This is a collaborative post.
Creating a super-fun bedroom for your child sounds like a fantastic idea, but it’s crucial to strike a balance between practicality and playfulness – the last thing you want is a space that overstimulates your child and keeps them awake!
The good news is you can make a fantastic children’s bedroom that isn’t over the top without compromising on the fun stuff. Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking for a bit of inspiration, read on for our top designer tips.
1. Buy a fantastic bed
Need a new bed for your children’s bedroom? Then you can do much worse than a cabin bed with shelves and drawers. Alternatively, a novelty bed might be more up your street, with something like the Princess Carriage.
A regular single bed will do the trick for a bed your child will use from a young age until their teenage years – we recommend a low bed like the Birlea Solo.
Small bedrooms also do well with bunk beds, which are suitable for children from age six and make sleepovers a piece of cake.
2. Create a triple colour scheme
If parents make one mistake with children’s bedroom design, it’s packing the bedroom with too many colours. This may appear harmless, but lots of colours stimulate the brain and promotes a sense of untidiness.
We recommend sticking to three colours – like blue, white, and yellow – which will balance the space and keep everything neat.
The 60-30-10 rule is an excellent way to do it – this allocates 60% of the room to one colour, 30% to a second colour, and 10% to an accent colour.
3. Wall posters are your best friend
Stuck with how to decorate walls? There’s no easier way than Blu-Tac and posters!
The beauty of posters is they are dirt cheap, and you can switch them out in seconds, keeping the bedroom up to date with minimal effort.
The alternative to posters is canvas prints and art – these are fine, but your child’s interests will change too quickly to keep up affordably.
4. Play with patterns and textures
You can bring your children’s bedrooms to life with patterns and textures without compromising on the simplicity of a triple colour scheme.
Something as simple as glow-in-the-dark star stickers or unicorn wallpaper will transform the look and feel of your kid’s bedroom.
Look for ways to add texture with fabrics like knitted throws, heavy weave curtains, faux fur rugs and fluffy cushions.
5. Get clever with storage
We adore the IKEA Trofast range for simple toy storage furniture, but you don’t have to have toy boxes on the floor. You can move toy storage to the wall to free up floor space or buy an ottoman bed to hide storage in the bed frame.
Here are our top storage tips for children’s bedrooms:
- Ottoman beds for bedding, clothes, shoes, and toys
- Beds with drawers
- IKEA Trofast toy storage
- Wall-mounted bookshelves
- Really Useful Boxes (plastic and stackable)
- Overdoor shoe storage and hangers
- Tall chest of drawers to preserve floorspace
Editor’s note: Remember to fix furniture to the wall to prevent toppling!
6. Create a quiet reading space
A quiet space is somewhere in the bedroom your child can unwind and relax. The perfect space is the bed – get a canopy bed or hang a sheet around your child’s bed frame to create an enclosed space where your child can be themselves.
Consider an indoor tent or tepee (conical tent) for your child to create the perfect space for bedtime stories.
7. Invest in adjustable lighting
Adjustable lighting is the best investment you’ll make for your children’s bedroom because it lets you set the room’s ambience.
The most straightforward modification is a dimmer switch – you can convert any electrical switch into a dimmer switch with minimal modifications.
Alternatively, get smart light bulbs and control them on your smartphone – these are great for multiple colours, and many are dimmable.
