I absolutely love designing the children's bedrooms and with four children I have plenty of rooms to practice on! Baby N's nursery was finished a year ago and is still absolutely perfect for him as he comes up to one, but over the next couple of years we will need to think about updating it for as he gets older, changing the cot bed into a bed and putting in some more toy storage and play areas.
While I am thinking about what we will need for the upcoming years for his bedroom I thought I would put together a post with my top tips for creating the perfect children's bedroom. I hope it is useful!
Decor
I always think it is nice to get the child to help with the decor of the room as soon as they are old enough. I encourage them to get involved with choosing a colour scheme but I avoid a heavily themed room so that I can make sure it lasts. We tend to paint a feature wall colour so that is easy to change and use wall stickers that can be updated as they grow and their tastes change.
For the floor I always opt for hardwood flooring - it is more durable and can take spills and marks and is much easier to clean than carpet. I warm it up by placing a few rugs here and there, and again these can be changed when you change the colour scheme or update the room.
A children's bed
The most obvious thing you will need is a bed. Baby N has a cotbed so it will turn from a cot to a toddler sized bed when the time comes. When he is about 3 or 4 we will then upgrade it to a single bed which should last him until his teenage years when he might want to move to a double bed. There are so many great children's bed options, you can shop Children's Bed Shop's kids beds here if you are looking for inspiration. My advice would be to go for something classic that they won't get bored of as they get older. If you have a smaller room you could also consider a cabin bed which frees up space for play or storage underneath. Also consider bunk beds if your children will be sharing a bedroom or are likely to have friends or half siblings over to stay a lot.
Wardrobe
My advice would be to buy a full size wardrobe if you can as it will last better than a children's one. Before you know it their clothes will be bigger and longer and a smaller wardrobe just won't fit everything in. I'd also recommend getting on that is as tall as the room will allow - you can store lots on the higher shelves inside the wardrobe and it looks neater and less cluttered than having things on top of the wardrobe - and less dusty!
Toy Storage
My go to toy storage is a Kallax unit from Ikea. You can use the shelves as open shelves or bookshelves and you can also get the boxes which are great for hiding away toy clutter!
Take a look at my daughter's pink room for inspiration. Another great idea are bean bags to store soft toys as these then double up as cushioned areas for them to sit and read.
Work and Play
I like to set up a little area for them to work - each of my children has a small desk in their room and colouring books, paper, pens etc. I find that having all this out and accessible encourages them to be creative, to write and to draw. It worked wonders for my 5 year old son who hated colouring but now he loves sitting in his room colouring things in. Again, setting up an area like this works well for when they are older too as they can do their homework at their desks if the rest of the house is noisy (as it always is in our house!)
Finally a little area giving them the space to play is a must. I set out a rug in front of their toy storage to give them a nice soft place to sit and play with their toys. As they get older you can change this up by adding bean bags or chairs as they tend to sit on the floor less to play and prefer to hang out with friends or playing on their phones.
I hope you found this post useful - do you have any tips on creating the perfect children's bedroom?
Leave a Reply