BLACK GIRLS BEDDING

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In all my bedroom decorating endeavors, I've never been overly impressed with black girls bedding sets. Solid black comforters and bedspreads just seemed to clash with (most, but we won't talk about the goth girls) my clients' teen and tween girls sunny, cheerful personalities. Black faux fur and microsuede bedding sets have a tendency to overpower even the brightest accent colors and decorations and absorb all of the natural as well as the artificial lighting the girls' rooms.

But I may have found a black girls bedding set that will satisfy a young girl's need for dark colored bedding. Granted, this set of Tommy Hilfiger girls bedding is not solid black but it does have a black background which should count for something. The tropical print fabric removes or at the very least offsets the dark color and makes for a very exotic bedding set. In fact, the dark black really makes those tropical flowers, leaves and pineapples stand out. After seeing so many pictures of bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms and every other room in the home covered in pineapples from back in the 1980s, I never dreamed I would recommend a pineapple print fabric. But I have learned that when decorating it's best never to say never!

IDEAS for a BLACK and WHITE BEDROOM

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Black and white rooms are catching on like crazy and while looking for ideas for a black and white bedroom that I'm working on, I spotted these pictures where the walls had been painted with funky, black and white horizontal stripes.

What a wild look this would be with a set of damask print bedding or a black and white polka dot comforter set! The instructions said that they used a laser level to keep the stripes even, but they don't indicate whether they taped them off or just penciled in the borders of the stripes. I would absolutely have to use painter's tape or I would end up with wavy, uneven stripes.

One of the visitors here suggested some ideas for a black and white bedroom awhile back that included the combination of flat white ceiling paint and black semi-gloss or eggshell wall paint. I think that using that technique to paint these stripes would look very cool!

RED BEDDING is HOT THIS FALL

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People, let me tell you that red bedding is hot this fall! Those of you with a tendency towards cool colors may be skeptical and wondering what would make me say (read: scream) such a thing. I can answer that question in one word: catalogs.

This morning I drug my sorry self into the kitchen as usual pinning my hopes for the day on a nice, hot cup of coffee with just a pinch of cinnamon. The java came through as planned and while I was sipping and savoring the aroma that had been missing in my morning since last fall, I thumbed through a few of my favorite catalogs that had been piling up as of late.

As bleary as I was, I spotted the trend even before the caffiene had a chance to kick in. In each and every one of the catalogs I saw red bedding. There was red and black plaid bedding, striped bedding and perhaps my personal favorite was featured in the Pottery Barn catalog, red bedding that had pictures of cardinals on it, which are my favorite birds especially in winter. Their bright red feathers add color to an otherwise bleak landscape.

Zebra bedding is still one of the most popular girls bedding sets but the zebra print and hot pink color combination that was so popular last spring and summer is dressed for the season at hand with scarlet red satin, silk or taffeta fabrics and red and black damask bedding collections have a glow all their own. Yes, dear reader, to say that red bedding is hot this fall may very well be an understatement. To be so obvious that I can spot it before my second cup of coffee, you really can't doubt that it's a trend.

FANCY BEDROOMS

In the past 3 months I have not decorated any fancy bedrooms to speak of. To be clear, what I call "fancy" might be referred to as a luxury bedroom by those who prefer to maintain a level of sophistication in their vocabulary. I know the economy has taken a hit and custom made furniture and girls bedding are probably last on the list of people doing their best to make mortgage payments on those high end homes bought in the heat of the moment.

But thinking of the past, I can remember working on some luxury bedroom designs that were not any more expensive than decorating a room with IKEA style decor (modern look and sleek contemporary finish). There was one project in particular where the homeowner used a solid walnut tester bed as the centerpiece for her teen girl's bedroom that was breathtakingly beautiful. I expected the young girl to reject the antique bed as looking "old fashioned" but I was pleasantly surprised when she was on board with the decision.

It was not that she was such a fan of ornate furniture and fancy bedrooms as she liked the sense of history and place that the bedroom furniture gave to her space. She said that she enjoyed being surrounded with pieces that had been in her family for generations. Her only request was that the comforter set, curtains and wall paint color were light and bright to offset the dark finish of the elaborately carved wood.

TRENDS

In my last few projects, not only were girls leaning toward platform beds and a minimal amount of bedroom furniture, the materials were not that important. A few years ago, if the bedroom set was not real wood, nobody wanted it. And now I find that buying solid wood is not important. Several of my clients ordered custom made furniture and called a master carpenter that built the furniture based on their specifications. Needless to say that we had to wait a long time for the furniture to arrive.


Lately things have really changed; nobody has either the money or the time to hire custom woodworkers. Either they use the furniture they already have in place or buy imported furniture with a contemporary look, bright colors and maintenance-free finishes. I suppose that the time it takes to maintain great-grandma's intricately carved wooden furniture is more than busy, professional people want to deal with since money to hire cleaning help is tight.

THE APPEAL OF IMPORTED PLATFORM BEDS and FURNITURE

I'm all for buying imported furniture for first apartments, dorm rooms and kids' bedrooms. The stuff is cheap and can be easily dismantled, packed in boxes and then re-assembled with little effort. Plus, the pieces require a minimum amount of floor space giving the illusion that the bedrooms are larger than they actually are.

Ok, I get it that low maintenance furniture has its place. But I really miss decorating those fancy bedrooms with luxurious fabrics and decorations even if they were dust catchers.

CUTE BETTY BOOP SHOWER CURTAINS and BATHROOM DECORATIONS

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If I were a teenage girl about to give my bedroom a makeover, I think I'd have to cover it from ceiling to area rug in Betty Boop graphics. I just adore everything that has Betty Boop pictures on it including comforters and those sassy little figurines.

Most teens and tweens now have bathrooms that adjoin their bedrooms, so if you are going to have a Betty Boop bedding set, you might as well decorate the bathroom to match the comforter, right?

There are several contemporary styles of Betty Boop shower curtains and bath accessories to pick from. Currently there are trendy images that are a cross between Betty Boop and Marilyn Monroe that have Betty standing over a hot air grate on a city street trying to stop the white skirt of her flirty dress from flying over her head and revealing more than the sexy garter belt with a big red heart on it and a less than modest length of well-shaped leg.

For the biker crowd there's a large, colorful Betty Boop shower curtain with a picture of Betty Boop riding off into the sunset on a motorcycle with a big letter "B" monogram on the gas tank. Not one to be shy about sporting a sexy wardrobe, Betty Boop is wearing a leopard print bra, thigh high fishnet stockings, big gold hoops all while casting a seductive wink your way.

Either of these Betty Boop fabric shower curtains will get your bathroom decorating ideas for your teen girl off to a good start. These cute Betty Boop themed ceramic bathroom accessories will be the perfect complement for your bedroom decorating ideas and girls bedding that you got on sale!