Designing a Child's Room
How to create a space that's fun and functional.
When it comes to interior design, there’s nothing more fun than the opportunity to create a child’s room. But the room must function for the child’s needs as much as it needs to bring joy to the child. I begin the design process by asking myself (and the child’s parents) a few basic questions:
•Is the child ready to sleep in a bed?
•Will the child have friends or family visit and stay in the room?
•What colors does the child like?
•What’s the child’s favorite activity or thing to do? What are his or her interests?
•Do you have any existing furniture items you want to incorporate?
•Does the child have allergies? Can there be an upholstered headboard and drapes in the room?
•Do you read to the child in the room before bedtime? What is the bedtime routine?
Once the parents have answered the questions, my head is full of ideas. For starters, the child’s interests usually point me in a direction of a color scheme. Sometimes you can just build a room around a favorite color— pink has historically been the most requested room color. But if you can make the design a little more specific, like pink butterflies, it helps you design a special room.
Occasionally, the child finds bedding that he or she wants to build the room around. If that’s the case, carry the theme and color onto the walls. I’ve seen a neat little girls room where an artist friend painted elements from the bedding onto the wall. It was much more dynamic than if mere white walls surrounded the bedding.
Take the bedtime routine into consideration. I’ve actually had parents tell me that their goal in redesigning the room is to change the bedtime routine, such as to deter the child from sleeping in the parents’ bed. I’ve then created a bedroom so neat and cool that the child adored sleeping in this new room.
One of the biggest factors that entices kids to love their rooms is the incorporation of anything resembling a canopy, a tent or a fort. Children love the feeling of being able to crawl into or under something; it also makes them feel protected and safe. Canopies don’t have to be expensive. You can do something as simple as mounting four drapery rods from the ceiling that are arranged like a box around the perimeter of the bed. Then merely gather drapes in the corners to hang them floor-to-ceiling where the rods meet and, voila, instant canopy!
If the child is just moving into a big bed from a crib, be open to using a full or queen bed. Set the bed on the wall on the long side, and line a bunch of king pillows or Euro squares up against the wall. This achieves two things: It protects the child from rolling out of the bed and it creates a large enough space for a parent to sit during bedtime to read to the child. (Pottery Barn Teen also makes a great bed that has detachable pillows that act as a barrier between the bed and the floor.) And when a child is beginning to sleep in a big bed in a new room, position a step stool near the bed. Kids love anything that’s like a ladder.
Whatever changes are brewing, paint is the cheapest and fastest way to transform a kid’s room. It instantly adds pizzazz and personality. I recommend playing around with color. Sometimes if you have bedding already, you can pull a color from the pattern by using it to consider a similar hue for the walls or the molding of the room. I say be brave and use a really bold color, such as hot pink, rich lavender, navy blue or mint green. I wouldn’t paint all four of the walls a dark color. Instead, choose one wall as an accent wall— maybe the wall the bed is on— and paint that the rich color. Then paint the other three walls in the room a softer, paler color. This way, the bold wall color does not overwhelm the space.
I also love stripes in kids’ rooms. Wide stripes, perhaps one-foot wide, add a fresh look with kid appeal. Stripes are easy to do with some blue painter’s tape and a level, and they create such a great effect. When painting stripes, the only rule to remember is to use paler colors rather than bolder colors. This keeps the room from feeling like a circus tent.
Don’t forget to put some artwork on the walls. The artwork doesn’t have to be expensive. Yet, it is an important element in any room, and a child’s room is no exception. To compose artwork to suit a child’s room, consider framing book covers from a favorite children’s book, framing black-and-white family photos, framing watercolors that the child has done, or even using large-scale maps and tacking them to the wall. If you are short on storage space, mounting shelves on the wall allows you to store everything from books and stuffed animals to toys and collectables. Children’s items artfully arranged on shelves can serve the same purpose as artwork up on a wall.
No matter the age of your child, enjoy designing the room. There are many ways you can easily and inexpensively make it a place where your child wants to spend time. Use color, a special theme and comfy materials to create a bedroom that is sure to become the child’s favorite room in the house.
Libby Langdon, is an interior designer and expert commentator on HGTV’s hit show Small Space, Big Style. She previously hosted and was the lead designer on the FOX makeover TV show Design Invasion. Langdon’s first book, Libby Langdon’s Small Space Solutions (Knack) offers her innovative and inexpensive design ideas to help small space dwellers live large. To learn more about Langdon and her design firm, log onto www.libbylangdon.com.