If your child is a fan the movie Cars, he or she would love to have them all around the bedroom. You can design a theme based on the Cars movie and transform you child's room into a little piece of Radiator Springs without buying a bed shaped like a race car.
What to Do with the Walls
Rather than covering the room in wallpaper that will be difficult and time-consuming to remove, create a plain background for the room with paint. Since the main color scheme for Cars merchandise uses red and white, getting the look on your child's walls can be accomplished as easily as painting the walls a crisp white and the trim a bright red.
You can decorate the blank walls with posters or wallpaper cutouts of your little one's favorite characters. The added color will soften the stark white of the walls and give interest to the eye, while reinforcing the theme of the room. Best of all, you can move or replace them easily without redecorating the entire wall, especially should you choose vinyl shapes made for easy removal.
What to Do with the Furniture
Rather than purchasing furniture dedicated to a theme, purchase solid wood pieces that you can refinish when you child's next favorite movie or book comes along. Buy a bed with substantial head and foot boards and a chest of drawers to hold your child's clothing. These can be refinished or painted and decorated to match any theme.
To continue the Cars theme, add those same vinyl cutouts of the movie's characters. What child wouldn't want Mater smiling by their feet while Lightning McQueen grins down from the wall? The same holds true for the dresser or chest of drawers. Paint the piece to match the room and decorate with cutouts. Let Luigi help your youngster with his or her pit stop every morning.
What to Do with the Rest of the Room
You can purchase bedding sets featuring the Cars stars in many shades and variations. Generally, these come with a matching comforter and pillow shams. Throw pillows shaped like Doc and Sally will add color and fun to the bed and continue the movie theme.
If your child has a desk, paint it to match the room and add accents that match. You can readily find notebooks, pencils cups, and coloring books that feature Lightning and the other cars.
Closet doors should receive the same treatment as the furniture. They provide a splash of color if you reverse the scheme and use red for the base with white accents. Shaped throw rugs with a Cars motif and rugs with roads and buildings on them will tie the room together without requiring you to replace the carpet.
Since this theme relies mostly on bright, cheery colors you can even choose solid accents that add variety to the room while still contributing to the theme. If you decorated your toddlers room with primary colors, a Cars theme takes the next step in interest and sophistication while using some of the elements you already have in place.
Make sure that you take your furniture and closet door outside or to the garage to sand and paint. Getting them ready will make a mess and create a fine dust that's difficult to remove from inside your home. Use a durable paint that you can scrub, since white will be a main component of your theme. Kids will be kids, and you'll definitely need to do some clean-up from time to time.
Choosing your materials and colors carefully will allow you to easily change the theme without giving away specially shaped and colored furniture. Because so many colorful characters populated Radiator Springs, your child will have a fun, happy place to sleep when you decorate his or her bedroom with a Cars theme. Don't be surprised if you little one starts looking for the gas pump in the morning.