Decorating kids rooms: I hate the color my son MUST HAVE

How about painting one wall his color choice and the rest of the walls something you like.
Or, maybe you could meet somewhere in the middle and let him pick a slightly less vivid yellow?
And I only say this because I vividly remember a heated arguement with my mother about the paint for my room when I was seven, and I still don't understand why she couldn't let me pick what I wanted (it was just a darkish pink, for God's sake!). It's only paint, and maybe it's really important to him.
I think there must be some way you can compromise so you're both relatively happy with the result. If nothing else, you can always close his door as much as possible if you don't like the color.

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Or put his shoice of color sample on the wall and when he goes to school cover it with a more muted shade of yellow. He'll come home and tell you it's his favorite color and he just has to have it. This will work unless his yellow is just too hidious to be able to tone down. Then I'm afraid you'll just have to let him paint it his color and hope that you can repaint in a few months. I once had a 'pepto bismal' pink livingroom that lasted about 3 months.

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How about a yellow stripe on blue (or whatever else he can stand) or maybe some big yellow dots or something. That yellow is horrible. Like, retina-burning horrible.

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It's just paint for crying out loud! And it's in his room! Why not let him choose? (It will not reflect poorly on you or your decorating skills if you let him choose his own room color.)

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One of my happiest memories in my LIFE is that I had the parrot green room I wanted as a child. That crazy ugly color filled me with joy and pride. I also had a yellow and orange bed set to go with it. My parents just let me be in there all I wanted and probably wore sunglasses when they came to visit. :-)

I think it was important for me to have a space where I could express myself, even if it wasn't an adult's idea of tasteful. (It also had a beaded door in orange, yellow & green; yikes!) And it's important to learn about consequences (living with that color) and about considering various choices. Etc.

Since you posted, I'll say that I think 2 things. 1. A test of a few different colors is not too costly, and he'll get to see them in action in different lights at different times of day.

But 2. If you do that, you have to live with his choice. That's only fair. And I guess I wonder why you wouldn't anyway. Why does it matter so much if you don't like it, when you get to control the colors of the whole rest of the house?

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I don't know why it matters, I guess because I value my retinal function.

Why does everything turn into an attack? I'm different than you and that's okay. eeeeek!

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You can compromise with him, I'm sure. A psychologist friend told me once that bright yellow can cause psychotic episodes, so you may be right in wanting to stay away from that color ;) However, there's nothing better than the feeling that your parents understand you. You can paint stripes, big dots, 1 wall, the ceiling - but as long as feels he has control over his enviroment he will probably be happy.

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Yayy for everybody saying "it's just paint, let him have whatever color he wants and close the door" cuz that's what I was going to say.

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I understand why it matters. I am a complete control freak about any decorating done in the house. But I try to limit it to the more public rooms and let my kids have more say in their rooms. My daughter's room in our last house was pink, purple and orange. And it was pretty cute.
It's easy for me to say "just let him pick", but I'm sure I'll have some color issues of my own when we finally paint the kids' rooms. My son has said he wants his room orange and green and I don't know how I'll make it work!
And I have to say, if you hate a color so much that it gives you a headache, do not let it in your house!

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Ha Meg, that's exactly what I need....my nearly psychotic four-year-old getting yellow inspired psychotic episodes.

Two additional things: his room *is* yellow right now. I'll post a follow up with that picture. He just wants it to be more soul burning.

He's four, I can't just shut the door. a) it's off my kitchen and b) I you know, tuck him in and read books to him in there.

And it's not just paint...it's furniture, bedding, art...etc etc etc....

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And it's not just paint...it's furniture, bedding, art...etc etc etc....

And? C'mon. It's his room, you said you'd paint it the color he wanted, you won't die from it. I promise. He's not decorating the rest of the house, so why not let him have one space that's his?

I have to say, the yellow on my screen doesn't look that bright to me, but considering that the second yellow looks *green*, I suspect that's my screen settings.

And, finally, pastel yellow is evil. I will honestly gag and wince if forced to look at that color. So I'm biased (though I'd be arguing "it's his room" even if he *did* want that diabolical color in there, I suppose)

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I tried to paint a room bright orange once and it was just too bright. In the hallway it looked like the light was on even when it wasn't. My brain actually hurn from looking at it if it was was a sunny day. It looks like that yellow is in a similar vein. I mean, seriously, that orange probably could have disturbed the baby's sleep patterns.

And also, there's nothing wrong with teaching kids a little about compromise is there?

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We did this with my son in respect to choosing the pictures for his room. I really wanted a pastel Winnie the Pooh theme (which matched the paint). He, on the other hand, selected garish and poorly composed pictures of zoo animals with black backgrounds. So, I did Winnie the Pooh on one wall and he got the other three. If it helps any, he still absolutely loves the pictures that he selected. Its worth the optical pain.

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"No honey, the store doesn't have the right stuff to make that color yellow, however they have these (parental approved) colors, what do you like from these choices?"

Maybe not the best option. but you could have a little more control of the color.

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Uly, then you can paint whatever color you hate in your child's room when he asks for it.

I assure you as horrible as you think pastel yellow is, I think this mustard bright yellow is. Totally not an option just to have this horrible color in my house....where I hate to say it....my house, my rules. He can have a SpongeBob Yellow room when he pays the mortgage.

Holy! I just turned into my father!!!! AHHHHHH!

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How about you pick three or four "acceptable" yellow swatches and then let him choose from those?

I see nothing wrong with wanting a hand in what color his room is painted. For crying out loud, he's not going to grow up hating you because you wouldn't let him have mustard yellow for his room! (and I say that not to you, necessarily, but to those who are disparaging you) My son wants black for his room. I have nothing against black; it's one of my favorite "colors". But no, not on the walls. Not yet. He's eight, for heaven's sake. When he's 12 he'll change his mind again!

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Frances, I like your idea. I've been painting the living room most of the day and obsessing about this paint thing with Max, I'll post an update tomorrow.

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I like the one-wall idea -- just make it the wall that the door is on, so you can't really see it walking by!

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Hmmm, y'know I hemmed and hawed about posting my opinion, because I feel strongly about this issue, but I figured someone - if not Melissa herself - would take my opinion as an attack. And so it happened! I guess all is right with the world.

But I still believe in how good it is to pick the color of your own room; I stand by that. And Melissa I didn't mean to attack you, just to respond honestly to your post which you put out for comments.

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Would you be able to stand a few touches of that color in the room? A lamp, cushion, throw rug, some small bit of trim? If not, then I'd go with "The store is out of that particular color, how about one of these?" It may not honest, but it still gives him some control over how his room will look.

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