Today I’ll share with you my 3 design hacks when decorating your child’s bedroom because, often you don’t need to redecorate a whole room as a light refresh will fix the problems. Over the lock down period, I’ve been going around my home and updating those annoying things in every room. With children going back to school and off to university in September, I thought it would be a good time to share my thoughts and expertise on decorating your child’s bedroom.     

My daughter has now finished university and I can’t believe it’s been four years since she ‘moved out’. Whilst she was in the transitional years of back and forth to university, I kept her room looking the same so that she felt comfortable whenever she returned home. Now that she’s back living at home more permanently, her bedroom needs a refresh. She still loves the decor and her feature wallpaper, but it needs refreshing because the storage no longer suits her needs.

Storage is one of the key items of a child’s bedroom that will need refreshing every 3 to 5 years as they grow and mature. What they played with a few years ago, and how they played, changes so much as they grow and develop. When a child is a toddler they need lots of floor space to spread out their toys, as they develop they start to need the floor space for large toys/bikes/prams, and then they get a little older and everything starts to go smaller with Lego/dolls/crafts. Each age has it’s own storage needs to keep the room looking good. Also, if you give your child the right type of storage and teach them how to tidy up then their room will be organised and stylish.

DESIGN HACK #1: IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM

Like my daughter’s bedroom, if you don’t want to redecorate the whole of the room then just identify the thing that’s niggling you and fix that problem. My daughter wanted more hanging space for her clothes. The single pine wardrobe and large drawer unit weren’t suitable for the way she now wanted to organise her belongings.

When she was younger she had more leggings and tops, but now she has more dresses and skirts. She wanted to hang them up so that she could see them more easily and they wouldn’t get creased, so she needed more wardrobes. Specifically she need a wardrobe with full hanging for her dresses and one with half hanging for the skirts.

Once you know exactly what the problem is then you can be more specific in identifying the best solution. Yes my daughter needed more wardrobes, but specifically she need a mixture of full hanging and half hanging rails. Therefore, this meant she would need two wardrobes. One wardrobe would have a rail for full length dresses and the other would have a clothes rail for shorter items such as skirts and jackets. The bottom half of this second wardrobe would have enough space leftover with drawers for her jumpers and jeans.

DESIGN HACK #2: DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT ON SHOW

For the wardrobes, we chose gloss sliding doors to help disguise her clothes and also bounce the light around her bedroom.  They help to keep her room looking tidy and organised. But, not everything is hidden away behind doors because she wanted her shoes and handbags to be visible and easily accessible.

As you get nearer the door, in her bedroom, the space narrows but there was just enough depth for a shelving unit. Her old shelving unit didn’t have enough shelves, so she kept some of her shoes under her bed which was an inconvenience to get out everyday.

For her new shelving unit, we ordered more shelves so that she could have space for all of her shoes and bags to be on display and easily accessible. 

Between the wardrobes and the shelving unit, I even managed to squeeze in a slim mirrored wardrobe with drawers for her underwear and smaller items. The bedroom is now perfectly organised for all of her belongings. 

DESIGN HACK #3: DECIDE HOW MUCH YOU WANT TO SPEND

Once you understand your specific storage requirements (Design Hack #1 and #2), you can then work out the price for the storage you need. I could have chosen beautifully handmade fitted units, freestanding ready made high street units or flat pack furniture. Each type of furniture has a different price point so it’s useful to consider how long you want the pieces to last and how much money you want to invest in the items.

For my daughter’s bedroom, I chose the more affordable flat pack IKEA furniture because I don’t imagine she will be staying for more than four years at home. I didn’t want a huge expense for this makeover because I’ll totally redecorate the room once she moves out and into her own home. I’ll most likely scale down the amount of storage and create a beautiful guest bedroom. But for now, it’s her bedroom with storage to suit her belongings.

Many rooms end up disorganised and untidy because you have the wrong type of storage to suit your needs. Even as adults, our requirements change with a change in circumstances and personal preferences. Once you get the perfect storage in your home you then pop the decor on top of this to create your stylish and organised space… one that looks great and feels amazing.

If you have problems keeping your home organised or
need my expertise with space planning and storage design

then just get in touch.

I’ll create a room that’s both practical and stylish for you.

Let’s have a chat about your bedroom

Gwendoline

BIID Interior Designer