Bedroom Art

I don't care if you're the most dedicated paleontologist in the world, this might be a bit much for your bedroom. Yes, I did a little Photoshopping, but the giant 3D painting is available for purchase.

There's a tendency for people, when they think of art, to automatically think of "living room" art, paintings to hang over the couch. There's usually not much room for art in the kitchen or bathrooms but probably dining room art comes to mind next. I mean, if you're going to spend the big bucks on paintings and objects 'd art, you want to make sure they're out where your friends can see them, enjoy seeing them, and be impressed with your wealth and good taste in choosing them. Right? The other major rooms of importance where there's room on the walls for artwork, and probably the last rooms to actually get art work are the bedrooms. Here, however, the criteria for choosing such art changes from impressing your friends to the interests and personality of the bedroom's occupants. There's not a more personal, individually distinctive room in the entire house.

If you're an artist reading this, you may want
to express yourself and save a little money
too by painting your own bedroom mural.

In discussing bedroom art I'm not going to get into interior design, as such, though the image you choose to go on the wall above your bed does play a big part in that endeavor. Inasmuch as the bed is the lar-gest piece of furniture in most bed-rooms, and thus unavoidably the focal point, the wall behind the bed is the second most important surface to be dealt with. Sometimes its a framed painting, a pleasant landscape, or per-haps a genre scene. However, more and more often the wall itself is the basic surface to be decorated whether with a hand-painted mural or (more likely) some type of removable wall covering, "sticker," or decal in which the paint color of the wall become the back-ground. Today, there are a mind-boggling variety of such items to choose from. It's enough to keep you awake at night.

Be daring. Express yourself. Have fun. No one else is going to see your choices. If married, consult your spouse first before painting Audrey Hepburn's eyes peering down at your bed.

Whether the bedroom is for a child or an adult, it goes without saying that the wall art should reflect the bedroom occupant's interests, gender, and age. Shortly after our son was born, two of my high school art students decorated a wall in his room featuring a cast of Muppets and Sesame Street characters with the words, "Jonathan's Friends" in their midst. By the time he was ten or twelve, he was more than willing to help wallpaper over it. The redecorating project involved black carpet, a blinking traffic light, and I think a plastic skull or two. I drew the line when he asked me to paint a KISS album cover on the wall. Inasmuch as decisions involving the décor of the master bedroom usually fall to the female of the species, most such rooms have a decidedly light, pleasant, restful décor and fairly unobtrusive choice of art. Conventional wisdom suggests, soft, neutral, low-contrast colors. Borrrring... If you and/or your spouse like camping, consider a woodland wallpaper mural (above, right). For the more daring, the black and white room (above, left) might be fun (the face of the giant clock is painted on the wall, the hands, however move.

For most kids, plan on redecorating their bedroom at least once as they get older.

A young child's bedroom (or nursery), regardless of gender, is usually an adults-only series of decisions as to colors, furnishings, and wall art. The child may have some indirect input based upon early interests--a favorite cartoon character, movie, or toy--but not to the point of making demands as to such décor. However, the second time around, usually about the time they hit puberty, all bets are off. They not only want their voice heard in outfitting their sleeping quarters, they often expect to make the final decisions involved. Short of celebrating the drug culture or images pulled from Internet porn sites, most parents would be well advised to take on a merely advisory role at this point, reminding the young man or lady to choose carefully in that you can't afford to redecorate their room every time they change their favorite rock group or teen idol.

Just because it's tastefully decorated, don't expect your kids to keep their rooms neat. Be satisfied with clean and pest free.

Our bedroom. My wife gave me a free hand in decorating,
though she retained veto power.