Don’t be afraid to pick bright shades of pink and red. Although they may seem overwhelming at first, the colors will complement each other and make every detail of the room’s décor stand out. Hot pink and fuchsia have an intense, enchanting feel, and deep reds, like crimson, create a lively, adventurous atmosphere.

Because red is such a strong color, it is best to leave it off the walls and use it in other ways throughout the room. Red pillows, rugs, or artwork can add a vibrant pop to pale pink walls.

Bright pink accents can also add drama to a girly bedroom. Pink bedding sets create a focal point and tie together the rest of the room’s decorations. Pink bedding is the perfect way to capture that “princess” spirit.

When it comes to furniture, for younger girls, pick white pieces to keep the room simple and girlish. For older girls and teens, black or dark brown furniture can add sophistication to the otherwise-youthful aura of a red and pink bedroom.

Finally, if you’re going all-out for a red and pink bedroom, take advantage of girly details. Sequins, hearts, and ruffles highlight the room’s playful energy.

A red and pink bedroom is perfect for kids who love color and are not afraid to be bold.  For any girl who is ready to transform her bedroom into a whole new setting, red and pink are the colors to use.

When designing with a lavender and gray color scheme, you must first decide which color will be the background color and which will be the accent color. For a more sophisticated look, use gray as the background color with lavender accents. For a girlier, more youthful room, use lavender with gray accents.

Children’s bedding is an easy way to introduce lavender to the room. In cribs, lavender bedding creates a soothing atmosphere, perfect for naptime and bedtime. For older kids, lavender bedding satisfies their independent streak without making the room look like it was decorated entirely by an 8 year old.

Accessories are another important way to introduce color to a room. Lavender picture frames add a pop of color against an otherwise-neutral gray wall. Paintings, toys, and even lavender lamps can splash color against a neutral background. To really personalize the room, hang lavender letters on the walls to make your daughter the envy of all her friends.

Lavender is the perfect color to accent the cool undertones of a gray room. Lavender adds a soft, feminine touch to gray’s understated character. A color found in nature, lavender creates a tranquil, serene environment that is perfect for a bedroom. And best of all, lavender is a little girl’s dream come true.

The process of instilling responsibility and organization within children is a considerable task for parents, one that begins in the home. Although cleaning a bedroom may seem like a lonely or even disciplinary chore for children, using the time as an opportunity to bond and encourage teamwork will surely relieve the stress.

While kids are expected to keep their rooms both clean and tidy, parents should arrange their bedroom furniture in a manner that will help promote and maintain an organized atmosphere. A smart bedroom layout is one that promotes storage and coordination to its maximum level of efficiency. Shelving is an excellent way to store knickknacks, odd pieces and a number of other accessories that would otherwise clutter the floor, dresser or nightstand. Taking into account the height or children, parents must be sure to use storage units of an appropriate height and accessibility to enable children to organize on their own.

As one the biggest and most visible focal points of a bedroom, encouraging children to make their bed on a daily basis will go a long way towards maintaining a clean image. Making a bed will ensure that there are no stray pillows or sheets draped around the room, and the clean sheets will give kids a flat surface to prepare and organize other parts of the room.

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Designing a pink themed bedroom is more than just repeating a simple hue or constant theme throughout a bedroom. Juxtaposing a wide array of pastel blush colors against deep and vibrant fuchsias and magentas will make a room truly harmonize.

Choosing the starting shade of pink is usually up to the personality of a person. Have you traditionally been drawn to red or purplish pink, or a more orange and coral pink? Whatever your decision may be, pick two or more shades to accompany your choice, usually a brighter and more robust tone and a softer more subtle hue.

To break up some of the color, try adding a splash of nature-inspired tones. Earthy browns, sky blues, and leafy greens easily complements the abundance of pink in nature and gives the room a unifying feel.

Bedding that repeats similar colors will help balance the walls with the room’s texture, and parents may wish to use additional colors to offset the pink walls. An assortment of colors similar to pink include an array of blues, purples, reds and oranges. These colors typically have some of shade of pink within them, yet are distinct enough to stand on their own.

Accessorize with the essentials to complete the process. Pink related accessories come in a number of themes, including princess, flower, animal and many other subject matters. Big and bold accessories include anything from rugs to pillows to wall art, while small and intricate accessories include knobs, fan pulls, picture frames, and a number of other trinkets.

When I was 16 I thought it was my Dad’s goal in life to make me miserable. I was convinced that he had a running list of all the ways he could embarrass me in front of my friends, trick me into doing more chores or make my curfew earlier. Our relationship would have continued to fracture until one day I saw my Dad reading a parenting book. I flipped through it while my Dad was in the bathroom and realized a lot of the things he did that drove me crazy he was getting right out of this book! I looked at the other parenting books on our shelves and realized that they were all written by adults. I wondered—has anyone ever asked teens to write to their parents?

I decided to build a website where teens could answer questions and write to parents called RadicalParenting.com. I couldn’t believe how quickly it grew and how happy both teens were to get their voices out and parents were to have a new outlet for connecting with their kids! We now have over 120 teen writers who give advice. Here are the six things they wish their parents knew:

1. Don’t Ask ‘Answer-Questions’

An Answer-Question is a question that already has the answer in it. For example, moms love to ask, “Don’t you think that girl Sheila is mean?” or, “Do you think you should do something about that very important extra-credit assignment?” Sometimes Answer-Questions drive us crazy because it makes us feel like our parents don’t think we know what to do, or belittle our opinions.

2. Comparing Us Hurts More Than You Think

Whenever a parent starts a sentence with, “Why can’t you be more like…” teens automatically cringe. Fill in the blank with perfect best friend, older sibling or a younger, more obedient version of Mom. Many parents don’t realize that comparing us to others makes us feel bad about ourselves and sends us the message that we should be less like ourselves and more like someone else—never a good feeling.

3. The Issues Are the Same, the Circumstances Are Different

We know that every parent was a teenager once—although it is sometimes hard to believe it. Even though all teenagers have some of the same issues, like dating, curfew, pressure at school and bullying, we want parents to know that the circumstances are different. Colleges are more competitive and technologies like Facebook and texting add a new layer of complication to teen relationships. Please don’t assume things are the same as they were when you were a teenager and talk to us about what is different.

4. Risk Is Tempting

Risk is much more appealing to us and this is backed by science. Researchers at University of Texas found that there are parts of the teen brain that are more tempted to take risks. Teenagers want their parents to know this so that parents can encourage positive risk-taking. Extreme sports, running for student government, going to a theme park these are all positive adrenaline producing activities that scratch that risk itch.

5. Just Because We Are Rolling Our Eyes, Doesn’t Mean We Aren’t Listening

We often pretend to not listen to our parents or care what they think, but we do. Don’t let our eye rolling, lackadaisical attitude fool you, we are often listening and what you say matters to us more than you think.

6. Social Rejection Is Actually Painful

Many parents do not understand why we care so much about what our friends think. Two researchers at UCLA discovered that social rejection actually registers as bodily injury or pain in the brain! There might not be that big of a difference between a punch and a catcall. For us when our friends disapprove or we feel socially rejected it can feel worse than a punch in the gut. So have patience with our obsession with friends and help us find great ones and balance social time with family time, work time and alone time.

In conclusion, ask your own kids what they wish you knew about them—they might surprise you. All of these tips come from my book that I wrote with my teen interns for parents. It’s called: “Do I Get My Allowance Before or After I’m Grounded” and it offers a totally radical perspective for parents to connect with and build relationships with their teens and tweens. Please check it out! Radical Parenting Book

Paint colors ranging from a lush and exotic purple to a soft and soothing lavender give designers a wide array of choices when painting a room. When deciding which purple is best for your decor, perhaps the best choice is to juxtapose strong tones against lighter hues. Strong tones are abundant in nature, taking the form a plum, eggplant, or acai purple. Fruit-inspired tones suggest a bold and robust sensation, invoking a sense of luxury and liveliness. Other natural colors include a lavender, orchid, or thistle tone, owing their popularity to the silkiness of the flowers they represent. With a combination of nature-inspired hues to breathe life into the walls, repeating purple and other natural colors throughout the room will surely complement the overall décor as well.

Flowered bedding collections seamlessly match any nature-inspired theme, adding a splash of bright and pastel colors to the purple of the walls. Patterns and prints will similarly add an eclectic feel to the room, making an overall statement with a tangible and soft texture to relax on. Bedding collections that come with a broad set of fabrics offer the ability to place lightly differing tones alongside one another, complete with comforters, shams, bed skirts, and other features to bring the room’s fabrics together. With bedding and fabrics that match the walls, the final step is to accessorize.

Repeating the  flower theme throughout a room is easy with a number of nature-inspired wall decals and wall art. Smaller additions include flower-shaped furniture hardware and knobs, as well as other wastebaskets, tissue boxes, and other smaller features. Departing from the nature theme, similar embellishments include ornate lighting. Elaborate and glamorous lamps, lighting and desk lamps echo the luxury of royalty with a supremely lavish feel. Lighting can be complemented with room themed mirrors to reflect your child’s interests from every angle.

Beginning in the early 1940’s and reaching its peak in the present, modern skateboarding, or street skateboarding, is as uniquely social as it is personal. Taking to the streets with tricks that use everything from a railing to a flight of stairs to a vertical wall, street skateboarding’s rise to mainstream media has defined the sport as an art, attitude and culture all its own.

Skateboard designs have continually been defined by their bold colors and daring patterns, ranging from obscure geometric patterns to outrageous, graffiti-inspired letters. Just as a skateboarder’s skateboard defines their personality, so too can a bedroom harness the extreme nature of the sport. Robust and full-bodied paint colors such as an intense blue or deep green complement the outdoorsy nature of the sport, while brown and earthy tones mimic the feel of a wooden half pipe or the auburn of the ground. Unconventional patterns or a collage-inspired patchwork design similarly add an eclectic or Bohemian feel to a room’s wall design, and with wall art to match, the décor will take on new heights.

Wall art and wall decals depicting tricks and stunts add a sense of authenticity to the décor. Combining wall art with posters of professional skateboarders such as Steve Caballero, Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, or many others, will similarly add a sense of reality and keep the décor current and fresh.

Perhaps the best way to complete the skateboarding theme is to accessorize with skateboards themselves. Painting old skateboards to remove cracks, blemishes or other imperfections, or utilizing old or new skateboards to be used as wall art, shelving, or a number of other accessories can easily bring the room’s theme together.

Sports themed wall art and shelving are a favorite choice to blend a splash of color with multi-sport inspiration. Furniture and accessories come in a number of traditional sport themes including baseball, soccer, football, hockey and basketball, as well as a variety of unconventional and extreme sports such as skateboarding, surfing, dirt bike, golf and others. Sporty wall decals bring over-the-top and full-scale images to life to adorn any wall or exterior, and sporty shelving acts as the perfect platform to display trophies, pictures and knick-knacks alike.

Solid and classic colors keep the bedding simple and straightforward. Bedding can be utilized to match the room’s overall appearance or your specific interests. For instance, if surfing is your primary interest, bedding in ocean blues or surfing patterns will easily stand as a strong presence to balance the room’s varying accessories and wall color.

Posters are a brilliant way to complement the room’s color, prominently displaying your favorite image or interests to match your personality. Wall decals offer a modern and inspired alternative to traditional wall art. Plant, tree and flower decals can be positioned to create a bustling garden and breezy meadow, while animal, nature and contemporary decals similarly bring character to the walls and stimulate the imagination. Flea markets and small boutiques offer a number of vintage and retro inspired accessories for an alternative Bohemian style, complete with unconventional and artistic odds and ends. Glamorous and flashy accessories similarly complement a room’s color scheme with all the markings of a modern and classy décor.

Comfort is key with bedding collections that offer a complete set, including matching and harmonizing comforters, duvet covers, sheets, shams, pillows, and bed skirts. Flower and garden patterns complement any number of dazzling bright colors, soft muted tones or high-spirited pastels, suggesting a timeless and endearing quality. Over-the-top patterns and colors alternatively make a room pop with an assortment of tie-dye, hot pink and funky colored hues. Accessorizing with large and relaxing floor pillows and pillow chairs, or mixing and matching fuzzy and bold throw pillows will complement the bedding and the overall room’s décor.

One of the most obvious and effective ways to change a bedroom is to simply rearrange. Moving beds, dressers or desks to straddle a corner or line a different wall will instantly create a fresh atmosphere, and with the new space to work with, kids can take the opportunity to learn new crafts.

Up-cycling, or utilizing old furniture from your childhood, is a valuable asset of the redesigning process. Painting an old nightstand or adding new hardware to a dresser can completely change the style of the piece without altering its function. Draping a piece of fabric over a table or desk’s surface can add a splash of color to a neutral colored piece, while also adding a softness to an otherwise sharp edge or corner.

With the furniture and small pieces beginning to take shape, the final step is to accessorize. Wall stickers and wall decals are perhaps the easiest and most efficient way to completely change the look of a room. With a simple peel and stick adhesive to adhere to any exterior, wall decals can be easily applied and removed without damaging the walls.

Plant, tree and flower images complement the brightness of a garden with the color scheme of a bedroom, invoking a fresh and outdoorsy ambiance. Animal themed decals easily add an exotic element to a nature themed décor, while sport themed decals similarly bring the allure of the field to the comfort of home. For those looking for a more traditional feel, modern and contemporary themed stickers come in a number of formal and practical images, including chalkboards, whiteboards and picture frames. Whatever your child’s interests may be, the variety and versatility of wall decals are sure to complement any existing décor or even create a whole new décor themselves.