Furthermore,

there's a growing consensus that their participation in both making decorating

decisions and helping to pay for them can provide valuable learning experiences.

While exercising

their own tastes and creativity, children also learn how to allocate expenditures

and stick to a budget. More quality family time, which is a rising, but

elusive priority among both children and parents, is an added bonus of

this home decorating project.

Selecting wallpaper

and borders provides a perfect starting point. Wallcoverings transform

a room more completely for less investment than any other decorative material.

What's more, there are designs to appeal to the eyes and interests of

children of all ages. That's why S.A. Maxwell Co. named a current collection

from its Piper Designs division Zero to 60.

Once the pattern

is selected, children can try their hand at paperhanging. Today's wallpapers

are easier than ever to install. The sense of accomplishment that comes

from a successful do-it-yourself project not only builds confidence, but

also instills a sense of pride. Who knows, maybe it will even encourage

kids to keep their rooms in order. Even small children can succeed beautifully

at hanging a border, especially at above the baseboard or midway up the

wall at their own eye level.

The Extreme

Sports border from the Maxwell Kidz collection is a favorite among boys.=

In one room,

we place it above chair rail molding, so it's within view when the boy

looks up from his desk. Beneath the chair rail is a camouflage wallpaper

pattern in the khaki colors that predominate in fashion today. It coordinates

with colors in the Extreme Sports border.

Girls like

fresh red-and-yellow backgrounds with endless repeats of floral bouquets,

like the ones found in Bordeaux Valley, a new collection from S. A. Maxwell

Co.'s L V Emmert Studio. It makes this room perfect for a tween -- a girl

in that all-grown-up age between nine and 12.

We leave a

drop of 18 inches at the top of the wall, install the coordinating bouquet

border above that, and top it all off with a tent effect, created with

a lattice wallpaper along the top of the walls and all across the ceiling.

Yet another

coordinating pattern in the collection, one with a simple scatter of red

rosebuds on a yellow ground, gives this room -- and the girl who lives

here -- an added touch of decorating distinction. The pattern is used

as decoupage on the front of her desk and around the bed frame, creating

a special finishing detail that's hers alone.

One reason

why children between the ages of six and 17 stash money away during summer

for back-to-school expenditures is their wish to be "trendsetters,"

according to the Capital One survey. Rooms like these help kids like that

move to the head of the class.

To find the

nearest retailer carrying the Zero to 60, Maxwell Kidz, and Bordeaux Valley

wallpaper collections from S. A. Maxwell Co., call (847) 932-3700 or visit

www.samaxwell.com.

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