walls sounds very cave like and even though it would have the neon splashes on it, would make me feel closed in.

Then again, it is her room and she won't be there much longer. Let her have fun and be creative. Just stock up on primer for the day when you will have to paint over it.

 

[laurie31]

You could also use these:

http://store.modernwallgraphics.com/-strse-231/Splatter-wall-decals-stickers/Detail.bok

My daughter has flower ones and they stick well but still come off easily.

They also have a ton of colors to pick. Obviously it ill be a little bit more expensive than painting them yourselves but it ill be cleaner!

Wow, those are very cool. And I think maybe the "not having to sand the splashes off later" bit would be worth it!

I'm also looking into getting some $20 black sheets from WalMart, just to hang up there and see if she *really* wants her room black before we go to too much more trouble and expense.

And...ooooh, I hadn't thought about her furniture and bedding totally not fitting in. I really like her furniture, and meant for it to last many many years, but I was envisioning a teen room of pink and white and lacy stuff, but she's obviously not the white lace type - lol. At least we can get a bed in a bag for not too much money, but there's no way we're painting over that furniture. I'll have to think of something for that if the need actually arises.

Thanks again everyone for the ideas!

 

[emma'smom]

(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.)

May I ask what your main colors are to which your navy is an accent color?

I'm thinking of having our whole first floor painted a colonial gold and then accenting our family room with one navy wall (and our dining room--which you can see from the family room with one deep plum colored wall).