Red, Black & White Room Ideas for Girls

Sponged Walls

• Red is a readily visible color, and, according to Judy Ostrow, author of "Painting Rooms: How to Choose and Use Paint Like an Expert," red is the first color identified by babies. Ostrow suggests using red in a room as an accent color with a sponge painting on the wall. For a white, red and black room, paint the walls white and apply red paint over the dried white with light taps of a sponge dipped in red paint. The final effect will be a pale red background that adds brightness to the room without being overpowering. To reduce the brightness, add a third layer of sparsely sponged black paint on top of the red.

Floral Room

• Create a room inspired by the red and white of blooming flowers to add just enough of a feminine touch to a girl's room. Hang red rose prints in black picture frames around a white room. Cover the floor with a red carpeting or rug, and use a white bed set with red and black accents on the linens. As an alternative to framed pictures, use stencils painted on the wall of red flowers and outlined in black.

Ladybugs

• Create a space for a little lady full of red and black ladybugs. Set a ladybug throw rug in the middle of the room or at the side of the bed. Use ladybug-decorated bedspreads. To bring the red into the décor of the walls, Stephanie Rose in "Color Their World: How to Decorate a Child's Mind, Body, Heart and Soul, Along with Their Room!", suggests painting the trim and chair rail red. In one of her model rooms, she has denim blue painted below the chair rail in a child's room and white above it. Adapt this to a black, red and white scheme, and paint the bottom half black, the chair rail red and the top of the walls white with ladybug wallpaper appliques applied to the white background.

Double-Duty Walls

• Create a black and red mural on a wall that a girl can change at her whim with the swipe of an eraser and piece of chalk. Authors Sunny Goode and Kip Dawkins in"Paint Can! Children's Rooms," suggest painting a chalkboard on a wall outlined with a red painted frame. Chalkboard paint is black in color, and once dried, it can be written on with chalk like a real chalkboard. Put this on a long wall, low enough for the girl to reach it. Accent the room with more red accessories to bring the red of the faux frame out into the room. A wooden bed painted red and covered with black bedding and red pillows on the opposite side of the room will balance out the color across the space. Use white for the walls not painted in the chalkboard paint. Another way to use the chalkboard paint is to paint it in a strip 3 feet tall two feet above the floor. Paint a red border directly above and below the chalkboard strip, and color the wall above and below the chalkboard white to offset the chalkboard-painted area.