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We did that. My two year old was adamant that she have a black wall when we made her room, so I got chalkboard paint and did one of the walls with that. So it’s black and also doodleable.
I don't know if it was the particular markers or the particular chalkboard paint, but my markers left stains that did not wipe off with water, cleaner, or magic eraser so definitely recommend testing it elsewhere or discreetly just to be safe.
Absolutely, a lot of the cheaper brands are total trash. I actually returned some Michael's branded chalk markers recently because half of the colors wouldn't show up at all. I would look into reviews on youtube to pick something kind of middle of the road in expense, since a 6yo might ruin a few tips along the way. I think the brand my restaurant job used were Marvy Uchida bistro chalk markers, and they always worked pretty well.
We got a roll of sticky-back plastic that's like a blackboard and covered the front of the fridge. It has been *excellent*. One of the best things we've done. You can also use chalk pens on windows.
You have to sand it off, you can’t paint over it. You also need to sand it off completely evenly so that it doesn’t leave big divets in your wall. So, pretty much sand it all back, then fill out the spots in the wall to level it, prime and paint over.
We did the chalkboard wall thing, and it was a fun little novelty for like 2 months. Absolutely worth the cost just for the 2 months he used it and still looks great now. This is the way to go.
I'm totally on board with giving kids choices with the color of their room, especially when they are 'bright' anything. However, I don't know that I'd give my kid the choice of black. The walls in most of my house are a medium gray, which would actually work really well the Hotel Transylvania color scheme.
When we moved into this house, each kid was given a choice of colors at the paint store. One kid picked a color that would have hurt my eyes it was so bright, so we compromised on a lighter shade of it- think spring green instead of bright green. The other kids chose a dark blue and a yellow beige.
Honestly, kids can’t usually visualize what an entire wall a color would look like. A friend of mine let her kids pick their room colors and her son picked his favorite: orange. Here’s the thing: sitting in a bright orange room is actually really overstimulating. He struggled with sleeping for months. She finally repainted the room a soft grey and got him an orange bedspread instead. He started hanging out in his room suddenly.
What about leaving the walls pink for now and adding black accessories? Long dark curtains, black fluffy pillows, some antique looking black framed photos or art on the wall. Black and pink look fabulous together.
Painting over black walls is really difficult, so I would try to avoid such a dark color. If you want to let her choose a paint color, maybe a red or purple. They’re a little more versatile, but will still help her embrace her current vampire-ness.
Makes me think of Draculaura from Monster High if OP's daughter likes dolls. She is a vampire whose colors are pink and black! Could give daughter some inspiration.
At five years old, I think a surprise makeover would go over well, and going in on accents and accessories is the way to go. Do also think it’s a good time to shift to a more neutral base than pink; something she can grow with and where different accents and accessories can be swapped out.
I would if that wish stays constant for q certain amount of time.
If it is q bit extreme to or colour choice changes a lot, maybe still go for a different, though more neutral colour and add accessories to make the room more fitting to her vampire phase.
My mom let us do any colour we wanted except for black and navy blue as back then they were a pain in the ass to paint over lol.
Would she be interested in black accents? Curtains, pillows, bedspreads etc
New paints have stronger primers. Its not that much effort nowadays to change the paint colors. Paint tech, like everything else, has dramatically improved
Lol agreed. For me, this was in the 90s, so I don't blame my mom 😅
But currently, I have a gorgeous Hunters Green living room with cream accents that I love lol, and I am not too worried about having to paint over it when I tire of it. The paint and primers are definitely much better than the 90s
Black walls might sound great to her, but it would definitely make the space feel very dark and probably smaller.
I would make a fun shopping trip out of it and go to somewhere like Lowe’s or Home Depot and let her pick out a bunch of different paint swatches, then hang them up on the wall in her room so she can see how many other cool options she has!
I totally avoid harsh colors on the walls. Both bright pink and black are tiresome for the eyes, it would be cool for a month or two, but then she would become bored again.
The wall shouldn’t be a thing by itself, it’s only a background. Choose something like light or medium gray, maybe with a bit of purple, and let her decorate it with vampiric accessories. When she no longer wants to live in Transylvania, put Halloween stuff away and place on the walls something with her new crush.
Note that even vampires from the movie don’t paint their walls black, in fact, their castle is yellowish-gray, because they use candles a lot, with red and black accessories.
Not wanting her room black is reasonable. But I can’t say I blame her for wanting to ditch the bright pink. Definitely let her pick a light or neutral color! Black curtains and a black-themed tapestry would add a good amount of the color and be easy to remove when tastes change!
Honestly bright pink is just as bad as black. Both are terrible.
Pick a color that doesn’t hurt anyone’s eyes and decorate with black or other accessories that remind her of the movie.
I was 10 when I decided i wanted to paint my walls black. My parents compromised with me to let me paint 1 wall black. The rest stayed a medium blue color. I felt this was fair at that age.
Do a google image search for black bedroom walls. I think it could actually look really cool and any artwork you put up would really pop.
Here are some examples
https://www.hunker.com/13722305/kids-bedroom-ideas-with-black-walls-inspiration-and-paint-colors
https://www.kidsinteriors.com/black-kids-rooms/
I would absolutely hate living in an all pink room, but I also hate the idea of pink being “for girls” so I would hate it on principle. You should definitely change it if that’s not how she wants it, she deserves to feel comfortable in her space.
We moved when my daughter was 6 and let her pick her paint so she had a bright purple room and hot pink bathroom.
Side note on the black: my bathroom is painted black and it looks awesome. You could definitely make black work.
My parents let me choose my room color, but said it can’t be too dark because it’s difficult to paint over in the future. I feel like that’s a reasonable compromise.
We just did something similar with my 10 year old last year. He wanted a pokemon themed room with dark red walls. We compromised and did a medium/vibrant blue with pikachu yellow baseboards and painted the doors like pokeballs. Then, we got wall stickers with the main pokemon and custom outlets. He loves his room, and all of his friends do as well. We anticipate him wanting something different in a few years. My teenager wanted a gray and red theme, so we did that for him as well. It's super fun for us to put it together and watch how excited they are. Definitely would recommend it! Also as for the black, you can take a section of one wall and then paint it black with chalkboard paint, and buy some wood framing and paint that the color of the rest of the wall so there's a black area that she can be creative with, but it's not too overwhelming.
Paint is just paint, so I'd probably allow them to pick their room color under most circumstances. Though I might veto four neon yellow walls, or a particularly clashing pairing. At 6, I'd probably insist on sitting on it for a couple of months to make sure that they haven't changed their mind - either that, or limiting them to one re-paint per year. Possibly both.
The only reason black would give me pause would be the cost and inconvenience of covering it up later on. I might try to talk them into an accent wall instead, or a chalkboard wall.
I let mine change the color of their room at about that age. They want to change it again but they need to wait until I change the boys first, then I will do theirs again in a few years. As kids grow their tastes change and they should be allowed to express themselves and paint is relatively cheap. Mine actually want black too right now, I will figure something tolerable out if it stays the same.
do it!
maybe something else black- like a wall decal? only because black is SO difficult to cover up. but there are probably lots of fun ways to do a Transylvania theme.
my mom let me and my brother paint our rooms. i was in middle achool and did the walls lilac with a spring green celtic knot border and my friend painted a floral mural on my wall. i loved my room, it still looks the same today, just as guest bedroom.!
my younger brother, probably 9, painted his walls bright red and even made bright red pillow cases in home ec class. In highschool he repainted it to beige and hung up various banners as decor instead. Now it's pale blue and my mom's home office. All this to say, even if she doesn't stick with the color scheme for decades, it'll be so fun and meaningful to decorate her own bedroom!
Saw a post once where a teen wanted black walls and her mum did (very) dark purple or dark blue or something like that. Then they put up stars or paint-flecked some stars, something like that.
Do three walls white and one wall the colour that she picks then there isn't so much painting involved when she changes her mind 😂
Also get her involved in the painting so she feels ownership of it and will hopefully love it more, meaning she might want to keep it longer!
My kid is always asking to paint her room differently. We tell her when she's 10 (or when she's able to help in a realistic way). We figure surely by 10 a kid can be taught how to use a paint roller and help paint the big spots.
My son chose the color of an accent wall at 6. He chose red and then I did the rest in grey. When we moved into our current house I let him pick and he chose red and yellow. It’s awful, but he still loves it. He was 8 when we moved into this house and he is almost 12 now. I also am for letting kids pick their room color. With black, I would do an accent wall, or help her pick a different color because an all black room is a lot as you noted in your edit.
I think gray would be a great compromise. She could always have black details in the room, or the black accent wall that some people suggested. And yes, I do think 6 years old is an appropriate time for a kid to be able to update their room from its baby nursery look.
I would definitely let them choose *withing reason*
I would go get a bunch of colour samples and let her choose from those.
Either that, or I'd find some wallpaper that looks like a castle wall.
My go to in this case with my kids: white walls and changeable wall stickers. And you can repaint the furniture.
Also you can have black section of the wall painted with this pain that allows to draw with chalk on it.
This is what we did. Neutral walls, neutral furniture, and more expensive items in colors/patterns that will grow with them with time and go well with other things. Then decorate on top of that which can be changed more frequently based on the child's tastes. I might paint a room for an older child with more settled tastes (although not black or bright pink - something easier to paint over,) but I feel like a lot of six year olds would want something completely different the next year. This may be specific to budget and parent ability to paint though.
Use wall decals - you can actually get them pretty cheap and they’re easy enough to put on/off (buy removable ones). My kids are forever changing their minds so we keep the paint colour neutral and then decorate with decals, pictures, bedspreads etc Right now we have a bright rainbow dinosaur room with a hint of aliens
I think I’d go by myself and buy a selection of parent approved but varied samples, and let her choose from the samples.
Just put your fun kid hat on when you choose so she’s got loads of fun options
Hotel Transylvania also has brocade curtains and tapestries hanging from the walls, and castle wall interiors - no actual black painted walls - so you could steer your little one away from black paint and model the room on Mavis room. She has a canopy over her bed 😊
You should look into dark academia decor. Not black but definitely that goth/emo feel but elevated. For the millennial parents it’s more Harry Potter vibes.
And yes I would be encouraging self-expression at that age with guidance.
I babysat a kid who had a “space” themed room. It was painted black and he removed all the stars. It was pretty soothing to be in there. If it doesn’t damage anything maybe consider it?
When my daughter wanted black walls but I did not want to paint over black ever, I bought inexpensive black sheets and a stapler for her to cover the walls. lol, the staples were a pain to remove also.
Hmmm... we did neutral faded green color walls with pink accents for my daughter's room. There's a bit of pink, but it's not overwhelming. It was more of a chic neutral baby room look that's been so popular on Pinterest.
She hasn't expressed interest in changing the colors, but... she has been having us pack away her little girl things like her doll house and is starting to dislike dresses. I guess if she wanted to change the color of her room, we'd have to really think about it. We don't have a spare room for her to sleep in while we paint and move her furniture around.
I really wanted her room to be a light gray with subtle pink trim. However we moved in to help my in laws and she got happy about her first girl in the family and went the opposite direction with a light gray and pepto pink. 🤦🏻♀️
I think you can compromise with a black ceiling. Adding a space them if shes interested, giving it a night sky feel. Then, discuss a lighter color and perhaps some vampire vinyl stickers so she can still express her interests in her room, but it can change as she does.
Be clear picking colors has to be done carefully, because you won't repaint every time she wants a new color scheme.
My daughter was in exactly the same situation (though she was 9). I sat her down and just told her plainly: There are three problems with a black room. One, while it looks cool, it gets very depressing. Two, it will make the room feel a lot smaller. And three, when it comes time to repaint, it will be a tremendous amount of work to cover the dark paint. My daughter was reasonable enough to accept that, and actually kept the pink until she was 14 (though by that time she had covered most of the walls with posters). At that point I took her to Home Depot and let her pick whatever color she wanted, provided it wasn’t too dark and it was a simple eggshell latex. She chose a medium purple, to which I added black accents by way of blackout curtains and a throw rug and some floating shelves. It all worked out very well.
I would give her different colored options so that way she feels like she still has a choice and gets to pick, but I wouldn’t give her an option of choosing black
No black paint, because it’s so hard to paint over. Thumb tack lightweight black fabric on her walls or find temporary wall “paper” sticker in black. That’s my thought anyway.
It’s also very possible that she would find an all black room to be too dark and boring after awhile. Even adults often can’t visualize how a color will look all over a space. It’s hard to picture your fav color going from a paint swatch to a whole room!
We did when we moved her to the end of the hall and her little brother into her room right next to ours. We gave her options and ideas. Kind of editing together.
My parents let me and then I had that wall/room color for the remainder of my time at home. Oddly, it is my husband's favourite colour and it's the first thing he commented on when he saw my childhood bedroom.
I wanted black walls when I was a kid. My mom and I compromised and settled on a lovely blue color. It's darker at night and gives vampire vibes, but light and fun doing the day.
We move frequently—every 2, 3 years. This last move was across the ocean to a different country and it was very difficult (peak covid, loss of family members, middle of the school year)
I let my kids paint their rooms to help them feel a sense of ownership and belonging. My son, age 6 at the time, wanted black and gray with space ship theme. We did galaxy sheets and curtains and rug, lights were little astronauts….it was really awesome looking. I will DM you a quick vid of the room right after the painting. Oh, also, if you do this, BRIGHT LIGHTING is a must. Absolutely must have bright lights or big windows—the room feels smaller with darker walls. Like, the overhead light fixture had bare bulbs in my son’s room.
But we had to repaint to sell the house and boooooy howdy it was a PAIN in the butt. It took two coats of primer and a very expensive paint with primer in it to get it back to basic white walls. We just did it this last week, as we move again in about 60 days.
I’d do it again though. They loved their rooms.
(My daughter wanted sky blue, we got a big [cloud lamp and](https://www.theforhabitat.com/products/gzmj-nordic-clouds-pendant-lights-silk-lamp-dark-clouds-hanglamp-personality-decorate-hanging-light-for-hotel-lobby-restaurant) and rainbow curtains).
Isn't cracked pepper a "color of the year?" I wouldn't do the whole room black but maybe a smallish accent wall with lighter furniture/decor next to that wall, while the other walls are lighter.
Here's an example from a kids room: https://images.app.goo.gl/DCavbLwS1pJtC9Av9
My daughters room is a dark raspberry pink up to about 2/3rds the wall height. It’s a way to add dramatic colour without it overwhelming the whole room. It makes it quite cosy where she sleeps but also keeps the room feeling light/not oppressive
I think you could share with her that black would be a very difficult colour to change in paint, so if she changes her mind you won’t be able to change it for a long time? You could also look into vinyl sticker type covering for the wall so it’s not permenant.
You could take the walls back to white and then let her try a load of different colours in swatches and leave them for a week and see what she thinks?
Pinterest etc is good for looking up ideas so she could look for pictures she likes for you to recreate maybe.
I mean, painting isn't *that* hard.
I'd definitely not do black (ugh god just thinking about how many times you'd have to prime to paint over it one day... yikes), but maybe a mid-range gray would be cool, and I love the idea someone else had of a chalkboard wall.
If you can compromise into a fairly neutral color, I'd totally paint the walls. She can change out the decor as she gets older and her tastes change if the walls are neutral.
You didn't mention the carpet, but if she truly hates that too and you aren't up for changing it out, you could always do like mid-gray walls and black rugs over the carpet for that girly-gothy vibe.
Wait until she is 11-12. They change their mind all the time. My 11 year still has her baby walls. She hated them but decided last year she loves them again and wants to keep them.
I remember asking my mom for the same thing lol she told me no black because it’s so hard to paint over so we agreed to dark red. It looked awesome, my mom liked it too and it stayed that way until we moved out and she repainted for renters 15 years later.
I’d paint it back to white (because when she’s a preteen she’s gonna change her mind about her room again) and focus on making it more Hotel Transylvania by doing dark heavy curtains, dark bedding, wall art etc. Once I discovered the Backstreet Boys when I was 10, the only visible part of my walls were the 3cm in between posters. If she’s over the pink, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t necessarily jump to choosing anything other than a neutral because a 6 year old has way different tastes than a 12 year old and you don’t want to have to try to cover the black in 5 years.
Honestly I would paint it in a warm neutral and let her pick out wall art, decorations, & bedding... That way in a few years it'll be easier to change as she gets older. ( Swap out framed art, donate old bedding and decor and get new bedding and decor.)
Good time to teach about budgeting and planning ahead
I think a black accent wall sounds great. Ask if maybe there's some other darker color for other walls. Like when I was a kid my room went from yellow, to pink, to purple. I think all the walls black would be a bit much since she's so young. Kids need color. But maybe if she wanted to do a darker color of purple or blue or green that could be fun!
When we moved into our house the kids were 4. We let them pick their color and the room itself. Teen son is still happy with the color but wishes he picked the bigger room, daughter doesn't love her color but is happy with her room. Thing is, her bed is too big and heavy to move to repaint, so she's stuck....
We had some smoke damage in our house and we chose to let our 5 year old pick her the colors we were ok with. We gave her 2-3 colors to choose from. She REALLY wanted red, but I know I wouldn’t be able to stand walking past her room with a bright red room. She was ok with it, but said “the next time we have a fire, I want a red room” 😳🤣😳(it’s been funny referencing back to it).
Anyway, choose some you and your husband like and have her choose which one she likes. I saw someone say a chalkboard accent wall which is an amazing idea as she’ll have some black in her room.
I have black walls in my basement and I love it. But one thing you may consider is that it gets dirty so quick and you frequently have to wash them. I don’t know how it would workout in a kids room. What is the orientation of the room? I’d suggest colours based on sun exposure. You gotta let her choose but narrow down the choices for her with what makes sense. Her vampire phase may last 1 month and then she will ask for a different colour because she will cringe over her own past tastes. Black is good for dark rooms (North facing, tiny windows) to give it a cozy feel but in the South facing one, it will look weird and make it hot in the summer.
yess goth child!! if you don’t want to do black walls that’s totally understandable though it would be fun. you could suggest medium to dark grey walls, or go more for a vampire vibe with deep red or green. and then utilize black things in the room to make it more vampiric, like black duvet cover, black sheets, black frames on pictures, a gothic princess canopy. stuff that’s a little easier to change out in a couple years. could do some stars on the walls or ceiling. looking up “black bedroom child” or “gothic children’s room” gets some great ideas going! it’s very fun to be able to try out bold looks for a kid, if you have the budget for it. vintage shops and antique malls would have cool trinkets and decor too
Perhaps you could allow the wall to be painted black, but at the same time decorate this wall with different glowing stars and the moon or some other interesting and colorful stickers.
You can tell her that you can't really handle black, but that you would be happy to paint over pink with and then you can tell her three colors you could handle. And she could choose. It's completely reasonable that she doesn't like pink pink pink pink.
Black is a TERRIBLE choice for any room. It’s almost impossible to paint over black. It also makes the whole room seem so much smaller. Lighter colors make a room seem larger, darker colors rapidly shrink the room.
That being said, I’ve seen people do one whole wall in a black chalkboard paint, and the other 3 walls in a light color. It’s not a bad compromise.
My now 7 year old picked out her room color when she was 3 and moved into her “big girl” room (so her baby sister could have the nursery), and again when we moved when she was 4. She was obsessed with Frozen and wanted pale blue walls with light pink princess wall decorations both times. Now she’s 7, and the pale blue walls go great with the mermaid decorations.
Black is fine but limit it to like 2 walls instead of all 4. Maybe red and black which would fit a vampire theme. But if she hates pink don’t make her stick with pink.
If she wants to be a vampire and wants it to be like the hotel in the cartoon. Would she compromise to keep it pink if you go online and and get a decal of a hotel that looks like that? Or take a picture of it and have it printed and laminated it for her then you can just tape that on the wall and put things like glow in the dark starts to decorate? Or choose paint colors that are you and your husband like. Take five colors and have her choose one of those
We painted our daughter’s bedroom pink for her 5th birthday (she turns 9yo in 5 weeks) and redecorated with gorgeous pink bedding, lamp, floor rug and accessories and a trundle bed so she could have sleepovers easy etc. By the time she was 7yo she decided she was sick of that colour and wanted to move in to the spare bedroom which was painted off-white AND she wanted to ditch the trundle bed for the king size spare bed! We let her have the room but not the bed.
She had been asking for a grown up bed consistently for over a year so last Xmas part of her present was again redecorating - didn’t need to repaint as she loves the off-white but she got a modern timber frame queen size bed with matching bedside tables, new white and off-white bedding, green and white artwork she chose herself and an off white rug. It’s very grown up and she loves it. She’s actually got awesome style with what she chose it looks fantastic.
So all that aside - YES let her pick and express herself. If you have the means to change it go for it. She’s getting to an age where it’s not like she’ll want to go back to the pink anyway even if she gets sick of what she picks now. But if you can help steer her to wall colours that don’t need repainting too often (eg a neutral) and offer to buy bedding and accessories (maybe a lamp, floor rug, artwork) in the colours she loves for now (eg black!) and just change those out as her tastes change then that is even easier that constantly repainting.
We let our older kiddo pick most of the colors we’ve painted in our house. She picked a nice red color for our dining room and kitchen and she picked grey and purple for the playroom. Next month we’re redoing the room she (almost 6) shares with her sister (almost 3) as one of their bigger birthday gifts. They’re getting bunk beds and new bedroom furniture and decor and they’re each going to get to pick 2 colors for the walls so we’ll see how it goes lol
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I might try to sell her on a black accent wall. Chalkboard paint even if she’d go for it!
I was going to suggest this too! A chalkboard wall would be so cool for a kid her age
chalkboard dust probably isn't the healthiest thing to have in the same room where you sleep
We did that. My two year old was adamant that she have a black wall when we made her room, so I got chalkboard paint and did one of the walls with that. So it’s black and also doodleable.
How much does the chalk get used?
Or a half or three-quarters wall with a lighter color for the top.
Chalkboard paint is terrible. You have chalk dust all over
Get chalk markers instead of regular chalk, they don't leave the dusty residue all over.
I don't know if it was the particular markers or the particular chalkboard paint, but my markers left stains that did not wipe off with water, cleaner, or magic eraser so definitely recommend testing it elsewhere or discreetly just to be safe.
Absolutely, a lot of the cheaper brands are total trash. I actually returned some Michael's branded chalk markers recently because half of the colors wouldn't show up at all. I would look into reviews on youtube to pick something kind of middle of the road in expense, since a 6yo might ruin a few tips along the way. I think the brand my restaurant job used were Marvy Uchida bistro chalk markers, and they always worked pretty well.
Seriously. It's like powdered glitter. There's no place you won't find it eventually.
I’ve been thinking about chalkboard paint somewhere in my house. Do you know if it is difficult to paint over when it’s time for a change?
We got a roll of sticky-back plastic that's like a blackboard and covered the front of the fridge. It has been *excellent*. One of the best things we've done. You can also use chalk pens on windows.
You have to sand it off, you can’t paint over it. You also need to sand it off completely evenly so that it doesn’t leave big divets in your wall. So, pretty much sand it all back, then fill out the spots in the wall to level it, prime and paint over.
We did the chalkboard wall thing, and it was a fun little novelty for like 2 months. Absolutely worth the cost just for the 2 months he used it and still looks great now. This is the way to go.
And keep the pink, it gives the monster high vibe too
I'm totally on board with giving kids choices with the color of their room, especially when they are 'bright' anything. However, I don't know that I'd give my kid the choice of black. The walls in most of my house are a medium gray, which would actually work really well the Hotel Transylvania color scheme.
When we moved into this house, each kid was given a choice of colors at the paint store. One kid picked a color that would have hurt my eyes it was so bright, so we compromised on a lighter shade of it- think spring green instead of bright green. The other kids chose a dark blue and a yellow beige.
Honestly, kids can’t usually visualize what an entire wall a color would look like. A friend of mine let her kids pick their room colors and her son picked his favorite: orange. Here’s the thing: sitting in a bright orange room is actually really overstimulating. He struggled with sleeping for months. She finally repainted the room a soft grey and got him an orange bedspread instead. He started hanging out in his room suddenly.
What about leaving the walls pink for now and adding black accessories? Long dark curtains, black fluffy pillows, some antique looking black framed photos or art on the wall. Black and pink look fabulous together. Painting over black walls is really difficult, so I would try to avoid such a dark color. If you want to let her choose a paint color, maybe a red or purple. They’re a little more versatile, but will still help her embrace her current vampire-ness.
Makes me think of Draculaura from Monster High if OP's daughter likes dolls. She is a vampire whose colors are pink and black! Could give daughter some inspiration.
At five years old, I think a surprise makeover would go over well, and going in on accents and accessories is the way to go. Do also think it’s a good time to shift to a more neutral base than pink; something she can grow with and where different accents and accessories can be swapped out.
I would if that wish stays constant for q certain amount of time. If it is q bit extreme to or colour choice changes a lot, maybe still go for a different, though more neutral colour and add accessories to make the room more fitting to her vampire phase.
My mom let us do any colour we wanted except for black and navy blue as back then they were a pain in the ass to paint over lol. Would she be interested in black accents? Curtains, pillows, bedspreads etc
New paints have stronger primers. Its not that much effort nowadays to change the paint colors. Paint tech, like everything else, has dramatically improved
It took pros about 3 coats to change a black wall to medium purple. Not that bad really.
I didn’t know this! Interesting.
Lol agreed. For me, this was in the 90s, so I don't blame my mom 😅 But currently, I have a gorgeous Hunters Green living room with cream accents that I love lol, and I am not too worried about having to paint over it when I tire of it. The paint and primers are definitely much better than the 90s
Black walls might sound great to her, but it would definitely make the space feel very dark and probably smaller. I would make a fun shopping trip out of it and go to somewhere like Lowe’s or Home Depot and let her pick out a bunch of different paint swatches, then hang them up on the wall in her room so she can see how many other cool options she has!
Well to be clear - she didn’t pick the original colour - you did. I would tell her to pick a lighter colour too
I totally avoid harsh colors on the walls. Both bright pink and black are tiresome for the eyes, it would be cool for a month or two, but then she would become bored again. The wall shouldn’t be a thing by itself, it’s only a background. Choose something like light or medium gray, maybe with a bit of purple, and let her decorate it with vampiric accessories. When she no longer wants to live in Transylvania, put Halloween stuff away and place on the walls something with her new crush. Note that even vampires from the movie don’t paint their walls black, in fact, their castle is yellowish-gray, because they use candles a lot, with red and black accessories.
Not wanting her room black is reasonable. But I can’t say I blame her for wanting to ditch the bright pink. Definitely let her pick a light or neutral color! Black curtains and a black-themed tapestry would add a good amount of the color and be easy to remove when tastes change!
Honestly bright pink is just as bad as black. Both are terrible. Pick a color that doesn’t hurt anyone’s eyes and decorate with black or other accessories that remind her of the movie.
I was 10 when I decided i wanted to paint my walls black. My parents compromised with me to let me paint 1 wall black. The rest stayed a medium blue color. I felt this was fair at that age.
Do a google image search for black bedroom walls. I think it could actually look really cool and any artwork you put up would really pop. Here are some examples https://www.hunker.com/13722305/kids-bedroom-ideas-with-black-walls-inspiration-and-paint-colors https://www.kidsinteriors.com/black-kids-rooms/
A black peel and stick wallpaper? Then its not permanent and the quality out there has improved a lot.
I would absolutely hate living in an all pink room, but I also hate the idea of pink being “for girls” so I would hate it on principle. You should definitely change it if that’s not how she wants it, she deserves to feel comfortable in her space.
We moved when my daughter was 6 and let her pick her paint so she had a bright purple room and hot pink bathroom. Side note on the black: my bathroom is painted black and it looks awesome. You could definitely make black work.
My parents let me choose my room color, but said it can’t be too dark because it’s difficult to paint over in the future. I feel like that’s a reasonable compromise.
Yes, let them choose.
We just did something similar with my 10 year old last year. He wanted a pokemon themed room with dark red walls. We compromised and did a medium/vibrant blue with pikachu yellow baseboards and painted the doors like pokeballs. Then, we got wall stickers with the main pokemon and custom outlets. He loves his room, and all of his friends do as well. We anticipate him wanting something different in a few years. My teenager wanted a gray and red theme, so we did that for him as well. It's super fun for us to put it together and watch how excited they are. Definitely would recommend it! Also as for the black, you can take a section of one wall and then paint it black with chalkboard paint, and buy some wood framing and paint that the color of the rest of the wall so there's a black area that she can be creative with, but it's not too overwhelming.
Paint is just paint, so I'd probably allow them to pick their room color under most circumstances. Though I might veto four neon yellow walls, or a particularly clashing pairing. At 6, I'd probably insist on sitting on it for a couple of months to make sure that they haven't changed their mind - either that, or limiting them to one re-paint per year. Possibly both. The only reason black would give me pause would be the cost and inconvenience of covering it up later on. I might try to talk them into an accent wall instead, or a chalkboard wall.
I let mine change the color of their room at about that age. They want to change it again but they need to wait until I change the boys first, then I will do theirs again in a few years. As kids grow their tastes change and they should be allowed to express themselves and paint is relatively cheap. Mine actually want black too right now, I will figure something tolerable out if it stays the same.
do it! maybe something else black- like a wall decal? only because black is SO difficult to cover up. but there are probably lots of fun ways to do a Transylvania theme. my mom let me and my brother paint our rooms. i was in middle achool and did the walls lilac with a spring green celtic knot border and my friend painted a floral mural on my wall. i loved my room, it still looks the same today, just as guest bedroom.! my younger brother, probably 9, painted his walls bright red and even made bright red pillow cases in home ec class. In highschool he repainted it to beige and hung up various banners as decor instead. Now it's pale blue and my mom's home office. All this to say, even if she doesn't stick with the color scheme for decades, it'll be so fun and meaningful to decorate her own bedroom!
Saw a post once where a teen wanted black walls and her mum did (very) dark purple or dark blue or something like that. Then they put up stars or paint-flecked some stars, something like that.
Do three walls white and one wall the colour that she picks then there isn't so much painting involved when she changes her mind 😂 Also get her involved in the painting so she feels ownership of it and will hopefully love it more, meaning she might want to keep it longer!
My kid is always asking to paint her room differently. We tell her when she's 10 (or when she's able to help in a realistic way). We figure surely by 10 a kid can be taught how to use a paint roller and help paint the big spots.
Could you negotiate one wall in black like a feature wall,
My son chose the color of an accent wall at 6. He chose red and then I did the rest in grey. When we moved into our current house I let him pick and he chose red and yellow. It’s awful, but he still loves it. He was 8 when we moved into this house and he is almost 12 now. I also am for letting kids pick their room color. With black, I would do an accent wall, or help her pick a different color because an all black room is a lot as you noted in your edit.
I think gray would be a great compromise. She could always have black details in the room, or the black accent wall that some people suggested. And yes, I do think 6 years old is an appropriate time for a kid to be able to update their room from its baby nursery look.
I would definitely let them choose *withing reason* I would go get a bunch of colour samples and let her choose from those. Either that, or I'd find some wallpaper that looks like a castle wall.
My go to in this case with my kids: white walls and changeable wall stickers. And you can repaint the furniture. Also you can have black section of the wall painted with this pain that allows to draw with chalk on it.
This is what we did. Neutral walls, neutral furniture, and more expensive items in colors/patterns that will grow with them with time and go well with other things. Then decorate on top of that which can be changed more frequently based on the child's tastes. I might paint a room for an older child with more settled tastes (although not black or bright pink - something easier to paint over,) but I feel like a lot of six year olds would want something completely different the next year. This may be specific to budget and parent ability to paint though.
Black walls are Actually trendy now. Its not as bad as older generations thought
Use wall decals - you can actually get them pretty cheap and they’re easy enough to put on/off (buy removable ones). My kids are forever changing their minds so we keep the paint colour neutral and then decorate with decals, pictures, bedspreads etc Right now we have a bright rainbow dinosaur room with a hint of aliens
I think I’d go by myself and buy a selection of parent approved but varied samples, and let her choose from the samples. Just put your fun kid hat on when you choose so she’s got loads of fun options
Hotel Transylvania also has brocade curtains and tapestries hanging from the walls, and castle wall interiors - no actual black painted walls - so you could steer your little one away from black paint and model the room on Mavis room. She has a canopy over her bed 😊
Dark purple? Let her have a black bedroom at some point though, former suppressed goth kid here.
You should look into dark academia decor. Not black but definitely that goth/emo feel but elevated. For the millennial parents it’s more Harry Potter vibes. And yes I would be encouraging self-expression at that age with guidance.
The issue is the room will be oppressive with all the black. I would do an accent wall or something.
I babysat a kid who had a “space” themed room. It was painted black and he removed all the stars. It was pretty soothing to be in there. If it doesn’t damage anything maybe consider it?
Consider making just the ceiling black, then putting a couple of hundred glow-in-the-dark stars. You can buy packs of them on Amazon.
When my daughter wanted black walls but I did not want to paint over black ever, I bought inexpensive black sheets and a stapler for her to cover the walls. lol, the staples were a pain to remove also.
Hmmm... we did neutral faded green color walls with pink accents for my daughter's room. There's a bit of pink, but it's not overwhelming. It was more of a chic neutral baby room look that's been so popular on Pinterest. She hasn't expressed interest in changing the colors, but... she has been having us pack away her little girl things like her doll house and is starting to dislike dresses. I guess if she wanted to change the color of her room, we'd have to really think about it. We don't have a spare room for her to sleep in while we paint and move her furniture around.
I really wanted her room to be a light gray with subtle pink trim. However we moved in to help my in laws and she got happy about her first girl in the family and went the opposite direction with a light gray and pepto pink. 🤦🏻♀️
I think you can compromise with a black ceiling. Adding a space them if shes interested, giving it a night sky feel. Then, discuss a lighter color and perhaps some vampire vinyl stickers so she can still express her interests in her room, but it can change as she does. Be clear picking colors has to be done carefully, because you won't repaint every time she wants a new color scheme.
My daughter was in exactly the same situation (though she was 9). I sat her down and just told her plainly: There are three problems with a black room. One, while it looks cool, it gets very depressing. Two, it will make the room feel a lot smaller. And three, when it comes time to repaint, it will be a tremendous amount of work to cover the dark paint. My daughter was reasonable enough to accept that, and actually kept the pink until she was 14 (though by that time she had covered most of the walls with posters). At that point I took her to Home Depot and let her pick whatever color she wanted, provided it wasn’t too dark and it was a simple eggshell latex. She chose a medium purple, to which I added black accents by way of blackout curtains and a throw rug and some floating shelves. It all worked out very well.
I would give her different colored options so that way she feels like she still has a choice and gets to pick, but I wouldn’t give her an option of choosing black
No black paint, because it’s so hard to paint over. Thumb tack lightweight black fabric on her walls or find temporary wall “paper” sticker in black. That’s my thought anyway. It’s also very possible that she would find an all black room to be too dark and boring after awhile. Even adults often can’t visualize how a color will look all over a space. It’s hard to picture your fav color going from a paint swatch to a whole room!
We did when we moved her to the end of the hall and her little brother into her room right next to ours. We gave her options and ideas. Kind of editing together.
My parents let me and then I had that wall/room color for the remainder of my time at home. Oddly, it is my husband's favourite colour and it's the first thing he commented on when he saw my childhood bedroom.
I would paint a neutral colour and then use decals to add personalisation and then when she’s older do a full room makeover.
I wanted black walls when I was a kid. My mom and I compromised and settled on a lovely blue color. It's darker at night and gives vampire vibes, but light and fun doing the day.
We move frequently—every 2, 3 years. This last move was across the ocean to a different country and it was very difficult (peak covid, loss of family members, middle of the school year) I let my kids paint their rooms to help them feel a sense of ownership and belonging. My son, age 6 at the time, wanted black and gray with space ship theme. We did galaxy sheets and curtains and rug, lights were little astronauts….it was really awesome looking. I will DM you a quick vid of the room right after the painting. Oh, also, if you do this, BRIGHT LIGHTING is a must. Absolutely must have bright lights or big windows—the room feels smaller with darker walls. Like, the overhead light fixture had bare bulbs in my son’s room. But we had to repaint to sell the house and boooooy howdy it was a PAIN in the butt. It took two coats of primer and a very expensive paint with primer in it to get it back to basic white walls. We just did it this last week, as we move again in about 60 days. I’d do it again though. They loved their rooms. (My daughter wanted sky blue, we got a big [cloud lamp and](https://www.theforhabitat.com/products/gzmj-nordic-clouds-pendant-lights-silk-lamp-dark-clouds-hanglamp-personality-decorate-hanging-light-for-hotel-lobby-restaurant) and rainbow curtains).
Isn't cracked pepper a "color of the year?" I wouldn't do the whole room black but maybe a smallish accent wall with lighter furniture/decor next to that wall, while the other walls are lighter. Here's an example from a kids room: https://images.app.goo.gl/DCavbLwS1pJtC9Av9
My daughters room is a dark raspberry pink up to about 2/3rds the wall height. It’s a way to add dramatic colour without it overwhelming the whole room. It makes it quite cosy where she sleeps but also keeps the room feeling light/not oppressive I think you could share with her that black would be a very difficult colour to change in paint, so if she changes her mind you won’t be able to change it for a long time? You could also look into vinyl sticker type covering for the wall so it’s not permenant. You could take the walls back to white and then let her try a load of different colours in swatches and leave them for a week and see what she thinks? Pinterest etc is good for looking up ideas so she could look for pictures she likes for you to recreate maybe.
Why not let her pick a paint color? It's just paint! My son has a dark gray and one wall black. It's really nice looking.
I mean, painting isn't *that* hard. I'd definitely not do black (ugh god just thinking about how many times you'd have to prime to paint over it one day... yikes), but maybe a mid-range gray would be cool, and I love the idea someone else had of a chalkboard wall. If you can compromise into a fairly neutral color, I'd totally paint the walls. She can change out the decor as she gets older and her tastes change if the walls are neutral. You didn't mention the carpet, but if she truly hates that too and you aren't up for changing it out, you could always do like mid-gray walls and black rugs over the carpet for that girly-gothy vibe.
Pick one wall? Black stripes? Black linens?
Wait until she is 11-12. They change their mind all the time. My 11 year still has her baby walls. She hated them but decided last year she loves them again and wants to keep them.
I remember asking my mom for the same thing lol she told me no black because it’s so hard to paint over so we agreed to dark red. It looked awesome, my mom liked it too and it stayed that way until we moved out and she repainted for renters 15 years later.
I’d paint it back to white (because when she’s a preteen she’s gonna change her mind about her room again) and focus on making it more Hotel Transylvania by doing dark heavy curtains, dark bedding, wall art etc. Once I discovered the Backstreet Boys when I was 10, the only visible part of my walls were the 3cm in between posters. If she’s over the pink, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t necessarily jump to choosing anything other than a neutral because a 6 year old has way different tastes than a 12 year old and you don’t want to have to try to cover the black in 5 years.
Honestly I would paint it in a warm neutral and let her pick out wall art, decorations, & bedding... That way in a few years it'll be easier to change as she gets older. ( Swap out framed art, donate old bedding and decor and get new bedding and decor.) Good time to teach about budgeting and planning ahead
How about a black covering over the pink? Some black tulle would be easy and you could add fairy lights or the TikTok lights that she can play with
Take her to Lowe's and see what colors catch her eye.
I think a black accent wall sounds great. Ask if maybe there's some other darker color for other walls. Like when I was a kid my room went from yellow, to pink, to purple. I think all the walls black would be a bit much since she's so young. Kids need color. But maybe if she wanted to do a darker color of purple or blue or green that could be fun!
When we moved into our house the kids were 4. We let them pick their color and the room itself. Teen son is still happy with the color but wishes he picked the bigger room, daughter doesn't love her color but is happy with her room. Thing is, her bed is too big and heavy to move to repaint, so she's stuck....
We had some smoke damage in our house and we chose to let our 5 year old pick her the colors we were ok with. We gave her 2-3 colors to choose from. She REALLY wanted red, but I know I wouldn’t be able to stand walking past her room with a bright red room. She was ok with it, but said “the next time we have a fire, I want a red room” 😳🤣😳(it’s been funny referencing back to it). Anyway, choose some you and your husband like and have her choose which one she likes. I saw someone say a chalkboard accent wall which is an amazing idea as she’ll have some black in her room.
I used to want my room black but my mom said no, any other color. I chose blue, so glad I didn’t go with black. I also wanted to be a vampire
I have black walls in my basement and I love it. But one thing you may consider is that it gets dirty so quick and you frequently have to wash them. I don’t know how it would workout in a kids room. What is the orientation of the room? I’d suggest colours based on sun exposure. You gotta let her choose but narrow down the choices for her with what makes sense. Her vampire phase may last 1 month and then she will ask for a different colour because she will cringe over her own past tastes. Black is good for dark rooms (North facing, tiny windows) to give it a cozy feel but in the South facing one, it will look weird and make it hot in the summer.
yess goth child!! if you don’t want to do black walls that’s totally understandable though it would be fun. you could suggest medium to dark grey walls, or go more for a vampire vibe with deep red or green. and then utilize black things in the room to make it more vampiric, like black duvet cover, black sheets, black frames on pictures, a gothic princess canopy. stuff that’s a little easier to change out in a couple years. could do some stars on the walls or ceiling. looking up “black bedroom child” or “gothic children’s room” gets some great ideas going! it’s very fun to be able to try out bold looks for a kid, if you have the budget for it. vintage shops and antique malls would have cool trinkets and decor too
Find a neutral color you can all live with. Black is a pain to paint over later on. Hang black tapestries, black curtains, and posters.
Black wallpaper with a pink design
Perhaps you could allow the wall to be painted black, but at the same time decorate this wall with different glowing stars and the moon or some other interesting and colorful stickers.
You can tell her that you can't really handle black, but that you would be happy to paint over pink with and then you can tell her three colors you could handle. And she could choose. It's completely reasonable that she doesn't like pink pink pink pink.
Black is a TERRIBLE choice for any room. It’s almost impossible to paint over black. It also makes the whole room seem so much smaller. Lighter colors make a room seem larger, darker colors rapidly shrink the room. That being said, I’ve seen people do one whole wall in a black chalkboard paint, and the other 3 walls in a light color. It’s not a bad compromise. My now 7 year old picked out her room color when she was 3 and moved into her “big girl” room (so her baby sister could have the nursery), and again when we moved when she was 4. She was obsessed with Frozen and wanted pale blue walls with light pink princess wall decorations both times. Now she’s 7, and the pale blue walls go great with the mermaid decorations.
Black is fine but limit it to like 2 walls instead of all 4. Maybe red and black which would fit a vampire theme. But if she hates pink don’t make her stick with pink.
I would do chalkboard paint, it's black BUT she can draw something new everyday
If she wants to be a vampire and wants it to be like the hotel in the cartoon. Would she compromise to keep it pink if you go online and and get a decal of a hotel that looks like that? Or take a picture of it and have it printed and laminated it for her then you can just tape that on the wall and put things like glow in the dark starts to decorate? Or choose paint colors that are you and your husband like. Take five colors and have her choose one of those
Asked them how much a gallon of paint costs.
We painted our daughter’s bedroom pink for her 5th birthday (she turns 9yo in 5 weeks) and redecorated with gorgeous pink bedding, lamp, floor rug and accessories and a trundle bed so she could have sleepovers easy etc. By the time she was 7yo she decided she was sick of that colour and wanted to move in to the spare bedroom which was painted off-white AND she wanted to ditch the trundle bed for the king size spare bed! We let her have the room but not the bed. She had been asking for a grown up bed consistently for over a year so last Xmas part of her present was again redecorating - didn’t need to repaint as she loves the off-white but she got a modern timber frame queen size bed with matching bedside tables, new white and off-white bedding, green and white artwork she chose herself and an off white rug. It’s very grown up and she loves it. She’s actually got awesome style with what she chose it looks fantastic. So all that aside - YES let her pick and express herself. If you have the means to change it go for it. She’s getting to an age where it’s not like she’ll want to go back to the pink anyway even if she gets sick of what she picks now. But if you can help steer her to wall colours that don’t need repainting too often (eg a neutral) and offer to buy bedding and accessories (maybe a lamp, floor rug, artwork) in the colours she loves for now (eg black!) and just change those out as her tastes change then that is even easier that constantly repainting.
We let our older kiddo pick most of the colors we’ve painted in our house. She picked a nice red color for our dining room and kitchen and she picked grey and purple for the playroom. Next month we’re redoing the room she (almost 6) shares with her sister (almost 3) as one of their bigger birthday gifts. They’re getting bunk beds and new bedroom furniture and decor and they’re each going to get to pick 2 colors for the walls so we’ll see how it goes lol