If you have a tween daughter; that is, a daughter between the ages of about 8 to 12 years old, you have likely found that she has a growing desire to express her individuality. As a result, that pretty pink bedroom you decorated for her when she was younger may no longer fit her idea of the perfect bedroom. There are many ways to go about redecorating your tween daughter’s bedroom, however.

First and foremost, you will want to consider your daughter’s personal taste. She may not necessarily need a complete overhaul of her room. Some updating may be all that she wants to do. For example, if your tween daughter’s bedroom is painted pink, and she still likes pink, consider updating the room with a few grown-up touches. Adding touches of black throughout the room is a great way to accomplish this, and many bedding sets made especially for tween girls feature black and pink designs. Zebra prints are particularly popular in such bedding sets, and are a great choice because zebra print accessories like rugs are easy to find to coordinate with the bedding. Chocolate brown also works very well as an accent color for pink.

Many tween girls have a particular movie, book, actor, or singer that they particularly like. If this is the case with your tween daughter, you can work with her to create a bedroom based on that theme. Bedding sets are available in some of the more popular tween idol themes such as Hannah Montana and iCarly. Other popular tween themes can be accomplished with the use of neutral bedding and wall art. For example, if your tween daughter enjoys the “Twilight” series, you can decorate her walls with framed movie posters or stencil her favorite quote or quotes from the movies or books on her wall.

Don’t assume that your tween daughter will necessarily want a more grown-up theme for her room, though. Even grown women enjoy some “childish” characters, so your tween may as well. Hello Kitty, animal themes such as pandas and butterflies, and even Disney characters may all still be well-loved enough to include in your tween daughter’s room. For that matter, anything princess or diva-themed may also be quite fitting for your daughter. These themes also work well if your tween daughter shares a room with a younger sister, as the whole room can be done in the same theme. However, you should incorporate a room divider, either a freestanding unit or a drape, in a shared room so that your tween can have a space to call her own.

Be sure to work together with your tween daughter to decorate or redecorate her room. As she reaches this age range, her bedroom should reflect who she is, not who she used to be or your vision of who she is. Allowing your tween to design her own room will give her a feeling of accomplishment and give her self-confidence in knowing that you will allow her to honestly express her personality, even if it differs greatly from your own.