Bedroom design: A topic teens, parents can agree on

By David Bradley
The Associated Press

You can add one more planet to the teenage universe that revolves around cars, music and social life.

Kids want some decorative control of their bedrooms.

According to a national survey of teenagers conducted for Lowes, teens have definite ideas how their in-home sanctuary should look, and a surprising number just might tackle some of the work themselves.

“Any parent knows their teenager has a mind of their own,” says Melissa Birdsong, director of trend forecasting and design for Lowes, “and their bedrooms are no different. Teenagers say This is my room, and it ought to fit my style and personality. Its a chance for creative expression, and a chance, too, for teens and parents to work on a project together.”

In fact, four of 10 teens say they or their parents have remodeled or plan to remodel the teenagers room. Restyled rooms appear particularly important to teenage girls. More than half of young women, 53 percent, have had renovations to personalize their room or have plans in the works to do so. Among boys, the figure is 32 percent.

Paint is where its at for many teens. If they could change one aspect of their room, 46 percent would paint it a new color. Brightly colored walls are a priority for girls who favor rooms with a “funky, trendy look” according to Birdsong. Boys opt for more muted looks, with accents on neutral color, plaids, rugby stripes and sporty, preppy motifs.

How-to television shows seem to have some affect the TV generation. Almost two-thirds of teens, 65 percent, report they sometimes watch home-improvement programs such as “Trading Places,” “This Old House,” VH1s “Rock the House” and MTVs “Cribs.” Girls are more frequent viewers, with 74 percent saying they view such programs vs. 55 percent for teenage boys. Viewership rises to 74 percent if the teen has already redone his or her room or has plans to do so.

Indeed, many teens are ready and willing to perform some of the work. Birdsong says nearly four in 10 teens intend to take on a home-improvement project such as building a loft or painting their room or furniture. Girls don’t concede anything to the boys when it comes to do-it-yourself tendencies. More than four in 10 girls are ready to perform some of work themselves compared to 34 percent of the boys.

And there are lots of teen bedrooms in need of potential remodeling; there are 32 million teens between the ages of 12 and 19 in the United States.

“Its clear to us teenagers have strong opinions about how they want their bedrooms to look and feel,” says Birdsong. “A lot of them are willing to do the work. For many teens a coat of paint they helped to choose helps them make the room their own.”

Room decor is one thing but how to keep the room neat and tidy is another topic altogether. “It makes parents feel good to watch their kids use a paint brush,” says Birdsong, “and when it comes to keeping that new room picked up, weve got kid-friendly storage systems, too.”

The survey was conducted for Lowes by Ipsos-Insight and results were based on interviews with 600 U.S. teenagers.