Create A Circus Themed Child’s Bedroom

Weekend DIY Series: Circus Themed Bedroom for Your Child Complete with Tented Ceiling

Lions and tigers and bears – oh my! Everyone loves the circus, complete with clowns and performing animals and it makes a great theme for a child’s bedroom or baby nursery. If you are an avid do it yourselfer, it only takes a weekend, paint, fabric and a little creativity to create a circus bedroom that will delight your child and ignite their imagination.

Creating a circus themed bedroom can be as simple as hanging stuffed animals from the ceiling (monkeys looks especially nice) and sewing a simple set of rod pocket curtains and a duvet cover from a few yards of fun fabric. For a baby, check out Amy Coe’s circus themed fabric at your local fabric store. For a toddler or older child, Covington makes the most fabulous circus toile fabric that you will fall in love with!

Accessories such as artwork, lamps and carpets are all readily available in circus themes or bright primary colors that will complement the theme ideally. If you live in a small town or have limited access to stores, check out eBay – there are literally hundreds of items that focus on circus theme that are appropriate for children.

For a fun wall treatment, choose two or three different paint colors. If you are using pastels, stick with three pastel colors and the same goes for bright primary colors. Mixing bright and pastels doesn’t work well for this paint effect. Paint the entire room white and then let it cure for at least 48 hours. Use low tack masking tape to create vertical lines on the wall. If you want a true ‘festival’ look and feel, do at least three walls. Alternate your stripes between fat and narrow to add interest and to achieve the look of different colored stripes of varying widths. Paint all the widest stripes in the lightest color; paint all the narrowest stripes in the darkest paint color. Allow to dry for at least 12 hours and then remove the painter’s tape. Voila!

For the piece de resistance, finish the room off with a tented ceiling. You may have seen one in a decorator magazine and it is a lot easier to accomplish than you may think. For a room that is 10 feet by 10 feet, you will need approximately 20 continuous yards of fabric, which is 60 feet. Luckily the effect looks best in a light, airy fabric so you can purchase the cheapest white muslin you can find. Try not to use a color darker than white, pale yellow or light blue or the room may feel very closed in.

Assuming the same room size, you need to cut your fabric into 15 foot lengths. Starting on one wall of the room and using a staple gun, attach one end of the fabric to the crease (where the wall and ceiling meet). Do that entire wall, using as many fabric strips as necessary. For example, if your wall is 10 feet long and your fabric is 54” wide, it will take you approximately 2 lengths of fabric. If you want a fuller look with a more billowing tent, purchase 25 yards of fabric (75 feet), cut them into 18 or 20 foot lengths and use three fabric panels.

Now go to the wall on the opposite side of the room and affix the other ends of your fabric panels to the crease. Once you are done, you will notice that the fabric is draping down in the center of the room (kind of a billowing effect). To achieve the tent effect, you need some simple white molding. Using a hammer or a nail gun, you must attach the molding all way around the room and then a final molding strip right down the center of the room, overtop of the billowing fabric to achieve the ‘pitched’ tent look. Finally, trim off any excess fabric that is hanging from below the molding and cut a hole for your ceiling light fixture.

That is all there is to it – a fabulous circus tent ceiling from which you can hang a mobile or a fun figural ceiling lamp to finish it off.

In a single weekend, and for far less than $500, you can easily transform a boring bedroom into a fantasy land for your child; a room that will be a pleasure for them and for you!

©2007, Kathy Burns-Millyard.