All great kid rooms from baby to teenager have one element in common, personality. Personality doesn't come from a page in a catalogue or vignette in a furniture store. It comes directly from your child. It can guide you to picking the right colors, fabrics, furniture and accessories. Giving the room personality will allow a child to feel connected to his or her room. This is a better solution than settling for cute, easy or impulse buying. Give your child a space they can call their own and it really is about them.
The guidelines below will help you give your child a fantastic interior environment that both of you will be happy with. These tips follow each stage in a child's life. They work. They were created for parents but designed to consider children and lessons that can be imparted through each decor change. Parents often struggle with how to make the room have a unique personality and grow with the child so and not require a few thousand dollar upgrade every few years. This guide will help you use your decor dollars wisely and make them last.
Infant to age four - your interests matter
* Determine a simple theme. The possibilities are endless but choose something that is calming and inspirational because this is their place for growth and rest. Resist the obvious and be creative. A few ideas:
o A page from a children's book.
o Nature - trees, grass, flowers or bugs, water, etc.
o Shapes - circles, hearts, stars, blocks, triangles.
o Something that inspires you like the seashore, a merry-go-round, the stars, etc.
* Create a color scheme that fits your theme - beyond pink for girls and blue for boys.
* For basic furniture pick items that suit your storage needs and size. This isn't the time for pint sized chests of drawers, they aren't dressing on their own yet. Include a comfortable chair for you (recover it later or for another room when it isn't needed) for nursing and bedtime stories.
* Keep it simple. As this is an important time in childhood development, do not over accessorize. It doesn't matter how cute it is or how much you love it. Don't keep buying something and putting it in the room or on the walls. Just like in an adult room (it may be more important here) the eye needs a place to rest so leave open areas on the floors and walls were nothing is going on. Think about the softness and simplicity of a spa.
* Pick a color you like that goes with the scheme and theme and paint the room with a low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint. Don't waste your money now on cutesy wallpaper, you will be changing it too soon.
Ages four through nine - your interests matter less
* Introduce your child's personality into the room by creating a new theme based on their interests, but with your guidance. Unless you want to re-do the room again in a two years do not follow a media based (cartoon, movie, TV show, computer game, etc.) theme. If they like a certain character you can create a theme based on colors from that show.
* Let your child have some influence. It will be a guaranteed failure if you start with *what color do you want to paint your room?* Instead let them select paint colors from a group of colors you've chosen based on the theme. You both win
* Caution: no matter how much a child likes red it should not be a wall color for their bedroom unless you want to encourage restless sleep and hyperactivity.
* This can be the time to introduce a wallcovering if it is a pattern you can live with for a few years. Wallcovering is easy to change. You can do the whole room or just a feature wall.
* Select a carpet or area rug with the same timetable in mind.
* Storage - introduce shelving and cubbies so EVERYTHING has a place to get put away by a pint-sized inhabitant. Introduce the idea that nothing new comes in unless two old things go out. These are the stages habits can take hold. Give your children the guidance for a clutter-free life.
* Accessories. Less is better, for everyone on many levels. With proper storage and display (shelves) you can feature a few key toy items and put the rest away. Too much to look at makes it hard to focus. This can result in a low attention span.
Ages 10 through 13 - your interests don't matter but your guidance does
* Try to build on the existing so it doesn't become a total redo, but enough for your son or daughter to feel good about. This is the last stage for any fairytale princesses or truck drivers and it very likely they will go now. You may luck out with only a minor update your last color scheme. A previous theme can get a new life. Spaceships can convert to the solar system still keeping a main blue sky color or the girly dolls are replaced with fairies while purple and bright pink get added to the previous light pink color scheme. If you want to forgo a literal theme at this in-between stage, it can be purely about a color scheme.
* Time for a bedding update. Change all of it, the comforter, duvet, sheets, bedskirt, introduce throw pillows of their choosing.
* Based on the child this also might be the time for a more significant desk or larger bed or young adult scaled furniture if necessary.
Ages 14 through off to college - you can have the room back when they leave.
This is when their personality really matters. It can be your best opportunity to teach them about putting a room together. The next time they have a decor change will be when they are doing it on their own (with your money.) *I got to pick my paint colors light turquoise walls with bright yellow trim and then change them myself after a year because they did not work. Hey it was a valuable lesson about picking colors.
* Let them pick a theme or evoke a mood. Girls tend to be very peer or celebrity focused and ready to be a grown up and boys can be still into sports, astronomy and cars. Guide them on selecting a theme that will last and is a bit more grown-up.
* Display is key. Give them somewhere to hang or display pictures of their friends, trophies and other items they want to show off. Teach them about rotating accessories if the shelves or bulletin board get full.
* Invest in a good mattress (this may be the one they take with them) but forgo a major bed. Upholstered headboards with slipcovers are fun, cheap and changeable.
* Grown-up lamps and bedside tables with storage are good to have.
* A good desk and desk chair are also vital unless homework is done at a family computer elsewhere.
* For girls at this age their bedroom may be their showplace, guide them well. Let her have that large print baroque patterned wallpaper in fuchsia and gold for the focal point wall behind her bed. Teach her about restraint and how having less in some areas makes the fantastic stuff stand out.
* For a boy who loves motorcycles and/or cars what makes them stand out is shades of gray like as in the asphalt of a road. In this case the walls, floors and bedding may be very plain and what stands out is the model cars or bike posters.
* Now is often the time for new carpet. It is only one room, let them create their own interior. However if you are planning on selling your house in the next couple of years it is okay to stick with a boring neutral, just explain why and make it work. Otherwise let them have something fun. Throw rugs are a great way to add personality and colors as are carpet tiles.
These are just a few simple tricks to help you out at any stage of child rearing and guide you to when it is time for a kid room redo and how far to go. Decorating is something everyone thinks they can do and will try. This is a great way to help you give your child some good decorating tools for their future without making a big deal about it. They won't even know it until their 30! It's our secre
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