Here are Rosie’s tips for updating the style of your children’s rooms as they, and their tastes, grow up, even if your decorating budget isn’t growing with them.
- Ask the child who will sleep in the room for input on the furniture, colors and accessories. Too often parents fashion their kids’ rooms to suit the taste of the adults in the house. Few kids are going to feel at home in, and want to show off, a room whose personality is not their own.
- Encourage the child to choose a theme for the room: football, NASCAR, kid’s television show characters, ballet, etc.
- Build the room’s décor around that theme. If your child is a Cardinals fan, buy red and black bedspreads, throw rugs and other accessories. Frame a football jersey and hang it on the wall, for example.
- Choose a neutral color for at least three of the walls like white, cream or taupe. Infuse whichever bright colors your child chooses into accents: a single, painted wall, oversized wall hangings, area rugs, comforters and painted shelves, for example. That way, you can update the accessories without replacing furniture that suddenly seems too juvenile once your child reaches the “tween” years.
- Choose washable paints so you can clean the walls rather than repaint.
- Avoid furniture that’s too juvenile. Your child will soon outgrow a racecar bed or a hot-pink dresser. Stick with sturdy classics in neutral wood tones or white paint. You can also look for dressers with changeable drawer fronts. You can buy colored fronts that can change over to white when your child grows out of their princess or sports team phase. Accessorize them with age-appropriate, replaceable door pulls and colorful bedspreads. And choose furniture that’s easy to match. As your child matures, he or she might need additional pieces and adding on is cheaper than starting over.
- Decorate the walls. Oversized, adhesive-backed wall stickers come in all themes; flowers, soccer balls, Disney characters, letters, you name it. Older kids can use stencils to create designs or “write” their names on a wall. Some parents hire artists or faux painting specialists to create huge murals on their kids’ walls, and pay from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for the work.
- Include items that have meaning to the child. Design a wall of photographs of your child doing what he or she loves best; horseback riding, playing baseball, hanging out with friends. If your child has made something,a craft or woodworking project, for instance, display it prominently in the room. Even handprints on an accent wall help the child feel that the room is his or hers.
- Incorporate plenty of storage beyond the closets by investing in under-bed containers, dressers with oversized drawers and lots of shelves for books and toys. Kids have lots of stuff!
- Save some space for quiet time. Invest in a good desk where your child can do homework, a comfy, kid-sized chair for reading and resting, and a corner with no clutter where your child can get away from the constant stimulation of electronic devices, school, games and TV.
- Bunk beds are back! With some families not buying larger houses they’re squeezing more kids into the rooms they have. If you get a bunk bed, buy one with a double on bottom and a single on top. If the beds last until the kids go to college, you can use the double for guests.
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