Making a fun and unique children's room doesn't have to be all that hard or complicated. Coming up with a good theme can most often be solved the easiest by taking a few cues from the resident. What does your child like?

Is there a color that's a favorite? An animal? A place? Kids get into all sorts of stuff, and a lot of times, that's the best way to pick how to get started. The trick is to keep the theme flexible and suggested in the larger colors and decor, and let a few specific items bring the theme into focus. This keeps the theme changeable over time, which is a good thing considering children's tastes change as they grow up.

This is also when you can think about traditional boy-girl gender roles and whether you care if the design reinforces those or not on your child. Some little kids are very strongly identified with old-fashioned boy or girl games and some are very blended. With a medieval-theme, you might have a knight or you might have a princess, or you might have a little dragon or fairy of your own. Talking with your child and having them participate in the designing of their own room can make for an environment that satisfies and pleases both parent and child.

If you already have a specific design for your child's room in mind, you might want to go to Creating Fun Kids' Rooms, which talks about bringing your designs to life.

Here are some ideas for design themes. The trick is to make sure both adult and child are happy with the decision. If you discuss the situation sensibly with your children and let them participate in the design and decisions, you'll find they can let go of the really wild fantasy bedroom scenarios and help come up with something fun and useful for day-to-day!

• Nature - How about a jungle bedroom? Or maybe the desert, the woods or under-the-sea?

• Space - sun, moon, stars, planets - this is for the kid who wants glowing planets and stars on the ceiling.

• Animals - Pick just one animal or do a whole zoo's worth!

• A color or color spectrum can make a nice room theme that doesn't get locked into one age range or interest.

• Movie or tv show - a character, a movie or a series might be how you want to do your room.

• Sports - this is a very popular one, where the room is done in a team's colors, styled around a favorite player, or which favors your child's favorite sport overall.

• History/Culture - native american village, spanish hacienda

• Real or Fantasy Location - country farm, pirate ship, race track

• Wallpaper - it's often better on the budget and eyeballs if fancy wallpaper is limited to just one wall in the room. A little bit can make a bold and beautiful statement. Plus, save scraps or get just a bit more than you need, and you can cut out design elements from the paper to use as art or for decorating furniture to match!

• Accent Trim - LIttle bits of trim or any architectural details can become really fun when painted with fun and funky colors. Doors, window frames, small ceiling and wall angles all can really pop with just a touch of bright color.

• Stencils - this is a great way to take bits of patterns from sheets and bedding and enlarge them for painting on walls. You can do floor or ceiling borders, use them to help make a mural or scatter designs across a wall.

• Window Shades - a bunch of fancy markers can make a plain shade turn into a matching accent. Your stencils and walpaper bits work well here too.

• Bulletin/Cork Boards - making a dedicated space for posters and pictures can save on having to spackle and repaint years down the road. (my folks thought up this trick with me as I was a very poster-y child)