Designing
Like a Child: Decorating a Child’s Bedroom
Just like your bedroom is your sanctum from the troubles of
the world, so too is your child’s bedroom the center of their daily life. Designing a bedroom for your kids can be
great fun for you and them, and a great opportunity to bond with them. It’s a perfect chance for your children to
express their personalities and impart their own style to their little corner
of your home.
Get your kids involved
While the general principle with home design and décor is
that it should always reflect your tastes and personalities, designing a
child’s bedroom is something that should match their styles and tastes. Ask your kids what they like and what kind of
design they would like in their bedroom.
Your kid knows what colors they like and what they would like to show
off in their room.
Build at kid level
Unless your kid has already outgrown your height, they
probably don’t have the reach that you do.
Adding plenty of storage space like storage chests and shelves goes a
long way for helping a kid keep a room from becoming a cluttered mess. However, if your kids can’t reach the toys on
their shelves easily then don’t expect things to get put away all the time. Make sure that the room is accessible for
their height.
Light for any occasion
Children use their room for everything. They’ll host tea parties, command their
armies to fight evil dragons, hunt for treasure, and at some point they might
even do some homework. Just like any
other room in the home, lighting a child’s room should consider both fashion
and function. Strong centralized
lighting works for letting your kids clean up their messes, while adding some
desktop lamps can help them do their homework or recreational reading.
Plan for the future
Try as you might, that kid won’t stop growing anytime
soon. It’s the dreaded future my car
lives in fear of every day. How you
design the room should take into consideration the fact that your kid will keep
getting bigger. Buying a tiny little
twin bed might be cute for your four year old, but it’s a bed you’ll just have
to replace once they outgrow it. It
might save you some money to just buy them a larger bed now.
Wall decals are popular decorations that are perfect for the
ever changing tastes of a kid. Most wall
decals are safely applied and won’t harm the paint when removed. Having a magnet or a cork board where your
kid can stick up pictures and projects can also help give their room design
evolve daily without forcing you to remodel with their whims.
Get them involved
Not only is decorating a child’s room a great bonding
opportunity for you and your kid, but it is also a great opportunity to put
your kids to work. You obviously
shouldn’t trust a four year old with a power-saw, so you have to know what your
kid can handle. Let them paint a corner
of the room, put together part of a shelf, or even just help clean up some of
the mess. If they learn to love working
early on, it’s that much easier to trick them into mowing the lawn for you in a
few years.
You’ll have a great time designing a room and your kid will
love spending time with you. Get them
involved in the design, put them to work, and let their room become the
manifestation of their creativity.
Ross Donald
is a writer, designer, and father, specializing in interior design and lighting
aesthetics. He currently writes for
Lighting Sale who specializes in light fixtures.
