Creating a child’s bedroom to grow with them
I was recently asked a question on an Instagram Q&A about how to design a room that will grow with your kids. It’s something I reference a lot – a room having ‘legs’ – by which I mean the way you decorate a room has the ability to last for years before a full redesign is needed.
How often we redecorate our homes varies massively. Some studies suggest every 5 years is ‘reasonable’, whereas I recently read on a forum of someone who decorates their living room every 12-18 months. To me, that’s quite extreme but the truth is, how often you decorate is dependent on the time and money you have available and how quickly your tastes change. As with everything in interior design, it’s personal.
But, as we face cost of living challenges and lean further into sustainability, now seems a better time than ever to really understand how you can approach design to last.
This applies to all rooms of course, but it’s especially relevant to children’s rooms, where the mini occupant is more likely to change their preferences on the regular, while the purpose of the room itself goes through various phases as it becomes not only a bedroom but their own, safe, independent space where they not only sleep but play, work, relax and discover who they are. Of course, many parents are happy to makeover their child’s bedroom as often as is needed and jump head first into whatever style is loved at that moment in time. Love this approach, but it’s not for everyone.
Kids room inspiration from Aussie designer Oh Eight Oh Nine
So if it’s time to decorate the kid’s rooms, here are some tips to keep in mind if you want the room to grow with them.
1. Plan the space and think ahead
Toddlers and young children actually need very little in their rooms, their lives are still beautifully simple and intertwined with ours and so it’s nice to keep the ‘stuff’ to a minimum and allow for some free floor space where possible (completely dependent on the space you have available overall in your home of course). However as they grow, so do their requirements and literally, so do their clothes. So when planning a child’s room now, think about how it might be used in future to help make some decisions.
Get those sockets wired in where they might have a desk in a few years time, even if there’s no need for it right now. Installing a fitted wardrobe? They’ll probably need double that space soon so might as well go bigger now to save costs further down the line. You get the idea. Even the smallest of rooms will need to be fit for purpose as they grow and arguably the smaller the room, the bigger the challenge, and the better off you’ll be for planning ahead.
An early client floor plans, suggesting layout options for ‘now’ and ‘later’
2. Keep the bones neutral
By ‘bones’ I mean flooring, sometimes walls and in some cases, curtains and blinds (also known as ‘window dressings’).
By ‘neutral’, I mean an option which is ageless (more on that later) which could work with virtually anything else you put in the room. Whether it’s a shade of white, beige, grey, greige, oak floor, plain carpet… whatever you love now and know you (or they) will love for years to come is a good start.
I only include walls in here as a thinking point, as a change of paint colour and some new wallpaper doesn’t have to be a huge job (unlike the expense and inconvenience of getting a new floor laid). However it’s really down to you - if you have a large room that takes a fair bit of time and money to cover, and you really can’t be bothered going through it again any time soon, keep it neutral and add interest in other ways.
I mention window dressings because I think black out curtains or blinds are a must-have for a child’s room of any age, and while for some they won’t break the bank, for others it can be quite an investment, so keep them neutral and let the room change around it.
Soft grey carpet and walls, with dark grey curtains on the opposite wall… but you wouldn’t call this a neutral room would you?
3. Have a varied and flexible colour palette
The neutral bones are one way to give a room longevity, but a child’s room needs colour (in my opinion) and when done right, believe it not, colour and pattern can be your best friend. It’s all about giving yourself options for the future. Your little girl loves pink? Of course she does! But instead of going floor to ceiling Barbie pink, choose a dusky shade that works well with a range of other colours and tones, which could be a sweet backdrop for pastel accessories as much as it would for jewel colours. Or select a wallpaper which has shades of pink in it along with some other colours, so as she grows up you have the option to pull back on the pink and play up to the other colours a little more.
A girl’s room with options for pink, green, beige, black and natural textures for future updates
4. Don’t look in the children’s departments
I mean you can if you want to, but I think the children’s departments should be reserved for the finishing touches and accessories as they’re typically full of classic child-like prints and styles which they’re unlikely to love for long.
Instead, broaden your options and look in places you might not have considered. There are tonnes of wallpapers and lighting out there which are pretty and whimsical, or cool and bold, and would be the perfect backdrop for a children’s room but actually aren’t child-like. They’re ageless, in that they could work in a child’s room just as well as an adult’s room, it’s the styling of it all which makes it age appropriate…
One of my favourite little nooks by @theottohouse using a William Morris wallpaper - not found in the children’s aisle!
5. Layer it up
…which leads me nicely on to my final point of layering. As I’ve suggested throughout this post, the best way of creating a space that can grow with your child is to make it flexible, give yourself options for the future and think ahead to what their needs might be. Layer the neutral investment items with age-appropriate (not necessarily child-like) points of interest, on top of which you can layer more child-like designs such as soft furnishings, on top of which can be layered even more interchangeable items such as wall art and trinkets. The child-like layers can be stripped away and replaced as and when their needs or tastes change, without changing the heart of the room itself.
6. Actually, this is my final point….
Kids should be kids. Their room should be a reflection of them at any age, it should make them feel safe and nurtured and calm and playful and everything a child needs to be, however they want to express it. There are no rules and – I firmly believe this for any interior design – you should do whatever makes you (or them) feel most at home. These are my tips for helping you avoid the potential of endless rounds of redecorating as you try to keep up with your child’s rapid growth and development, but don’t overthink it. Just fill it with love and help them to create a childhood bedroom that they’ll remember forever.
If you’d like any help with planning or designing a room for your child please get in touch, I’d love to hear from you"!
