I'm no Martha Stewart, but at least once a year, I get the itch to decorate.  My family recognizes the signs when I start looking at paint chips and moving furniture out of rooms.  On a tight budget, often the only thing I can change is a coat of

paint on the walls, but that's often enough to give a room new life.  Whenever I paint, I get the room all ready, put lots of plastic sheeting on the floors, grab a few cheap brushes and old paint shirts, and then let my three girls take the first crack at the walls.  They always have a great time painting pictures and words all over their large blank canvas.  Since I'm rather fond of colour, the result is usually alot of fun.  Once they've had their fill and wander off, I cover their art work and finish the room.  The girls love it, and even though it doesn't last, I usually take a picture to capture the memory.

What's even more fun though, is that when it comes to closets, I really don't care about the finished look.  So I give them a myriad of colours and they can paint to their hearts' content.  I leave the closets as is because it's fun to open a closet and find a colourful surprise inside.  Most of the bedroom closets in my house have some form of artwork in them, and if you wandered from room to room, you'd be able to tell approximately how old the girls were when that room got decorated based on the quality of their artwork.

It's a great way to involve the kids in the "work" so that after they've had their fill they're less likely to pester you while you finish.  I've done this with the girls as early as two years of age.  With latex paint it's pretty easy to clean them up afterwards. 

One word of warning though - if you're going to use bright/dark paint (like, say bright green) and you have a tendency to leave roller trays on the floor, be sure your carpet is well covered in plastic sheeting.  Trust me - scrubbing little green footprints out of carpetting is NOT how you want to spend your time.  How do I know?  Oh, I just do.