BLACK GIRLS BEDDING

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In all my bedroom decorating endeavors, I've never been overly impressed with black girls bedding sets. Solid black comforters and bedspreads just seemed to clash with (most, but we won't talk about the goth girls) my clients' teen and tween girls sunny, cheerful personalities. Black faux fur and microsuede bedding sets have a tendency to overpower even the brightest accent colors and decorations and absorb all of the natural as well as the artificial lighting the girls' rooms.

But I may have found a black girls bedding set that will satisfy a young girl's need for dark colored bedding. Granted, this set of Tommy Hilfiger girls bedding is not solid black but it does have a black background which should count for something. The tropical print fabric removes or at the very least offsets the dark color and makes for a very exotic bedding set. In fact, the dark black really makes those tropical flowers, leaves and pineapples stand out. After seeing so many pictures of bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms and every other room in the home covered in pineapples from back in the 1980s, I never dreamed I would recommend a pineapple print fabric. But I have learned that when decorating it's best never to say never!

BOHO CHIC BEDDING

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Boho chic bedding can be pricey but WHO CARES when you get lucky and find an amazing crystal chandy like this one for LESS THAN $10? It's a fact that funky bedding that looks like it came from the thrift store can cost a bundle. The truth of the matter is that authentic, vintage Bohemian style bedroom decor and bedding is very hard to find...especially the bedding.

On the rare occasion, I find some tasty quilts and comforters in a musty old trunk at an estate sale that require nothing but a few stitches to replace a quilted section or two and a good cleaning to freshen them up. But after you figure in the time it takes me to preview the goods before the auction and the actual sale; the real stuff becomes pretty darn expensive.

It's just a fact of life that there aren't many ways to cut corners in getting good looking, Bohemian style bedding that is in good new or used condition. So, I really had an "AHA" moment when I saw this funky, light fixture that was so cheap. Even if you can't get cheap Boho Chic bedding, inexpensive bedroom decorations and light fixtures help to take some of the sting out of a makeover's final price tag. Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie both have nice selections but to get good deals, (once again) I have to spend a lot of my spare time watching for sales on discontinued bedding.

Purple Leopard Bedding

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Everybody was clamoring to find purple leopard bedding sets after Christmas last year. My mailbox was full of emails from teen girls, college girls, young adults not to mention a few grandparents looking for the bedroom stuff on sale to get ready for Christmas next year! I'm not exaggerating, if you can think of the demographic I can probably produce a panicky sending e-mail asking where to find this very set of purple and black leopard print bedding. I suppose they thought just because I am a professional decorator and have a blog that I can snap my fingers or wiggle my nose and magically produce the most popular comforter set of the year after it's been sold out for weeks. DON'T I WISH?!

If I could have found this purple leopard bedding in the early months of last year, so help me, it would have saved me hours and hours of pleading with my clients' teen daughters to PLEASE choose another comforter set for their bedroom makeovers.

I'm writing to you now to tell you that as of this moment (no promises for even 10 minutes from now so DON'T write me snarky messages if you wait too long!) this purple leopard bedding set is available and at a very cheap price considering how popular it was and still seems to be. So, use the link I provided for you above and go get this girls bedding set before the thing sells out again.

BLACK and WHITE ZEBRA STRIPE BEDDING

Black and white zebra stripe bedding has ruled the roost in lots of my teen girls' bedroom decorating projects in years past and nobody could be happier about this than yours truly. I have blogged on and on about how easy black and white comforters (in all patterns, not just zebra print) make a decorator's job.


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Monochromatic comforters is without a doubt the way to go for simplicity. All you (read: I the long suffering decorator) have to do to personalize the bedroom is pop in some funky accent colors and hang some artwork on the walls that is indicative of the young girl's taste in music, sports, clothes and shoes. The beauty of zebra bedding is that it's only on the rarest of occasions that the colors and/or patterns are in danger of clashing. That may not seem like much to you but do you know how many hours upon hours I spend trying to coordinate this stuff?

I'm taking time out of my holiday week (yeah, I'm resting up before the Christmas rush to pick out new comforters for my clients and decorate several master as well as teen girls' bedrooms for company) to say that my life may be getting more complex. To clarify, I have had a few preteens (or tweens as they are affectionately referred to these days) ask me about PINK zebra stripe comforters! I ask you, does this mean that I must say goodbye to the oh so versatile black and white zebra stripe bedding that has been so good to me? Is black and white girls bedding about to become a fond memory?

SOFT ZEBRA BEDDING

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This warm, soft zebra bedding set may be just the thing that good girls on your gift list would like to find under the tree on Christmas morning. From tween and pre-teen on up to young adults, zebra print bedding sets still have a lot of decorative fire power left in them if requests that I continue to get for decorating ideas and suggestions for accent and wall colors are any indication!

In fact, they are still so darn popular that where once the only consideration was the color of the stripes, now people are taking a closer look at the weight of the comforter. Rather than keeping the same set on the bed year round, girls want a set of warm, soft zebra bedding that is just a bit more snuggly to put on the bed during the cold winter months and a lightweight girls bedding set for warm weather. On the other hand, faux fur or imitation suede zebra print bedding that feels luxurious in winter would be far too heavy for the summer months.

Storage concerns aside, I think this is a pretty cool idea especially since you can pick up a zebra bed in a bag set for less than $50 if you keep an eye open for sales and holiday promotions that offer significant discounts!

FANCY BEDROOMS

In the past 3 months I have not decorated any fancy bedrooms to speak of. To be clear, what I call "fancy" might be referred to as a luxury bedroom by those who prefer to maintain a level of sophistication in their vocabulary. I know the economy has taken a hit and custom made furniture and girls bedding are probably last on the list of people doing their best to make mortgage payments on those high end homes bought in the heat of the moment.

But thinking of the past, I can remember working on some luxury bedroom designs that were not any more expensive than decorating a room with IKEA style decor (modern look and sleek contemporary finish). There was one project in particular where the homeowner used a solid walnut tester bed as the centerpiece for her teen girl's bedroom that was breathtakingly beautiful. I expected the young girl to reject the antique bed as looking "old fashioned" but I was pleasantly surprised when she was on board with the decision.

It was not that she was such a fan of ornate furniture and fancy bedrooms as she liked the sense of history and place that the bedroom furniture gave to her space. She said that she enjoyed being surrounded with pieces that had been in her family for generations. Her only request was that the comforter set, curtains and wall paint color were light and bright to offset the dark finish of the elaborately carved wood.

TRENDS

In my last few projects, not only were girls leaning toward platform beds and a minimal amount of bedroom furniture, the materials were not that important. A few years ago, if the bedroom set was not real wood, nobody wanted it. And now I find that buying solid wood is not important. Several of my clients ordered custom made furniture and called a master carpenter that built the furniture based on their specifications. Needless to say that we had to wait a long time for the furniture to arrive.


Lately things have really changed; nobody has either the money or the time to hire custom woodworkers. Either they use the furniture they already have in place or buy imported furniture with a contemporary look, bright colors and maintenance-free finishes. I suppose that the time it takes to maintain great-grandma's intricately carved wooden furniture is more than busy, professional people want to deal with since money to hire cleaning help is tight.

THE APPEAL OF IMPORTED PLATFORM BEDS and FURNITURE

I'm all for buying imported furniture for first apartments, dorm rooms and kids' bedrooms. The stuff is cheap and can be easily dismantled, packed in boxes and then re-assembled with little effort. Plus, the pieces require a minimum amount of floor space giving the illusion that the bedrooms are larger than they actually are.

Ok, I get it that low maintenance furniture has its place. But I really miss decorating those fancy bedrooms with luxurious fabrics and decorations even if they were dust catchers.

Are Microfiber Sheets Comfortable

I got a phone call from a client asking me, "Are microfiber sheets comfortable?".
She wanted to know because she and her daughter were standing in the bed and bath store having a showdown over a bedding set. Mom was all for buying this girls bedding set but when she read the fabric content and saw the dreaded word "polyester" she was afraid that her daughter wouldn't like the feel of the sheets and that she would be out more money for a set of cotton sheets.

You know I hate to be put on the spot like that because each person has their own preference and to be honest, most teen girls could care less if their sheets are made of polyester or the finest Egyptian cotton. In my experience, if they think the comforter and shams look cool they're fine.

But for those who may want to know in the future are microfiber sheets comfortable or not...here's the skinny so you can make your own decisions and won't have to call me for my opinion.

THE PROS AND CONS OF MICROFIBER SHEETS


THE PROS

The positive characteristics of microfiber sheets are that they:

• resist wrinkling
• are lightweight
• machine washable
• are non-allergenic
• stain-resistant
• cheaper than fine cotton

.

Easy care is a good thing for college dorm bedding perhaps as important as being warm and comfortable in winter. Another mark in the positive column should be of interest to individuals suffering from allergies. It seems that since the microfibers are so small that common allergens like dust mites, pollen grains that cling to sheets made of natural fiber don't hang around and cause problems.

THE CONS

The negatives range from having extreme static cling coming out of the dryer to having a dull look and feeling like plastic. Some consumer reviews say the best way to wash microfiber sheets is to wash them alone. Apparently there were problems when they washed their sheets with towels and other fuzzy, lint producing laundry.

Getting back to the question, "Are Microfiber Sheets Comfortable", my opinion is that allergy sufferers would answer with a resounding, YES and everyone else should open the package and wrap the sheet around your hand and arm for a moment or two and see if they like the way the fabric feels. If you think that the fabric doesn't breathe well or if it feels smother-y on your skin I would spend a few extra dollars and get cotton; it's not that expensive and you may be happier especially in warm summer months.

Status Symbols in America

I read in an article that the automobile manufacturers are worried that cars are not the Status Symbols in America that they once were. Maybe the economic crisis taught us a few things and status symbols in America have changed even thought all the teen girls that I know still want the cutest bedroom in town.

You might think that this would include a decreased amount of home decorating but I have not seen that trend whatsoever. My date book is still filled, I'm still overwhelmed with the amount of work piled up on my desk and the number of inspiration boards that I need to deliver should be pulling me away from this keyboard as we speak.

What I do see that has changed is that my clients are not afraid to ask for discounts on fabric or to tell me to shop the outlet malls, eBay auctions before jumping into pay full retail. Even the discontinued bedding sets (that I have always believed in but problems selling to style conscious teen girls) are now being considered where once they would have been categorized as "so last season".

Another trend that I see emerging in teen status symbols in America is that knowledge and education are coming to be admired rather than dissed as boring.

Observing their parents feeling a financial pinch has alerted young girls to the fact that knowing a thing or two might be a good thing AND (moms are going to love this one) they are savvy enough to see that those bad boys who skip school are NOT going to be equipped to provide for themselves or a family in the future.

I realize that has nothing to do with shopping for cool teen girls bedding sets, but then again...maybe it does because as a decorator I can tell you that geek bedrooms are in, Baby!

COCA COLA BEDDING

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Not only did I want to show you this girl's Coca Cola bedding set, but I wanted to tell you about the brainstorm of decorating ideas that I had when I read about how she decorated her dorm room in a Coca Cola theme. And yes, she also tells us why she chose this style of decor.

She left home taking this comforter set with her to college and after she was there, she decided that she wanted a mini-fridge to keep her soft drinks cold. Well, it would seem that she hit the jackpot and found the perfect compact refrigerator to complement her decor.

She started out complaining that she didn't want a boring black or white personal mini-fridge like the ones she found at her local discount store. She wanted something with more personality and a little more cool factor than just what was inside the appliance. As luck would have it she found the perfect little mini-refrigerator to go with her Coca Cola bedding!

Can you join me here for a great big AHA moment? Why should other girls settle for boring appliances in their dorm rooms when they can cover them with contact paper, decals or even wallpaper? I'm always searching for new and interesting dorm room decorating ideas and I believe that I will be putting this one to work very soon! Can you picture a zebra print mini-fridge or one covered in polka dots in colors to match the teen girls bedding? Decorating what is basically a square block of metal would be so easy to do PLUS it would be cheap to do and it would look so cool!

COOL COLORS

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It’s hot as HECK and even though autumn is just a few weeks away, cool colors are STILL on my mind. For one thing, it doesn’t feel like fall to me and my patio thermometer backs me up telling me that my feeling that we’re still smack dab in the middle of summer is right on Target. And when I’m still wearing shorts and sweating like wild, I like to surround myself with cool colors, don’t you?

CHARACTERISTICS of COOL COLORS

Not only is it lovely that shades of blue, violet and green make me think of cool, refreshing ocean water, they are especially useful in decorating a small bedroom because they tend to recede or feel as if they are pulling away from you which make the room seem bigger! Not a bad thing when decorating a dorm room or a small bedroom in an apartment.

It’s so hard to let go of airy colors like turquoise blue and teal green that bring lazy days at the beach to mind or colors that remind me of that visit to the farmers market where I got inspiration to decorate a master bedroom with colors that I pulled from the fruit and vegetables that I saw there.

But even though summer feels as if it’s dragging on and on and on and the heat outside is unbearable I have to grind the gears and shift my decorating focus from breezy and colorful to fall colors. Looking back on the last few month’s inspiration boards it’s easy to see that the season inspired the purchase of more than a few beach bedding sets with fabrics in cool colors that reflect the soft and breezy atmosphere of a cottage at the shore resplendent with cool shades of blue balanced by neutral colors and plenty of texture.

Looking at my notes detailing some teen girl bedroom decorating ideas with pictures, the blue and yellow color scheme of the comforter she chose makes me think of sitting on the porch of a beach cottage, sipping a cold glass of lemonade and enjoying the breezes blowing in from the ocean. If you have any imagination at all you should see why I’m being dragged into decorating for fall kicking and screaming!

Oh well, the first crisp breeze that blows my way will have me out shopping for teen girls bedding sets in earth tones and cool colors will be on my back burner until next spring.

GIRLS DORM BEDDING IDEAS

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Ok, college kicks off in my area early next week and I'm still looking for girls dorm bedding ideas for two girls' rooms. YIKES! The good news is that they are not divas who are pitching ego-maniacal hissy fits. They just want their dorm rooms to look cool and are willing to wait for the perfect bedding set.

Leave it to me to save the most challenging design project until the last minute. And in case you're wondering why I'm here typing away on my decorating blog rather than in the mall or online looking for comforter sets for these girls I want to tell you that I have a really good excuse.

It's hot and I just don't feel like it right now. Yeah, that might sound lame to you but the heat index here is over 116 and it has left me exhausted. That being said, I saw a cute example of dorm room decor for sorority girls that you might be interested in so take a look and let me know what you think while I'm cooling off and trying to come up with some girls dorm bedding ideas before time runs out on me.

HOW TO CHOOSE COLLEGE DORM BEDDING

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The summer has flown by with days at the beach a memory, how to choose college dorm bedding is what's on most teen girls' minds these days. With the exodus for college in full swing, for the next few weeks I’ll be up to my eye teeth in dorm room decorating projects.


Actually, after thinking about it just a minute I realize that I've been taking little else in the way of calls requesting decorating consultation since mid-summer and longer. You might be amazed to learn that some girls start bouncing around ideas for decorating dorm rooms right after they returned from spring break vacation. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at their enthusiasm since this is a teen girl’s first bedroom in her life as an adult and having the perfect set of girls college dorm bedding is very, very important.

As excited as the girls are about getting their rooms decorated, after spending several weeks shopping online and browsing in stores for looking for twin bedding, extra long (xl) twin sheet sets, pillows, and room accessories, I have a tip to share with you that will save you some time AND money thus the title of this post, How to choose college dorm bedding...get it?

Before you rush out to buy your dorm bedding and stuff you should consult with your roommate to see what color and style her comforter set is. It would be a raging disaster if you bought bedding that clashes like crazy with hers. Find out what color your roommate's things are and do your very best to be accommodating if she has already jumped the gun and made her purchase. MAYBE, just maybe you will get lucky and learn that she was waiting to find out what color your bedding set might be and you will get to pick first!

Black and White Animal Print Bedding

A teen girl asked me this interesting question awhile ago, "How many kinds of black and white animal print bedding are there"? The subject came up when she said she would like an exotic black and white bedroom but did not want zebra print bedding.

It wasn't that she doesn't care for or has something against zebra stripes, she just said that too many of her friends had already bought zebra comforter sets and had decorated their rooms accordingly. She said that she wanted to do something more original and that's when I suggested one of the other animal prints.

It never really occurred to me to sit down and make a list of all the animal print fabrics that are available in black and white. But since she asked and I probably need to write them down for future reference, here we go!

There is giraffe print, cheetah print, leopard print and the aforementioned zebra print. OH and I suppose cow print would fall into this category, too. There may be more but if there are I have never had the pleasure of working with them.

If I can't come up with a set of black and white animal print bedding that will tickle this teen's fancy, I wonder how black and white peacock feather fabrics would do in a set of a teen girls bedding? It just doesn't get much more exotic than a peacock feather even if they are in a monochromatic image.

Red and Pink Bedding

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I thought I had just found the perfect set of red and pink bedding for a teenage girl's bedroom that I'm decorating. Take a good look at the pictures...do you see a red and pink comforter set? Well, at first glance I surely did only to take a second look and realize that the actual comforter and shams are white, pink and green. There may be a tiny touch of red in the center of the flowers that you can't see very well, but it may be hot pink.

The point is that the red upholstered headboard of the bed, the red dust ruffle and that funky looking wooly mirror that's hung over the head of the bed fooled me into thinking that I had found THE pink and red bedding set that would solve all my problems.

I wonder if I can convince the young lady to accept this red and pink bedding set and more importantly, convince her mom to pay for a padded red headboard.
The girl's taste in bedroom colors ranges in the warm (ya think?) side of the color wheel thus the request for a hot pink and red room design. In my opinion, the field of white with cool green stems on the flowers are what will make the girls bedding set work.

ISLAND BEDDING

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A mother wrote to me asking if this set of tropical island bedding was appropriate for decorating a teenage girls bedroom. Frankly, the only thing that hit me was that teens and tweens aren't usually that into floral prints...tropical or otherwise.

Then I opened the second picture that she sent and saw the Hawaiian hula girl and thought, "Well, that's better!" only to read that the Hula girl was the bone of contention because some mean spirited friend made an off color remark about the girl having a thing for chicks because of the island theme bedspread!

How wild and crazy is that? I, personally, adore vintage Hawaiian print fabric and hula girls and don't see a thing wrong with this bedding collection. But the lady is asking for opinions from teens (not decorators) as to whether or not it will scar her daughter's tender psyche if she tells her that she has to keep the comforter set in spite of how against it she has now become.

What do you say? Keep the island bedding set or get rid of it and maybe replace it with one of the tropical Roxy bedding sets in a similar color scheme?

FUNKY PINK BEDDING

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A mom I'm working with says she wants her teen girl's bedding to be pink while FUNKY PINK BEDDING is more in line with what's on her daughter's radar. I have a knack for getting in the middle of the battle of wills between teenage girls and their mothers, don't I?

The problem is that moms want to hang onto their baby girls as long as possible which means they want to keep the pastel pink bedroom in tact long after the toddler stage. When tweens and preteen girls are ready to jazz things up a bit the bedroom makeover can get ugly.

My job is to reach a compromise if at all possible and my advice to parents is to let the girls have their funky pink bedding! There are so many bigger (and more important) issues that so long as the lime green and funky pink bedding is tasteful why sweat the small stuff?

How do you like these lime green and pink curtains with the lime green and hot pink bedding in the pictures? I tried all pink as well as all lime green window treatments but I believe the combination of the two colors actually works better with the teen girls bedding. What do you think?

BLACK and WHITE FASHION BEDDING

Leah called needing help with the purses and shoes theme black and white fashion bedding set that I had recommended to her. I blogged about this set awhile ago and it just knocked her out but it was expensive. Then, when I saw the ensemble go on sale I told her and she got her mom to order it right away!

She was so excited about getting the comfort set that I couldn’t imagine what the problem might be. The bedroom color scheme of hot pink, black and white was pretty straight forward and we had ascertained that there was no need to repaint the bedroom, so what was wrong?

I feared the worst in that I was afraid that the color combination might be TOO simple. This teenage girl loves bold and some might even say wild, colors and the only bright colors in this set came in through the fashion theme graphics of the accent pillows.

After a quick trip to her house to see if I could help her mom avoid shipping the fashion theme bedding set back I was relieved to learn that the young lady’s meltdown was not that big of a deal. She didn’t like the retro look of the pink Cadillac throw pillow that came with the black and white fashion bedding set but her mom loved it.

I have to admit that the inclusion of the vintage car changed the whole complexion of the girl’s bedroom theme from sophisticated to...well, something else. I don't have a think against an Elvis theme bedroom or a rockabilly bedroom but this style would have not been in keeping with this girl's personality and that's where this pink Cadillac design was taking us.

The teen girls bedding set and bedroom decorating ideaswere based on designer purses, high heel shoes and fashion models except for that pink vintage car. Never having noticed it before, it was now bugging me that it threw the black and white fashion bedding set into the realm of rockabilly. This was one time I sided with the teenager of the house.

Tell me, would you vote to keep the pillow or lose it? Or does it really not make much difference in the overall bedroom design?

Tommy Bahama Dominique Bedding

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A client had bought her teen girl a set of Tommy Bahama Dominique bedding that she found on sale because her daughter had said that she wanted to decorate her room in a tropical bedroom theme or a beach theme.

When she got it home, the teenage girl said that the blue and white palm tree print fabric looked way too OLD for her. Her mom was very disappointed because she had bought the comforter set on the closeout table at a store that was over a hundred miles away from her house.

She said that she planned to postpone her daughter’s bedroom makeover until she could sell the Tommy Bahama Dominique bedding set in an EBay auction. I asked her if I could take a look at it and I remembered the "Life is One Long Weekend" pillow that I had on hand.

Long story short, I managed to convince her daughter to let me try to give the denim blue and white palm tree comforter a funky look based on that accent pillow! I have my work cut out for me but I think I can manage! Wish me luck and if you have any ideas on how I can decorate the rest of this teen girl’s bedroom please stop back by Teen Girls Bedding and Bedroom Decorating Ideas and share before I get myself into more than I can handle!

TROPICAL BEDDING

I’m still snuggling up in my bed surrounded by flannel at night, but lately tropical bedding is dancing through my brain like sugarplums. The chill of winter is still in the air so I’m not making my move to lighten things up for spring and summer in my own bedroom just yet.

But it’s a completely different story when it comes to bedroom decorating ideas for my clients. Most of the moms decorating rooms for their teen girls that I have met with recently have homes that are a work in progress yet they are enthusiastically gathering decorative possibilities for tropical bedrooms even though the work is a few months out.

Thankfully, lots of the stores have already rolled out some very cute tropical bedding sets with hibiscus flowers and pretty pink and green color schemes. One thing I’ve noticed is that hot pink seems to be cooling down just a touch. The shade of pink that is taking its place is more of a watermelon color and it looks fantastic with a honey dew melon shade of green as well as lime green. The requests for bold colors will probably pick up later in the year but for now the tropical bedding sets are fresh as an ocean breeze.

Have you picked out your comforter set or got your eye on a bed in a bag set in spring colors? Why don’t you take a minute and tell the visitors at Teen Girls Bedding and Bedroom Decorating Ideas about it?

TWEETY BIRD BEDDING SET

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You might think that the colors in this Tweety Bird bedding set would leave little room for error or give you much choice in choosing curtains, rugs or a wall color for that matter. Anytime you venture out into comforter sets with wild or bright colors like this one, get ready to be bossed around by those same colors.

Fabric that is that bold is not ready to compromise nor is it very forgiving. Your stuff either matches or it doesn't. I can see lots of lime green and possibilities for turquoise blue but I believe that I'd let the yellow of the Tweety Bird bedding set stand alone rather than bringing in lots of Looney Tunes bedroom decorations or bright yellow and orange accent pieces. I'd like to hear your opinions so why please leave your thoughts on this cute girls' bedding set here on Teen Girls Bedding, Bedrooms and Decor. Is it lame or do you love it?