AD | Whether you’ve just moved to a new house or you’re renovating your current home, one room you’ll want to get right is your child’s bedroom. In many ways, trying to design a child’s bedroom they’ll love too is one of the hardest interior design jobs! For children, their bedroom is often more than just a place to rest their head. It’s their space to sleep, play, learn, entertain their friends, and have endless adventures, all without leaving the house. And in an ideal world, you want to design a child’s bedroom that will grow with them as well. So, where do you start?
Tips to help you design a child’s bedroom they’ll love
One thing to remember, what might work for your toddler or younger child, may not work for your teenager. We change our minds all the time, so it’s only fair to expect children to do the same. And this particularly applies when you’re investing in furniture. Think about multi-functional pieces such as chests that double up as seats. Or a bed with built in storage underneath. And a dressing table that they can also use as a desk.
Back to basics – creating a blank canvas
When you’re thinking of decorating any room in the house, it’s best to have a blank canvas as a starting point. However, we’re rarely that lucky. Most of the time there’s old carpet to tear up and cracks in the walls that need filling.
Prepping the walls, floor and ceiling can be quite a big task, so it’s up to you whether you take this on yourself as a DIY project or hire professionals to sort the messy stuff. If you fancy taking on the work yourself, then a short distance learning course or evening class can be a good idea to pick up some basic skills. You could learn how to skim a wall, lay flooring or fit skirting boards, depending on what work the bedroom needs to create the perfect blank canvas for decorating.
Adding colour to their bedroom
Once you’re ready to start decorating, the real fun can begin. If you have the opportunity to design a child’s bedroom, it’s a great place to be a bit more experimental. Think of it as a chance to break the normal decorating rules with some fun kids’ bedroom décor ideas. Because walls aren’t the only place to add colour or graphics. Don’t be shy about painting ceilings or furniture. Bright colours that may be too much for the master bedroom and other rooms in the house can work well in children’s bedrooms.
Make it a team effort
One of the best ways to make sure your child is on board with their bedroom design is to get them involved with the decoration. Choose colour schemes together and let them help with the painting if they want to. Just remember to cover the floor and anything else you don’t want splashed with paint!
You could even create a mood board together as a little project before you get started. While Pinterest is a goldmine of children’s bedroom ideas, be warned, you may end up getting very much side tracked down this rabbit hole. But if you’re going to design a child’s bedroom, a mood board will give you an idea of how your child would like their bedroom to look. As well as help them feel like it’s their special space at the same time.
Fill their bedroom with their personality
Once you’ve got the decorating finished, it’s time to fill the room with your child’s things, including a bed that they can get involved in choosing. Then select some curtains, lampshades, rugs, and bedding to create a cosy bedroom and theme that reflects their interests. And storage is important, but don’t be tempted to have everything stowed neatly away. Make it feel like your child’s bedroom, and fill it with their personality. Perhaps create some colourful decorations using paper cutting designs. And keep some favourite toys or personal items on display, or even make a feature of them on open shelves. Just bear in mind that while you might like to group items based on size or colour, rest assured, your most demanding client will always have their own bedroom décor and design ideas…
Have you ever designed a child’s bedroom? Did you get them involved from the beginning? What tips would you share to make the design and decorating process as painless (!) as possible?
* This is a sponsored post (please see my Disclaimer).
This is such a helpful post about decorating a child’s bedroom. I am not a mum, but when we were little, our mum would always ask about what we wanted and would do it how we wanted, we were always very lucky. These are some great tips thank you for sharing this post Lisa. Xxx
Ah, that’s lovely, Lauren, you were very lucky. What wonderful memories to have – and thank you xx
Love these tips!! When I was doing up my little ones room I included him every step of the way and made sure it fit his personality. We all got involved which made it 10x more fun and we even had a paint “competition” which the little one won and in doing so it made so many memories. Great post lovely x
Jordanne || Thelifeofaglasgowgirl.co.uk
I remember your Instagram pics of this! LB has SUCH good taste, amazing for someone so young (I don’t mean that in a patronising way at all) he obviously inherited his eye for design from his mum 🙂 xx
Love this, we are just upgrading from a toddler bed and it’s so hard to redecorate and pick something that will last, she’s so enthusiastic about things now, but might be sick of unicorns by next year
That’s so true – my daughter was a huge fan of dinosaurs, which then morphed into marine creatures!
Great post! I’m not a mum but will definitely think of this in the future!
Thank you, Ali, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Lovely ideas. We have just done my son’s room and it is one of my favourite in the house. I absolutely love it. It is such an adult space for him.
I really want to spruce up my daughters bedroom now for them, they only use it at weekends but I want it to be lovely for them x
Ah, that sounds lovely, your children are VERY lucky, Claire! And if you do your daughters’ bedroom then it could become a little retreat for you as well 🙂 x
Beautiful designs. Are those your kids’ bedroom? Thank you for sharing. Lovely post!
No, sadly they’re stock photos, but thank you!
Gorgeous images, these are some great choices for a bedroom makeover 🙂
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
This is so lovely! My older two (boy and girl) share a bedroom and bunks and we’ve all worked together to make each bunk is theirs. I can’t wait til they have their own room and can do their own room how they want it. Lovely post x
Thank you, Sarah! Your older two’s bedroom sounds like they’ve each got their own space, which is lovely – I’m sure they can’t wait until they have their own rooms though! x
These are some helpful tips. I definitely agree that getting the child involved is so important.
Thank you, Kelly, yes, it makes all the difference 🙂
Obviously I’ve not got kids but I can imagine decorating a kids bedroom to be so much fun. I know the importance of the decor though because I remember ALL my bedrooms growing up – even the not so nice ones! Like, why would my parents decorate my bedroom with clowns? Clowns on the wall. Clowns on the duvet. Clowns everywhere xxx
OMG nooooo, clowns are the bedroom of nightmares! Oh, Jenny, I don’t know what to say 😂 xxx
These are helpful tips for any parent wanting to decorate their child’s bedroom! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Thank you, Lucy 🙂 x
These are great tips! I love making my kids room show their personalities! I love letting them be involved in the process.
Thank you – and your kids are very lucky!
I don’t have any children yet but this is so insightful and sounds so much fun! When I was young my parents let me paint my walls bright pink and it was amazing!
Bright pink – you were so lucky, no way would my parents let me do that!
I don’t have any children but I know that my siblings always got their little ones involved when designing their rooms, it was just such an important part of the process for them x
Oh yes, it is, I’d involve Flora too but she won’t part with any of her pictures or her fish tank yet, haha! x
Great read thanks. As a stepmom bout to decorate for my stepsons room i will definitely be using your tips
I’m so glad this was useful – and good luck!
These are some great tips. I just transitioned my daughters room from kid to teen, and she loves it thankfully 😂
Thank you – and yay, you were lucky, glad she loves it!
Cute bedroom design ideas! Hope to save enough money to buy some of the decors in your post!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I love the idea of making it a team effort. Obviously, a child isn’t going to make everything work on their own, they need some guidance. However, it’s their room – the space where they are going to be spending a lot of their time. You want it to reflect their individual personality, making it something they LOVE.
Team efforts definitely make life easier in the long run – it’s harder to kick up a fuss if you’ve been involved in the design process from the get go!
I love these tips and the idea of a blank canvas! Children’s tastes in colour change as they get older, and this way it’s easy to add their latest tastes as pops of colour into this palette. Great post!
Thank you, Jodie, it is indeed 🙂
Great post! It’s so much fun decorating kids rooms and I think it’s important to fill their room with their personality. Thanks for sharing such wonderful advice!
Thank you, I’m so pleased you found this useful!
I love the look of children’s bedrooms especially the colour scheme a lot of the time, and I do think they can be adapted into an adult’s bedroom!
✨ Marissa Belle ✨
Some children’s bedrooms are better than their parents’ bedrooms!