Over the course of several years, your child will go through many stages of development and you may want to change their room’s look several times. That means it’s extra important to use budget friendly designs to meet the growing needs of your child.

Here are four budget friendly tips for cheap kids decor.

Budget Friendly Kids Decor Tip #1 – Decide on a Theme
Before you begin shopping for your child’s new room design, you’ll want to decide on the theme. This will help you narrow down your choices and make better decisions for your budget. Keep in mind that character-themed items will be more expensive than other types of themes.

To keep costs low, you can make a few colors your theme and just use a few small accessories to further define your theme. For example, you can use yellow and blue in a boy’s room for the wall colors and bedding and then add wall hangings and a lamp to emphasize an outer space theme. Your child doesn’t need to have character sheets and bedding in order to have a great room.

Budget Friendly Kids Decor Tip #2 – Focus on Paint
Paint is a terrific way to change the look of your child’s room without spending a whole lot of money. A can of paint is all you need to change your child’s room in just the space of a day.

If you are feeling more creative, you can use masking tape to create designs on the wall. Give you child’s a two-tone look with one color on the top of the room and the other color on the bottom. You can also easily create colored panels on the wall using masking tape.

For just a little more investment, you can buy some sponge shapes to create a painted border on their wall. The possibilities are really endless when it comes to paint.

Budget Friendly Kids Decor Tip #3 – Visit the dollar store or thrift store
The dollar store can be a terrific place to find accessories and other design items for your child’s room on the cheap. Wall hangings, rugs and even curtains can be purchased for $1 or just a little more. It can also be a great place to source ideas for your child’s room theme.

Once you’ve decided on the colors for your child’s room, you can find theme ideas at the dollar store.

Budget Friendly Kids Decor Tip #4 – Shop on eBay or Craigslist
Ebay and Craigslist can be a good source for finding gently used items that would be perfect for your child’s room. Read listing descriptions carefully so you can be sure that you’re getting exactly what you need. If you’re purchasing locally on Craigslist, you should inspect the items before you agree to purchase them. Both of these websites can be terrific sources for any items you need for your child’s room.

Jamie Jefferson writes for Momscape.com and Susies-Coupons.com, where she shares the web’s best online coupons and promotions for department stores including Macy’s promotional codes and price drops