Decorating a child’s room can be a daunting task. They grow quickly and their attention is often drawn to whatever is new and shiny, making it difficult for you to design a room that they can grow with. Families now also look to get the most value of the home they live in, as home prices increase in many urban areas, and people are opting to stay longer in an apartment, townhouse or rather than upgrading to a larger house. This means maximizing how you use the space in every room and evolving its function over time.
Luckily, with just a few simple tips, it is possible for you to design a timeless children’s room that will still allow your child to express their personality while being able to adapt to them their grow older.
- Keep your wall colours neutral
One of the most tedious parts of any home decor project is painting – covering all the furniture, taping off baseboards and windows, cleaning up the inevitable drips on the floor. Avoid having to repaint every time your child’s change by choosing a neutral tone that can grow with your child from infancy to empty nest. Avoid colour themes or wallpapers from your child’s favourite TV shows or movies because as much as your child loves Paw Patrol right now, that won’t last for long and you will be the one responsible for peeling off all that wallpaper!
- Display pops of colours and textures with fabrics
A child’s rooms should still be bright and fun! Use bed spreads, curtains, pillows and rugs to create those colour focal points. These will be easier for you to update as your child grows and their tastes change. Just avoid having too many different patterns throughout the room to keep the room from feeling too busy. We suggest having no more than 3 contrasting patterns.
- Let the child express themselves with fun accessories
Don’t forget that this will be your child’s room, the one place in the house where their personalities can be reflected. Let them display their airplane collection, their works of art or the shells they picked up during your family beach vacation. Set up an art station with gallery frames to allow your child to constantly create their own art for their room. You can let them display their artwork on a corkboard or hang pieces from a string, as recommended in this HGTV article.
- Choose classic furniture that can grow with your child
From coming home from the hospital to a crib, to leaving home with their double bed, your child will go through many different pieces of furniture. Search for classically designed furniture which can grow with your child. This will save you from needing to buy a new piece at each life stage. Instead of a designated change table which you will only need for the first few years of your child’s life, buy a standard dresser and use a foam changing pad which can be attached to the top of the dresser and removed when no longer needed. Finding versatile pieces which can work throughout your child’s life will save you time and money when it comes to decorating a timeless room.
- Utilize built-in storage
While those bright pastel coloured shelving units for children are fun and eye-catching for storing children’s toys, they will not last and when your child gets older, they won’t want to have such “kiddie” looking furniture in their rooms. Install some custom built-in shelves in white or natural wood instead. When your children are young, you can store their toys on the lower shelves in colourful baskets so they are in easy reach. When they grow older, toys can make way for books, collections and pictures.
Take our 5 tips for decorating a timeless kids room and engage your child’s imagination and creativity to make a space they will feel comfortable in as their own. And most importantly, have fun with it! Engage your inner child and enjoy working on the room with a fresh enthusiasm.
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This post first appeared on https://blog.renovationfind.com