Jodi Murphy of Redwood City made her daughter Molly feel like a queen by putting mosquito netting over her bed.

Photo: Patrick Tehan

GO TO YOUR ROOM! isn’t such a severe punishment now that kids’ rooms are more fun and stylish than ever.

Most people have an idea of how they want to decorate a baby’s nursery. But what happens when a child grows out of his crib and you crave a break from Beatrix Potter valances? Once children start school, their rooms need to be retrofitted for sleeping in a grown-up bed, spreading out and playing, doing messy school projects, studying, and entertaining friends. By that point, too, they’ve become strong-willed little individuals with decorating ideas of their own. And they’ve usually collected enough treasures and trinkets to fill a small museum, making creative storage a necessity.

While you may have a specific vision for your little one’s room, interior designers say that it’s important that the room reflects your child’s personality and interests and not your own inner Pooh.

Although her mom designed her room, Molly, 11, chose the inflatable furniture. Photo: Patrick Tehan

‘‘Make sure the child shines in the room and the room doesn’t overpower the child’s personality,’’ says interior designer Patricia McDonald of McDonald & Moore Ltd. in San Jose. She adds that it’s important to design a room that’s transitional enough for a child to grow into, so you don’t have to redecorate yearly.

Here are a few more pointers from local designers on how to make a child’s room fun, stylish and utilitarian, while also incorporating your little designer’s decorating demands.

Include these must-haves: As a child enters school he’ll need a comfortable desk and chair, space for a computer, bookshelves, a bedside table and lamp, storage, a bulletin board and a comfy spot to curl up and read, such as a beanbag or small arm chair. It’s especially important to provide adequate lighting throughout the room, says McDonald, including direct lighting at the desk and by the bed and overhead lighting to brighten the room for play.

Involve your kids in the design process: ‘‘It’s funny how children develop style standards at a very young age,’’ says McDonald. ‘‘We work directly with children, finding out what they like to do and collect and what colors they prefer. You want their interests to be a focal point, whether it’s horses, artwork or sports.’’

While it’s their room, you probably don’t want to commit to wall-to-wall Britney Spears. ‘‘Offer a selection of choices that you can live with,’’ suggests Lynn Hollyn of Lynn Hollyn Associates in Palo Alto, who did her animal-loving son’s room in a safari theme.

Lynn Hollyn of Palo Alto decorated her son’s bedroom with murals of wild, but not ferocious-looking, animals. Photo: Patrick Tehan

‘‘As they start getting older, kids begin asserting themselves in the world and their rooms become a reflection of them,’’ explains Jodi Murphy, chapter administrator of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and mother of an 11-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son. By age 11, Murphy’s daughter decided her room was too babyish and called for a ban on anything pink. So Murphy, who lives in Redwood City, did a fairly easy $500 overhaul, choosing a simple shade of cream for the walls and Martha Stewart canvas shower curtains with metal eye-hooks ($30) for a fun and functional window treatment. While the bed has plain white sheets and dust ruffle, a lime green and bright blue comforter cover and sham provided a punch of color. Then Murphy created a clever canopy out of mosquito netting from Pier 1 ($60), adding a dramatic touch that she says makes her daughter feel like a queen.

Start with a theme or color: From hot-air balloons to horses, every child has a favorite theme, says Hollyn. So long as it isn’t too trendy or outrageous, this is a good starting point for decorating a room.

Hollyn’s son’s safari room features spears for curtain rods, earthy raw silk for curtains and walls that simulate the inside of a tent. The bedding is made of fuzzy fake leopard fur and squishy beanbag chairs are covered in chenille leopard print. Then there’s a melange of stuffed monkeys, giraffes and bears. But Hollyn warns against a theme that’s over-stimulating or frightening for a child, especially when the room is darkened at night. She made sure all the animals in her son’s room look friendly and not ferocious.

Every child also has a favorite color, adds McDonald, who once worked with a little girl who adored emerald green and fuchsia, colors that were incorporated into a tropical wall covering of bright banana leaves for her room. ‘‘Color enhances the spirit,’’ she explains. ‘‘You don’t want colors that will make the room too busy or keep your child up all night, but you want a color that they enjoy.’’

An African safari motif is carried out in the curtain rods in Lynn Hollyn's son's room. Photo: Patrick Tehan

Find creative solutions for wall hangings: From the Backstreet Boys to Michael Jordan, kids love to plaster their walls with posters and pictures. But you don’t want to wreck the walls with something they’ll grow tired of in a matter of months.

McDonald came up with an especially creative solution for one child’s room. Instead of curtains, she used shutters over the windows, creating special panels for hanging posters on the room side of the shutters with plywood backings and plexiglass covers that can be unscrewed, allowing new posters to be inserted.

Julie Lanterman, of Interior Designs by Julie in Hillsborough, suggests hanging corkboard that has been stained with wood stain to match the room. It can be glued or screwed to the wall, allowing kids to hang posters and pictures with thumbtacks.

Murphy created a ‘‘graffiti board’’ out of a huge blank canvas ($40) from Aaron Brothers for her daughter’s wall, picking out paint pens in the same colors as the room. Her daughter and her friends love the fact that they’re free to draw on the wall.

Provide plenty of storage: The best way to win the clean room battle is to devise an organized storage system.

When Hollyn’s children were very young she put colored cubbies in their rooms for storing blocks, books and toys, and cleaning up became a game of putting the right items into the right cubbies.

‘‘The key is to help them organize clutter,’’ says Murphy. ‘‘Use creative, cost-effective solutions and let them have as much input as possible in developing the system and they’ll be more likely to keep their rooms clean. A mother can only hope!’’ Murphy’s daughter stores her wide assortment of belongings in plastic baskets on rollers, which look neat and are easy to move around the room. Other items are stashed in canvas boxes from Hold Everything.

A painted monkey seems to swing from a curtain rod. Photo: Patrick Tehan

For art supplies such as paper, brushes and crayons, McDonald recommends shallow drawers about three inches deep, so young artists don’t have to dig through heaps of stuff.

Limit trendy decor to accessories: Kids’ tastes come and go as quickly as pop stars, notes Murphy. By 9 they’re ready to ditch themes such as Jedi, Pokémon and princess rooms. She says it’s best to limit trendy themes to less expensive, easily replaceable accessories, such as the bright plastic blow-up furniture that her daughter chose for her room.

Other inexpensive accessories that make great accents and often have fun, trendy themes include light switch plates, drawer knobs, easy-to-replace wall borders and decals, small area rugs, inexpensive sheet sets and decorated waste baskets.

Remember safety and durability: ‘‘Sometimes parents forget about safety,’’ notes McDonald. ‘‘But nothing works design-wise if it’s not safe.’’ Key safety factors include smoke alarms, rugs that don’t slip, cords that are tucked safely away, windows fitted with locks, water-based paints and bookshelves attached to the walls so they can’t tip over. Also make sure chairs don’t tip back too easily and wall hangings are hung securely and away from beds, in case of an earthquake.

Don’t go too high end: You don’t want a room that’s so fancy your child can’t play in it.

McDonald advises against light carpet, suggesting a patterned, tweedy or multi-colored look that will be better at hiding spills.

Hollyn says you should create a spill space for kids and always have a drop cloth in their room. ‘‘Kids need space to make a mess so they can do their artwork and school projects,’’ she explains, adding that you can also create their spill space in the garage or on a laundry room counter.

In the end, says Hollyn, ‘‘a child’s room should look wonderful, but it should also have a curl-up appeal.’’ She explains that this means you have to remember the tactile aspects of design. ‘‘I like to think of a room in terms of how it will feel if you’re barefoot in it. That’s why I like soft carpet and throws everywhere. The room should sort of give you a hug.’’