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We switched DD into her big girl room and put of crib at the same time and I asked her what she wanted. She was 3. She choose mickey and friends. She loves her room...still too this day. She's 5. We are about to move and she's chosen the plan for her new room too.

We moved into our house when lo was 2.5 and didn't really have nursery decor so we decorated over time with things that interested him- like grampa gave give a train print when he was 3 which I framed and hung in his room. I wanted to do a starry night room for him but only got as far as the curtain so instead we've been letting him pick within reason and with an adult eye and influence.

He wanted a really drab green comforter and needed sheets. We convinced him that teal (to match his curtains) was green enough and that black stripes on sheets (so they can last longer than toddler years) are train tracks.

I think 3-5 is a good age to start taking their opinions into consideration but that doesn't mean the whole room has to be over the top superhero.

My son got a new bedroom this spring right after he turned four. We converted our L-shaped living room to a third bedroom before his baby sisters were born, and we moved him there so that (a) our bedroom would share a wall with the babies and (b) he can play with his toys in his room and still be right near us in the living room so he doesn’t feel sequestered in the back of the apartment.

His new room is small and doesn’t have much wall space because he has a lofted bed covering one wall and a big wall unit covering the other. So we don’t need any wall decorations. I asked him what color walls he wanted (blue) but I picked the shade. His room is mostly furnished and decorated from IKEA, and he participated in the trip when we picked out most of his stuff. I picked his rug and most of the toy storage bins but he tried out the bed frame and picked out a duvet cover (robots!).

His main concern about the babies was not wanting to share his toys. Most of his toys are choking hazards anyway, so I told him his new room was going to be a fortress to protect his toys He loved that and still tells everyone that it is a fortress.

That nook of our living room used to be his play area, and he and I used to cosleep together a lot. So he did not use his old room too much. He definitely has a much stronger sense that his new room is his very own space. I think that works out well now that he is almost five and a big brother. It is a good outlet every once in awhile.

Decor I don't really care about. He's never going to have a say in his furniture or like art hangings, but starting around 3 he sort of started to have a hoarder streak. He was really into adding stuff to his room. Meh, not worth the battle.

We moved when dd1 was 3 and she had a say. We had never painted or decorated her room really when she was a baby, but it had ugly yellow walls. I asked what color room she wanted and she was insistent on yellow. I showed her pretty pink and aqua rooms but no, yellow. So I picked a pretty yellow paint and we painted. I picked out 3 quilts I liked and let her choose (based on her favorite colors at the time). Sister was 9 months at the time and I chose her purple walls and gray and white decor. Two years later dd1 is terribly upset that dd2 has a purple room and she doesn’t. 🤦‍♀️ But I got her a new comforter that’s pink purple and unicorns so she’s happy now.

So basically as soon as they show an interest I would let them have a say, but make the specific decisions, like he can choose blue walls, but you choose what shade of blue. I think letting him choose a few things he is excited about might help the transition. Like my LO chose an Elsa nightlight that she told everyone about before we moved.

We are moving in April and DS1 is 4.5 so I am going to try and take his interests into account a bit more. His room seems far too babyish for him now (safari animal theme... he couldn't care less about it.) He really likes Star Wars so I might get him the PB Star Wars sheets and keep his white duvet. I'm not super big on overly "themed" rooms but I will indulge somewhat...

I think DS was a little more than 2 1/2 when he moved rooms and we took him to Target and let him pick his sheets (stars and moons). Then I designed the rest of the room around that. So I got to pick all the major decor items, but he still had some say.

We painted our whole main level including bedrooms last year when DS was 3.5. We kept the furniture the same but I found some decor ideas I thought he would like and showed pics to him and he LOVED it and literally is obsessed with his room. We had a colour consultant come in and I told her I wanted some kid decor but not so obvious that we would have to repaint every few years. So we went with a dark blue/grey accent wall behind his bed which has space decals on it, and the rest of the room is a lighter silver/blueish tone. We added some accents like the moon wall light from ikea and I rehung his name print and his month pics when he was a baby and kept art simple. It’s not too theme-y. And in a few years as his interests change, we could remove the decals but the paint is still neutral. We did let him pick his bedding when we bought him a big kid bed at 2.5! but it’s cars and trucks so not ‘on theme’. I kind of love when kids have a mish mash of stuff in their room that describes all their interests that doesn’t need to match.

This summer at 5 DS switched rooms. He got to choose the paint colour with DH’s guidance. We painted the babies room the same colour. I let him choose the type of decals for his wall, dinosaurs. He had two things hanging in his wall that he wanted to take to his new room & the rest he was giving to the baby. He then asked for one of our wedding pictures and another piece of art to be hung. I needed to get curtains for the room and let him choose the colour.

I like that as he grows he can easily choose to change what is hanging up but the wall colour will be able to stay.

I'm going to wait to ask her until she's out of the paw patrol phase. Until then (and maybe longer), I'm choosing.

When we switched B from a toddler bed to a big kid bed we let him have a say - we let him “pick” his bed (it was a pretty safe bet that he was going to pick the loft bed we wanted him to have) and then I let him pick the new bedding set, which was a huge mistake because his room is grey and white and natural wood and he picked this bright orange and brown pattern that I hate. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: ha ha! Cool!
Here’s the link: http://notinggrace.com/star-wars-room-hovercraft-bed/

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: You are brave and generous mama. I’m holding onto his baby room - that I designed of course - as long as humanly possible

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Oh that’s really going to come together!! You did great! It looks both cohesive AND fun / cheerful!