Decorating a kids bedroom is all about fun; so if your child is obsessed with all-things four wheels or your pre-teen counts down the days until he or she gets a license, why not create a cars-themed bedroom that will spark their imagination and pay homage to their interests?
The good news: There are infinite ways to decorate car themed bedrooms for kids, from the simple and subtle, to the over-the-top and extreme. We’ve rounded up some of the best tips and ideas for creating the car home decor that’s just right for your (or your kids) style.
Image via iammommahearmeroar.net
How to Decorate a Car Themed Room
Step 1: Choose a style direction.
A cars-theme is a fun and lighthearted approach to a boys bedroom design, but that doesn’t mean you should just jump into the decorating process without a plan. The best room designs stick to a tight theme and incorporate home decor that shares a common denominator like color or design style … or in this case, perhaps a specific make or model of car. Because a vehicle-themed bedroom is fairly broad, it’s a good idea to start a kids bedroom interior design by narrowing your focus a bit. A few ways to do this:
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- Choose a race track theme, with Nascar-inspired designs and colors.
- Stick to a vintage cars theme, and use midcentury modern furniture to complement the retro feel.
- Pick a vehicle make or model that you love most, and choose a design that depicts it.
- Coordinate with color. Tie together a variety of themes by sticking to one or two underlying hues.
- Get inspired by mechanicals and go for an industrial themed room with car-themed accessories and accents.
- Complement traditional interior design with nods to early car models.
Step 2: Gather inspiration.
One you have a general idea of the direction you want to take your car interior in, it’s time to start looking for some inspiration. Pinterest, where you can search for photos of anything-and-everything creative, and then save your favorites for later reference, is a great place to start. We found plenty of kids car bedroom ideas, including these inspiring shots:
For vintage car bedrooms:
Image via Pinterest
For a kids bedroom inspired by the Disney movie Cars:
Image via diy.roomzaar.com
Kids bedroom with a car home decor and car themed bedroom furniture:
Image via gehanhomes.com
For a traditional kids bedroom design with a subtle car theme:
Image via designdazzle.com
Another place to find visual inspiration for your car decor is Google images — typing in search terms like “car room,” “vintage car-themed bedroom”, and “NASCAR bedroom” turned up dozens of creative results.
One final spot to try is Instagram. This visual social network offers a constantly updated stream of images, which you can easily sort through by searching different hashtags. At the time we wrote this blog post, the hashtag #CarBed turned up more than 15,000 images, for example.
Image via @CilekWorld on Instagram
Step 3: Bring the room to life.
Once you have your direction narrowed down, it’s time to start thinking about which elements of the kids room you want to use to bring the theme to life. Here are a few ideas.
Build a Car Bed
A bed is the natural focal point in any bedroom, so it’s a good place to start your car themed room design. If you’re decorating the space for a kid, a race car theme bed is the ultimate addition — it’ll foster imagination, give their space a special feel, and maybe (just maybe) get your kid excited about bedtime.’
If you consider yourself handy or enjoy a do-it-yourself project, consider building the bed yourself. There are a few dozen instructional YouTube videos cover a variety of different styles and skill levels to decorate a boys bedroom, and building it yourself also gives you the chance to customize things like the size, style, and color to you or your child’s liking, If your kid is old enough, have him or her help you with the building process.
Ready to take on the project yourself (or simply want to see what’s involved)? Here are a few of the most-informative YouTube videos we found.
Image via YouTube
Ferrari Car Bed with LED Lights
Image via YouTube
Buy a Car Bed
If you don’t have a ton of experience building thing from scratch, or are short on time, and don’t mind spending a bit more, you’ll also find plenty of pre-assembled cars beds, Most big box retailers and large online furniture stores sell a version of a youth cars bed on their websites. Prices generally run from just over $100 for a toddler-sized car bed, to upwards of $2,000 for a twin-sized car bed with all the bells and whistles, including racing decals, working doors, built-in race car sounds, and underbody LED lights.
Choose Car Themed Bedding, Rugs, and Curtains
Another way to give your bedroom a cars theme without purchasing a whole new bed frame or building one from scratch is to choose car themed textiles like bedding, rugs, and curtains. Vision Bedding offers dozens of car-themed bedding designs, from vintage-style cartoon motifs, to photos of race cars and race tracks, to steering wheels, tires and speedometers, any of which can be applied to a variety of textiles including pillow cases, comforters, sheets, throw pillows, area rugs, and curtains.
Vision Bedding’s Fire Race Car print, which can be added to bed sheets, throw pillows, or pillow cases/shams, as well as to area rugs and wall design.
Vision Bedding’s Speed Pillow Case
Vision Bedding’s Wire Car Comforter
To give your bed a look completely personal to your style and interests, try creating custom designs for your sheets, comforters, blankets, rugs, and pillows. VisionBedding offers an option to upload any image you’d like, and have it applied to our selection of textiles.
Incorporate nods to the racetrack
Not everything in a themed bedroom has to be obvious. In fact, it often makes for a more interesting space if there are subtle nods to the theme scattered throughout the room. With a cars-themed space, that might mean:
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- Using high-shine materials that mimic the finish of a car, like lacquered furniture or ceramic lamps, for example.
- Choosing wall art like black-and-white photos of famous drivers, blueprints of favorite vehicles, or the ever-popular cogwheel wall art.
- Using prints that conjure images of a racetrack, like checks.
- Using tires to create functional furniture and bedroom design like shelving or bedside tables.
Image via Eslamoda.com
DIY Creative Car Themed Accessories
Once you’ve got the furniture and bedding picked out, it’s time to add the fun. DIY accent pieces are a great way to ensure that your boys room is one-of-a-kind, but also inexpensive.
This fun design uses matchbox cars glued to a simple frameless round mirror.
Image via Pinterest
Another clever idea? Spray paint hubcaps in colors to match your room design, as seen here in a space from krafty-k.blogspot.com.
Image via Pinterest
For easy wall art, try hanging vintage license plates (search for them at flea markets and thrift shops!) gallery-wall style, or as a trim or border at the top of the wall.
Image via DianePayne.typepad.com
Hang a photo of a favorite model car, or your child’s dream car
Fancy a Porsche 911? Always wanted a vintage Chevy Camaro like your grandfather’s? Just love all things NASCAR? Your wall art is the perfect spot to showcase your favorites. Using Vision Bedding’s customization option, you can upload a photo of a favorite car, trip to the racetrack, or your dream car to create unique wall art for your space. Our canvas wrap wall art comes in three sizes, 16″ x 20″, 20″ x “24”, or 24″ x 30″.
Ready to get started? Click here to browse our collection of car designs for your bedroom.