Ideas for a Girl's Striped Bedroom

Stripe Colors

• Use two or three colors for your striped room, including the background color. Avoid using complementary color combinations such as red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and purple; complementary colors bring out the vividness in each other and can appear to shift when used in close proximity to one another. For a cheerful, sunny look, use combinations of warm colors such as yellow and orange. Cool color combinations, such as blue and green or gray and purple, create a more subdued look. A mix of warms and cools, such as blue and yellow, provides a crisp, clean effect.

Stripe Patterns

• Stripe patterns are numerous. Awning stripes are wide, even stripes of a dark color on a lighter background and work well for large areas, such as a bedspread or wall. Barcode stripes feature a variety of random widths of stripes. Hairline stripes are the thinnest stripe pattern, with stripes not much wider than a human hair; use hairline stripes on smaller areas such as pillows and accessories. Pencil stripes are the width of a pencil lead; the distance between the stripes varies, but is typically several inches. Other stripe patterns include the bright, multicolored Roman stripes, horizontal bayadere stripes and the symmetrical pattern of balanced stripes.

Striped Walls

• Striped walls are bold and energetic. When painting stripes on walls, choose muted tones; bright stripes can be overpowering and hard on the eyes. It's important that the stripes be straight, with crisp lines. Paint the entire wall with the lighter color first. Wait 24 hours and apply masking tape, available in many widths, to the areas that will stay the lighter color. Use a brush or small roller to paint the striped areas between the lines of tape. Remove the masking tape when the walls are completely dry. If four walls of stripes are too many for your tastes, paint stripes on just one or two walls.

Striped Accessories

• If the walls are striped, go easy on striped accessories. Use a solid bedspread and curtains to anchor the walls, and add a striped rug and pillows. If the walls are solid, find a matching set of striped curtains and bedspread. Cover small pillows in a variety of stripe patterns for a funky touch. Paint stripes onto a lampshade or dresser drawers using masking tape as a guide. Small touches, such as a pile of striped blank journals or striped pencils in a striped pencil holder, add balance to areas void of stripes without taking attention away from the predominant striped focal points in the room.