How to Decorate in Bold Colors for a Teen Girl

Hot Savanna

• A teen room with a hot pink wall behind the bed, a black-and-white paisley spread and a zebra-striped bedside rug is wild enough for the most energetic adventuress. Vivid pink and orange, flower-power daisies printed on black-and-white striped curtains amp the vibe, as does a hot pink paper globe over the ceiling lamp. Plenty of glossy white on the armoire, dresser, bed frame and trim keeps the exuberance in check. Paint the three remaining walls in matte or eggshell white, add a bulletin board of pink, white and black cork squares in a zebra-striped frame and paint a blackboard panel on the outside of the closet door -- hot pink chalk optional.

Hang Ten Teen

• Turquoise is a restful, healing color -- unless it covers the walls in the intense aqua of high noon on a tropical lagoon. A surfer girl will feel part-Gidget, part-mermaid in a turquoise shell of walls and ceiling with cloud-crisp white trim. Toss area rugs on the wood floors in aqua, banana, lime, hibiscus-pink and orange stripes and cover one wall in a giant mural of the perfect wave off Waikiki. A white laminate desk with a lime-green gooseneck lamp and bright yellow chair makes homework -- or checking the latest surf forecasts -- more inviting. A beat-up skimboard, fitted with hooks and hung on the wall, keeps a wetsuit or bathrobe off the floor.

Beautiful Boho

• Crazy colors are right at home in a mixed-up, Boho-style bedroom that blends cast-offs, flea market finds and patterns from everywhere into a personal statement. Purple walls, a velvet flowered bedspread in bright golds, pinks and oranges and a scattering on the bed of pillows appliqued in iconic peace signs, kissing lips, broken hearts and electric guitars help set the mood. Make a boring ceiling lamp disappear by removing the handle of a red silk, flower-painted parasol and hanging it over the light fixture. Introduce the unexpected by adding a neon-green lava lamp to a carved, Indian bedside table. Drape holiday icicle lights around a wood or metal hoop to suspend over the head of the bed like a chandelier. Tack bright silk saris -- in dynamic orange and teal -- to the hoop and flow the saris to either side of the bed as a canopy.

Young Sophisticate

• Your cool urban teen may be allergic to crayon-box decor but still crave high color intensity. Paint the walls, ceiling and floor snowy white and then tackle the wall behind a brushed-steel bed frame with a can of chalkboard paint. Cover two-thirds of the wall in chalkboard, leaving a generous strip of white to frame it at top and bottom. Drape the bed in a crushed-velvet bedspread in gunmetal gray. Paint a three-panel, stretched-canvas screen in flat black to hold black-and-white photos, favorite sayings and dream-board images torn from magazines. Create a desk with a steel workhorse base topped with a slab of glass and flanked by a deep gray office chair. An Eames-style, molded plastic rocker in lipstick red and a rock concert poster in a red enamel frame add the requisite pop of color to this minimalist, urbane teen landscape.