We moved our daughter out of the crib when she was 3, so it wasn't too hard by that point - from the viewpoint that at least she was verbal and understood all that was going on. We got her excited about her new room (yes, she switched bedrooms at that point, too), and it was a really big deal with the new decor, etc. She helped with some of the design choices and was really proud of the new room. I was a bit nervous about the freedom she'd have to get out of bed whenever, but we gave her a digital clock and taught her to recognize a 7 - she knew that she wasn't to call for us until after she saw that 7! We taught her to call for us, and we'd come and get her in the morning. We preferred that approach to letting her come and find us in our room, and it worked well for us.
We went with a white bedframe, because I wanted to have flexibility to use different colors with the comforter and paint choices. So, nothing super "cute", but very pretty. We were happy getting the furniture from USA Baby.

Good luck!