Rooms to Grow for Preteens

Produced by Kieran Juska and Amy Leonard

Has your preteen outgrown block bins and primary colors? Here's how to transform your son or daughter's room into a hip and functional space.

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They grow up so fast. It seems to happen overnight -- one moment your child is just a tiny swaddle of blankets and diapers, and the next he's listening to crashingly loud music and talking in unrecognizable lingo. Just as suddenly, the bedroom decor he loved as an 8-year-old has become completely uncool by the time he's 10 -- a horror for any preteen.

The Robson family, in Westport, Connecticut, had a similar dilemma but with an added complication: Thomas, 14, and Sam, 11, shared a room and they'd never quite figured out how to make the most of the space.

With two of everything -- beds, desks, and dressers -- the room was cramped, and the white walls and bland wood furniture did nothing to reflect the young boys' vivacious personalities.

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