How should I decorate my boys room?

Q. I have a 8, 3 and 3 month old in the same bedroom. I want to move but the 3 bedroom apt are full and we can't afford a house right now.

A. A decorating theme is a great way to begin decorating a room for a child. If you're like most parents, you've probably spent lots of time thinking about decorating your new child's room even before he joined your family. While bunnies are cute and teddy bears are darling, you might want something different for the bedroom or playroom.

There are lots of great themes for boys' rooms. A special theme will provide both the focus and the inspiration for a special one-of-a-kind room and can be adapted as your child grows. Time to get started!

Bug's Life
From bees and ants to frogs and reptiles, creatures of nature often capture a child's attention. Browse theme ideas at Posh Tots including a Bug Off Table and Chair Set, Bug bed linens, and or frog lamp.

Favorite Animals
What boy wouldn't love a room focusing on his favorite pet? Whether it's a dog or cat, bird or snake, using this theme will make your son (and his pet) feel particularly at home. Be sure to put up lots of pictures with your son and his best friend around the room and make sure you have stuffed animals scattered everywhere.

Playhouse / Playtown
This theme will provide a wonderful scheme for decorating your son's room and provide lots of wonderful playtime possibilities as well. A whimsical or the cute playtown chest can be your starting point. Or, do a border in kids designs or paint a mural of a street scene on one or more walls. Name the storefronts for family members ("Katie's Groceries", "Ted's Puppet Theatre", "Todd's Bike Shop", "Anne's Pet Heaven", "Sara's Video Den", or Dennis' Book Nook").

Safari
For a safari look, find wonderful, colorful animal wallpaper borders and fabrics at any wallpaper store. Paint the walls blue, tan, ivory, or any of the colors in your wallpaper border. Make pillows and valances from coordinating leopard-print fabrics, and find some stuffed lions and tigers for the corner. Mount a butterfly net, binoculars, or straw hat on the walls. Use colorful matboard and frame some of your child's artwork to display. Maybe he'll draw some lions!

Rustic Cabin
Most every child loves spending time at camp or in the mountains. And what parent doesn't have happy childhood memories of hiking, boating, fishing, or just enjoying the outdoors. Birdhouses, bears, moose, and fish might show up in wallpaper borders, in fabrics, bedding, and accessories. For a rustic room you might also choose comfy plaid patterns, flannel fabrics, and log or pine beds. Accessories might use forest themes of animals, mountain scenes, or natural materials such as pine cones, leaves, and sticks. Take another cue from camp and use a sturdy trunk to store toys. With a room this nice, who needs a vacation?

Rain Forest
Choose a colorful jungle border, or try a jungle area rug. Soft fabric snakes and colorful stuffed birds or butterfly cutouts can add to the decor. Make pillows of animal or jungle prints and use themed accessories. Grrr!

Race Cars
With car racing, you think black and white checkered flags, and a finish line. Find an area rug with a car track design. A car bed might be fun, or decorate the walls with a car wall appliques. Add some framed calendar photos or posters of race cars, and put up narrow shelving to display car collections. Zoom!

Outer Space
Take a trip to the stars using a space theme. An Apollo bed set, outerspace border, or star-studded rocking chair might be just the items that inspires your child to reach for the stars. Paint reflective planets or stars on the ceiling in arrangements of the constellations.

Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines
If Dad is in the service, you might let your boy feel patriotic with a room painted in camouflage and outfitted with tanks and desert colors.

Sports
From soccer to baseball to football, sports is a theme that spans the generations. To use a baseball theme for example, use a headboard made from bats, hang curtains from bats used as curtain rods, make a baseball lamp, or hang shelving to display gloves, pennants, and trophies. Paint the room in the colors of your son's favorite team. Sports themed rugs, furniture, and beds are another possibility. Create similar looks for other sports, and you'll have a room that is a big "hit" with sports fans. Play ball!

Wild Colors
Go wild by starting with a lively area rug designed in fun colors for a child. Take your cue from the rug for colors and designs for the rest of the room. Use color everywhere! Paint every surface of a bookcase a different color, and do the same with headboard slats, drawer fronts, and chair legs. This is a great way to help your little one learn his colors! Find a fabric to compliment the rug and use it to tie the room together with window valances or floor pillows.

Movie or Cartoon Characters
There's something for everyone in this theme! Whether your son has been captivated by Mickey Mouse, Alladin, Lion King, Toy Story, or Scooby Doo -- you'll probably be able to find bedding, lamps, and other decorative items that use these themes. Towels for the bathroom and toys will be easy to add.

Pirates
The story of Peter Pan can inspire creative parents to design a wonderful room. Boys intrigued by the notion of pirates will love a room using blue ocean themes, ship masts, portholes, netting, treasure boxes, and secret play hideaways.

Knights and Castles
Artistic parents can faux paint castle walls, murals, and blue skies for a truly memorable room. Use the theme of "A Sword in the Stone" or "Camelot" for inspiration. Find another take on this theme offered by for Mercy's Sake in their Galahad collection.

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles
There are lots of colorful choices in bedding, fabrics, and wallpaper that feature transportation themes. Make a train track border around the room, hang airplanes from the ceiling, or go wild with a car-shaped bed.

Cowboy Kids
This is a fun theme where you can let your imagination run wild. Think bandana valances, chaps wall hangings, tin stars, horses, rope borders, and more. The baby dude designs offered by for Mercy's Sake offer some fun possibilities. Or check out OliveKids.com Camp Wilderness or the Wild West theme designs from PoshTots.com for more creative examples of this theme and products to add to your decor.

Dinosaurs
From cute and stylized to realistic and ferocious -- dinosaurs themes are still popular. If you suspect this is a passing phase for your little one, then opt for solid color bedding and walls, using theme elements in borders, sheets, valances, and posters.

Original Question

How can I make my bedroom look more mature?

Q. I'm gonna be 16 in a few days and I keep thinking my bedroom looks really childish. How can I make it look more mature? My walls are light yellow and the furniture is cream with wood accents. I love the bedrooms in Pottery Barn (but not PB teens!)
Unfortunately I'm not allowed to buy new furniture or paint/wallpaper my walls...

A. It's not the wall color or the furniture - it's the accents. First check out some design magazines for ideas, then look into new fabrics for curtains, bedspreads and throw pillows. Put the kid clutter (your sentimental stuff) into storage bins or decorated boxes (you can make your own by covering lidded boxes with wallpaper or contact paper) and put a plant in your room. A throw rug and chair can create an "adult" sitting area in your room.

Original Question

My Cocker Spaniel continues to poop on the rug i dont know what to do?

Q. My Cocker Spaniel puppy Lily has started pooping on the living room rug. Me and my husband and 2 kids and has her since she was 8 weeks old and now she is 18 months old. I can't get rid of her because my 6 year old is really close with her. I am at wits end please help!

A. Since this behavior just started, that suggest it might be something medical, or a stress, like maybe you moved or some change happened in the house that stressed the dog. Rule out something medical and then take potty training back to the beginning. Use the bell method. I use a crate* to potty train with, but only for potty training and then I break it down and store it. I put blankets and a small food and water dish in the crate. Dogs don't potty where they eat and sleep. When they are first little, I only expect them to hold their potty for 4 hours, and then 6 hours, then 8 hours and so on. So when they are first little, I set a timer or alarm clock to wake myself up at night to take them *out. I only allow my puppy in the bedroom* or the living room, only one room at a time. They have to graduate to more space. If I allow them to have full run of the house, it will overwhelm them. I take them out the same door each time. I tie a dinner bell to the door handle. Do not use a jingle bell as they could get their toe caught in it. So when they are little, I ring the bell for them, and then open the door to go *outside to potty. When they get bigger, I take their paw and whack the bell and open the door to go potty. Eventually getting to the place where the puppy will ring the bell and let me know when they need to go potty. Dogs want to please you, so it is your job to let them know what behaviors please you and what doesn't. So when my puppy goes potty, I give her a treat*, and clap, and make a fuss and praise her. So she learns that going potty outside makes me happy. If she has an accident, make a disgust sound like �tsst� and take her out right away. I never yell* or spank* my puppies. Take them out when they first wake up, after they eat or drink, before nap, finish romping, when their activities change, or when they are sniffing around. Some puppies go pee right away, but may not go poop until 10 minutes later, so wait for the poop. I have a little play time here, because sometimes I think they are done, and they are not. Puppies train at their own pace. While I may have a puppy that hasn't had an accident in several weeks, I don't let my guard down. I don't expect my puppies to be "fully potty trained" until one-year-old. If they have a setback, shake it off, and start over. I only have my puppies in the crate when I am not watching them. When I am sleeping, cooking, ironing, doing chores, basically when I am not watching her. All other times, she is out of the crate practicing being a "big girl." This is the time I train her how to behave in the house. So we are practicing "no barking", 'no biting", "no jumping", and "don't eat the furniture." I also have to practice "playing inside" so she doesn't knock over things. You must keep the puppy in sight when they are little because they don�t know the difference between newspaper and carpet, and you don�t want them sneaking off and getting into trouble. Some puppies can sleep through the night around 3-months-old, but their bladder is grown around 6-months-old.

REVISIONS:
*I use a CRATE to train with. It is the method I prefer, compared to other methods I have tried. I noticed that if they are in the crate, while I am doing chores, they are o.k., because the crate allows them to see me and be re-assured. The crate can also be a comfort when stored in the basement for dogs who live in areas where thunderstorms and tornados are an issue. . However, use the method that works best for you.....a laundry basket, a cardboard box, a woof-woof house, x-pen, child gates, whatever works for you.
*OUTSIDE, pee pad, litter box, whichever method you are using. When the puppy is first little, keep the pee pad, litter box near the food and water dish, so the puppy can eat and drink, and then go potty. You can move it away as they get older. The pee pad has a scent that smells and initiates potty. Sometimes a pee pad makes a sound that scares some puppies, so you might want to use a litter box if that happens. The pee pad allows a puppy to walk around, but a litter box keeps the puppy in one place.
*BEDROOMS, I use the bedroom and living room for training, because it works for me. Choose rooms that work for you, but watch for rooms that are damp, or drafty. While my puppies sleep in the bedroom during training, once they are trained, I let them sleep where they want to. They don't have to sleep in the bedroom forever.
*TREATS. While I use treats for training, you don't have to. I like Charlee Bears for training (a little cracker for a little mouth,) I use them for training, but once they are trained, I cut back on them.
*SOME PUPPIES will go potty in the same spot each time. Some puppies have to be told to go potty. A command like "go out" for pee, or "go finish" for poop, might work for you, keep saying �go finish� until the puppy poops. This is a good thing to train if you travel with your dogs. By using commands, the puppy won't get confused when you are visiting someone, on vacation with you, or when you get to a new home. The command will tell them what you want them to do in an unfamiliar place. You might also want to use a leash method, so the puppy doesn�t sneak off, or for strange places.
*YELLING. It is not a good idea to "yell" or "spank" your puppy and then take them outside when they have an accident. They may get confused and think that going outside is punishment. While you want to correct them, if you are extreme, they may not want to go outside again. Shake it off, and resume your schedule. You have to keep it real. Puppies train at their own pace, but a puppy can only hold their potty for a few hours. A guide would be 1 hour for each month of age, plus 1 hour, so a three-month-old puppy should only be expected to hold their potty for 4 hours at most.
SOURCE: These tips, tricks, and ideas were contributed from many brilliant minds. Thanks for your help!

Original Question

what are the types of rooms that a mansion can have?

Q. I am a horror writer, I am working on the book that i believe will be my first success. I just need to know, what types of rooms would you find in a modern day mansion, besides pools, theaters, guest rooms, bedrooms, baths, sitting rooms, etc? like what kinds of rooms would you have that aren't common in a normal house
thank you!

A. Foyer (entrance), conservatory (sitting room/letter writing/reading room), linen room (only really big estates have this, where all the fine linen is kept), wine cellar/tasting room (usually in the basement, best place to keep wine), a crafts/present wrapping room (with a huge counter work space and walls of wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, boxes, etc), greeting rooms (rooms adjacent to a person's 'office' or personal space where they meed guests, the Queen of England has one), gym, servant's/worker's quarters (usually with own stairwell that connects to entire house, so rooms, special kitchen/dining room, and back halls so the servants didn't share space with the lords/ladies of the house, in a big enough estate there would be more than 100 staff that needed their own management and space), storage for seasonal decorations (such as Christmas, 4th of July stuff), out buildings like barns, garages for cars, sheds for gardening supplies, an out building for the lady of the estate's painting practice, kids areas (bedrooms, special dining area, play area, in-home schooling room), in olden days there were 'telephone' rooms or closets, of course formal ball rooms (for large dancing parties) that are adjacent to formal dining rooms (large enough to site 80 to 100 people at the same time).
I remember my mom's friend's mansion when I was growing up had a special button that was on the floor right under the head of the table in the dining room as well as under the coffee table in the conservatory (concealed by the rug) that when pressed with one's foot it would ring a buzzer in the kitchen. This was to indicate for service to come to the room or to deliver a prearranged service of tea or snacks.
Another funny thing was special bells in each room. So the lady, lord, and library rooms, etc would have special dials on the wall that when turned would ring a bell in the servant's area. Depending on which bell rang (usually differentiated by different tones) the servant would know which room to go to.
Often times special servants (butlers, chefs, etc) need their own offices and depending on their function the office would need to be near where they worked the most. A butler's would usually be off the foyer, while a chef's off the kitchen and near the back entrance for deliveries. Don't forget in the kitchen area there would rooms and rooms for different storage. So root cellars, china and silver storage, grains, herbs and spice storage, meat cellars, usually a chicken coop might be adjacent to the back door to fetch eggs quickly, or a fresh herb garden right outside to fetch herbs. There might have been a sewing room near by, too.
Lastly, in very large estates there will be some sort of place of worship. A church or chapel, if you will. Large enough estates would have their own priest or pastor (maybe with family of their own).
Have fun!

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