As a parent of two young girls, I understand the need to create a space that your kids love, but doesn’t it make you cringe every time you walk past their bedroom door. Let me assure you that it is possible to create a room that reflects your kid’s individual tastes but will also grow with them - so you don’t have to do it all over again in two years.
Here are a few tips to achieve that balance:
Try to buy furniture that will grow with them. It’s true that the race car bed will thrill your child and that princess castle bed will light up her eyes, however, you will only get about a year out of these dinky toddler beds. Making the transition to big kid bed is a big deal!
Buy a bed that will take them to college. If you have the space in their bedroom, use a double or queen sized bed. Not only will they grow to fill the bed (believe it or not), it comes in really handy for sleep over’s and the inevitable nights when they need their mommy beside them. If you don’t have the space for a bigger bed consider a trundle. However, I highly recommend only buying a trundle that stores the mattress inside the trundle drawer and not separately.
When it comes to dressers and end tables you don’t need to buy new. You may have some pieces that you have inherited through the years and think they are for the trash heap. Try to see past the dated hardware and unsightly finish. If the piece has interesting lines and the drawers function well (or can be repaired) it may be worth keeping. Consider painting the pieces out and adding new hardware. You don’t have to stick to basic white or black. Not only do all the pieces not have to match, you can paint them in fun colours that co-ordinate with the bedding or rug. Your child may feel his room must be homage to all things Transformers, however in two years he’s likely to have moved onto another trend.
Choose quality bedding that is soft to the touch and more importantly washable (think sick child and accidents).
Finding draperies that work best with your bedding can be a challenge. Your best bet is to have draperies made. Consider going with either room darkening blinds or draperies lined with black-out lining. To appease the love of princesses or Woody, add pillows or a throw that can easily be swapped out for something else a year or two down the line.
Wall decals are hot right now. Again I wouldn’t go with a Cinderella, but there are some wonderful trees, animals and flowers that will grow with your child. Decals are also a great way to personalize your child’s room with their name. Have you noticed that if you let your child pick their paint colour it’s about 10 times brighter than you would have picked? I suggest you either don’t let them pick the colour or paint only one wall in their chosen colour. (Though I have found if you let them pick the colour, then actually paint the room several shades lighter, they’ll never know it’s not the colour they picked. (Yep, nothing like parenting by deceit.) Often by the time a child reaches closer to the teen years the colour they want is black. Introducing black is not as painful as you may think. By painting only one wall or just the bottom 36, it gives the room a bit of the edge they are looking for without creating an emo cave.
Don’t forget about the floor and the ceiling. An area rug is great way to add colour and comfort to a kid’s room. Pick a brightly coloured rug that invites the kids to sprawl out on the floor to play. If the rug is your inspiration for the room, select the bedding and other fabrics based on the rug colours - lastly pick the wall colour. You may not be brave enough to paint the ceiling a contrasting colour in your living room, but a kid’s room is the perfect space to let those reservations go! Paint the ceiling darker than walls to add a completely different dimension to the room.
Bottom line here is abandon the taupes and beiges you have throughout your home and go wild! Okay not really, but you can let loose a little here cant you? For the kids?
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