It's important for children to feel free to express themselves creatively. They often have emotions, feelings and problems that are difficult for them to express in other ways. Having a room that reflects the things they love can help give them the sense of security to deal with the ups and downs of childhood with more confidence.

The trick is finding the balance between letting them express their own decorating styles as they change and evolve, while still keeping costs under control.

You can start planning for these changing preferences as soon as your child moves out of a crib into a real bed. When you're designing your child's first "big kid" room, avoid buying furniture that's too cutesy or childish. Imagine your child as a young adult. Buy a furniture style that could easily go with your child into their first apartment. Also be sure to buy good-quality, well-made furniture. Kids can sometimes be rough on furniture. The better the furniture is to begin with, the better your chances are of getting through their childhood with only one set of bedroom furniture.

Now that you have picked out some good basic furniture, it's time to have some fun. Does your preschooler like a certain cartoon or television character? Go nuts. Hang a big picture of the character on the wall, buy the character comforter and character-shaped throw pillow, and the matching character lamp.

Now, here's a trick that will save you money further down the line. Use solid colors to decorate the rest of the room. Say your child's room is being decorated in the theme of his favorite television show, which has lots of bright colors. Rather than buying character sheet sets, character curtains and a character rug, choose solid colors that will match the character accessories for these pieces.

In a year or two when your child declares that he no longer likes the character theme that his room is decorated in, and it's "for babies", you can change it to another, obviously more grown-up character in an afternoon. Remove the items with the offending "baby" characters on them, and replace those few accessories with the newer, more mature cartoon spaceman accessories. Pack away any solid color accessories that don't match the current theme of choice and replace them with other solid color accessories. In another year or two when this character loses its appeal and is replaced by another, you may not have to purchase any solid color accessories at all. Having gone through two cycles already, you'll probably have half a dozen colors to choose from to accessorize the new room.

As the years go by, you will be able to help your child decorate his room in nearly any theme or style he chooses by just changing a few basic theme accessories and using solid colors to bring the room together. Allowing your child to express himself in this way will make for a happy and more creative childhood.