When we found out we were having twins, our teenage daughter volunteered to move into a smaller bedroom so that the twins could have the bigger one. It was definitely time to come up with a new bedroom theme! We also didn't have much space to work with or a lot of money to spend. So when we moved her into the smaller bedroom, she decided to decorate with a black and white theme.

The walls were already white, so that part was easy. Having the walls white also makes the room look as large as possible.

As a school project, our daughter repainted an old cabinet that was mine when I was growing up. She sanded it, painted it white, and then decoupaged onto the cabinet black and white photos (mostly scenery she liked) from magazines and photos that she had printed from the Internet. She then printed some of her favorite Bible verses in different sizes and in different fonts and decoupaged them on the cabinet. We found some black knobs to match. She was happy with how it turned out, and she got a good grade on the project!

She found some black and white posters for the walls that she liked. Because of the limited space we decided to put up shelves on the walls to replace her bookcase. My husband spray painted the metal runners that the shelves hang on black, and the shelves are white. It looks really nice and frees up a lot of room. We also found an inexpensive black TV stand at Walmart to put her stereo on since she had to give up the dresser it had been on before.

We had an old bulletin board that needed a facelift. We taped around the inside of the board and then spray painted the frame of the board black. We then used a paintbrush to paint the cork white.

My daughter likes candles, so she accented her room with white candles and black candle holders.

So that's how, on a very small budget, we decorated our teenage daughter's bedroom in black and white, and we were all very happy with the result!

Pictures of the finished results: http://www.frugal-home-decor.com/articles/053005a.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For inspirational articles and tips for everyday living, visit her web sites at http://www.creativehomemaking.com and http://www.frugal-home-decor.com