Michael Holigan: Letting kids have input about their own space is a great way to get them involved in do-it-yourself activities around the house. And this hand print border project is a easy way to get started. At least 24 hours before painting, apply a prepasted border to the wall. And then put up some wax paper and masking tape to protect the wall. What type of paint is this?
Heather Mason: This is just a water based acrylic paint. You want to use something that's easy for the kids to wash off their hands. So we are going to use an acrylic. This is called Liquitex concentrate. It's a little bit more quality paint than a r egular acrylic.
M.H.: And what do we do?
H.M.: You're just going to stick your hand in the paint. If you need to blot I've got an extra plate here. And then you want to kind of go wide open hand and just paint the wall.
M.H.: How expensive is this paint?
H.M.: This bottle happens to go for $2.69. It is a concentrate, so you can water it down if you need to.
M.H.: Any reason we're starting with the lighter color first?
H.M.: Usually the lighter colors are, don't go over the darker colors as easy as the darker colors go over the lighter colors. That's really the only reason why.
M.H.: How many colors can you use when you're doing something like this?
H.M.: You can use as many as you want. It just kind of depends on how you've decorated your room already. This room was done in primary so we're sticking with primary colors, but if you wanted to incorporate green, orange, purple, your complimentary co lors, you could do that as well.
M.H.: It's really very similar to sponge painting, isn't it?
H.M.: Very similar. You don't get the spongy effect and the holes, but it is the same concept as sticking in your hands and blotting right on to the wall.
M.H.: Heather, can we do anything between the hand prints?
H.M.: Yeah, I think it would be great if you incorporated even some washable markers or some Crayola crayon and just let the kid or even the parents, if you want it to be nice and neat, you could yourself write ABC's or 123's or anything like that. Even write their names up in it or if you want it to be just the kids craft thing, letting them do their own decorating, you could let them do some drawing. I would do it with parent supervision, though.
M.H.: Yeah, I'd hate to come home one day and find out my son decorated all the walls in the house.
H.M.: Yeah.
M.H.: It's easy to take off. You don't even need to use soap. Acrylic paint comes off very easily. Let's see how it looks. For less than $20 and a couple of hours of your time, your child's room could have that personal touch. Look's great. When tw o children are sharing the same room, there are some different decorating problems to be solved. Especially when you of them is a new brother or sister. But the potential for sibling rivalry can be diminished in several ways. Well, Doreen, we had one s ibling living here and now the other one's joined her. What can we do to redesign the room for two people?
Doreen Thompson: Well, I think one of the key things is that when you put children in together into a room together, and that's something that they're not used to, they have to feel like it's a really special environment and you've done something unique just because they have the opportunity to share a room. So what we really suggest is that you go ahead and you make the room really fun, but you also create a sense of equity, so that both children have just as great a comforter as the other one, just as great a pillow and just as many stuffed animals. I mean, it's a really key thing.
M.H.: Another way you can achieve more equality in a room is by rearranging the furniture to free up more common play space.
D.T.: Now one of the funnest parts of a makeover is when we start with our finishing touches. And that's what these pillow shams help us to do and then we're going to just toss a few extra pillows, because kids can never have enough pillows to do exactl y what they want. And I like to sometimes put them up like this, because kids find their beds a really nice place for reading.
M.H.: It's also important to hang things on the wall at your child's eye level.
D.T.: Is that a good height for you to see yourself? All right. Because this mirror is just for you. I mean, kids come home from school, you know, they always have that jacket on or whatever, so by having a hook at their height by the door, you start to get them in the habit of hanging up their things when they come into the room. These are also ideal to use for their little bath robes or whatever else.
M.H.: Having an activity area in the room is a great way to encourage creativity. Katy is painting a storage bin for some of her personal belongings. And it's just the right size to slide under her bed for easy access, and to make good use of the space for storage. The clock is also a good idea for a child's room. It will help the child begin to understand the concept of time, especially bedtime, which is an important time of day for all parents. Most of all, it's important to observe your children and make sure they're comfortable with the changes you've made in their room. Here's some important things to keep in mind with kids rooms. Plan a room that will grow with your child from infancy to preschooler. Hang wallpaper, pictures and mirrors at your child's eye level. Provide plenty of storage bins so children can easily help clean up after themselves.
Episode 38 1996 - 97 Season
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