More Than Football: Boys' Rooms

Home was merchandised for $27 per square foot.

Target: Young families buying their first or second home. Merchandising is bright, fresh and simple, so buyers feel confident in their ability to decorate their new home affordably.

Crib is framed by cedar shake overhang, bright, white built-in shelves and lower cabinets with 1x2 trim painted to resemble a barn door. Growth chart is a fun, interactive touch.

A child's nursery needs to grow with him or suit a sibling later. Non-gender-specific themes play on parents' nostalgia: nursery rhymes, Curious George or the Velveteen Rabbit. Primary colors are easiest for young eyes.

Bedroom cost $20 per square foot.

Custom home community with three builders, each with one model. Families are move-up; this one has a young teenage or adolescent boy captivated by extreme sports.

Beach scenes use sand mixed into paint. Wakeboarding mural, thatch over windows, water skis and Hawaiian print fabric complete the feel. Model merchandising can push the theme further than a homeowner might.

Climbing walls and other activities that mean adventure, challenge and personal growth, but aren't too scary to parents. A little clutter is believable, but good storage appeals to patents

Home was merchandised for approximately $25 per square foot.

Move-up buyers with older kids. The community is near a racetrack, so the theme is perfect for a teenager and his dad.

Corrugated metal on the wall, a real racing tire with a glass top as a coffee table, one bed for sleeping and another as a couch or for guests, and a racing flag motif in the valance.

A magnetic wall (Wilsonart makes a laminate) for notes, posters, etc. A computer station means studying to parents and cool computer games to teens maybe in a nook or den below a loft bed.