by Earl Demott

Created on: October 30, 2008

I armed myself with two paint buckets of contrasting paints, two paint brushes, a couple of drop cloth, a painter's ladder, and a list of argumentations on how the deflect my teenagers onslaught of criticism that would undoubtedly come when the topic of redoing his room was breached.

I was surprised then when instead of an attack, I was greeted with an enthusiastic youth dressed in his grubby clothes accessorized with a hastily constructed newspaper hat. He waved me on as I climbed the stairs in my final ascent saying, "sit down, sit down, I have a list of ideas". I was dumbfounded by his zeal because I remember our last encounter was so incredibly unzealous, so I just let the moment exist, let him unload his ideas and we sat up there, the two worst dressed examples of fashion discussing possible themes we could use to beautify his rather drab surroundings.

This conversation was pivotal in understanding not just redecorating tips, but the mind of a young teenager. Ultimately the conversation created the following list that I constructed as a father of a teenager.

1. Realize that the room is the personification of the teenager. Allow the room to express that side. Therefore themes work wonders. For us, we enjoy family vacations in the national parks and these trips have shaped my son's attitude about beauty and nature. His idea was to deck up the room with poster upon poster of wild animals, post cards of the parks we've been to, and a giant poster of one of his favourite mountain ranges that we picked up some time ago.

2. Discuss and create ways in which the things that will remain can both support the theme and still have longevity should the theme change over time. For example, choosing colours such as greens and browns that would support the nature theme, may work for the present fascination with nature. Would it work as well if interest changed, say, a year or two down the road? The answer could be a simple one if you talk about tones.

3. Discuss other factors beyond the immediate. For example, what is the overall effect you are going for. When we purchased our home, our first order of business was to remove the drab grey carpets and replace them with flooring that lightened up the room. Our second, and equally important piece of renovation was to make our way to "the room". This room was none other than our own master bedroom which was painted in the deepest purplish blue colour you could imagine and was the bane of our existence...so much so that we spent

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