A little late here but just saw this. If you want a child/tween/teen to ever be able to make decisions of any kind on their own, you have to teach them how to do that. When very young, give them a couple of choices in their clothing and let them pick what they want to wear. As they grow, give them a broader range of things for which they are allowed to make choices. By the time they are teenagers, they should be able to pretty much choose the way they want their room decorated within the boundaries you set. For me that would mean nothing drug-related or illegal, no racist or hate-related items but otherwise, I am a huge proponent of giving teens the freedom to design their own room. They learn so much and even better if they do much of the actual work themselves. My parents did that for me and I was thrilled and excited and proud of both myself and them. I learned a lot during the many incarnations my room took on and was able to more define my likes and dislikes. I've always been a bit of a rebel so I never worked within "normal" boundaries. But my mother was great about letting me do my thing in my room. The only rule was I had to keep it clean. I am still an "outside the box" lover when it comes to my own home and I still keep it clean. Good lessons to learn.

My idea for the girls room would be to use your basic ocean colours (light ocean blue and white) and combine it with your industrial steels and white wash elements. I would paint the room white and use the ocean blue as a feature wall behind the bed. Using some beachy elements such as shells and pictures or paintings of the beach or shells, etc are a great way to decorate the walls, benches and bookshelves. These elements would be a great contrast with the blue. The industrial elements can be introduced in the room with the lighting elements and the handles of benchs and cupboards. Also if the room is small and great way to make it feel bigger is to add a steel framed mirrors, which can bring together all the other industrial elements. And personalising the room is one of the most important features of the room. You mentioned that your daughter likes music and dance, a great freature would be to try and find a 2nd hand boom box that she can use, which give the industrial essence. One last note if she likes dance try and not have to many objects in the room but enough to be practical.

Hi arcmaz Great house - fantastic 60's modern look - Harry Sidler (Modernist Architect 1923-2006 exponent of the Bauhaus style in Australia, mainly Sydney) would have loved the interpretation, its a good style, don't change it will pay dividends in the long run. It would be good if there was a plan of the house,and a plan of the block this would allow some relatively accurate planning proposals. If you had the real-state plan with the block plan it would help a lot. In terms of making the place bigger and retaining the style I would suggest that the extension (maybe one room and an en suite depending on a budget) be a block in the today's current style, but linked to the existing house via a "link" (Link =small walkway). This would allow you to retain the style, but not be dominated by a past period, I have done this a few times and it has worked fairly well. If you are looking for three bedrooms it might be best to add a master bedroom with a bathroom, and then maybe living areas with back yard access. There may be other approaches depending on the current layout that could be considered, but I would retain as much as the original as possible, and only make small cosmetic changes until you are ready for a worthy development. I hope this is of some help, I would be happy to comment further or work on this project. Regards - Michael Manias Manias Associates Building designers - mm407p@gmail.com

Hi Teenage bedrooms they can be widely varied and individual. I would recommend getting some ideas from your daughter and make a mood board for style and colour direction. Although it's tempting to try and keep to neutrals, most teenagers want to express themselves usually with bold statement colour. Good tips menetioned above with keeping the expensive items like window furnishings neutral. Feature walls in paint or wallpaper are a great option that can be changed easily in the future. Add accessories such as bedside lamps, cushions etc can be updated to change the look. Here are a couple of teenage girls rooms from my recent projects all very different to reflect their personalities. Make I it a fun project to work on together. Best wishes