How To Avoid Mistakes When Decorating A Kids’ Bedroom

Last Updated on: 4th October 2024, 07:12 am

Decorating a kids’ bedroom can be an exciting task – but it can also be more challenging than many people realise. While it’s a chance to get playful with decor, you need to make sure that the space is functional too. Here are just a few common blunders that parents make when decorating a kids’ bedroom.

Squeezing in too much furniture When Decorating A Kids’ bedroom

Too many different bits of furniture could make your child’s bedroom feel cluttered and claustrophobic. With young kids, it’s important that you maximise floor space to provide space to play. In a small bedroom, consider forgoing items of furniture like armchairs that serve no real purpose. Try to focus on multipurpose space-saving furniture such as a cabin bed with an in-built desk and wardrobe underneath – this will take up much less floor space than a separate bed, desk and wardrobe.

Skimping on storage

While it’s important to not clutter up their bedroom with lots of excess furniture, you also don’t want to go too minimal with storage. Kids accumulate a lot of clothes and a lot of toys. If you haven’t got enough storage space, you’ll quickly end up with messy piles of toys and clothes that have nowhere to go. Get creative when it comes to thinking about storage options. Use vertical space by installing shelving or hanging a net basket from the ceiling. When choosing a kid’s double bed, consider a bed with storage compartments underneath. Cube storage can also be a great alternative to a chest of drawers, while toy chests at the bottom of a bed are great for hiding away loose toys.

Overlooking safety

Safety is paramount in a kid’s bedroom. There are many dangers that can be overlooked when decorating. For example, freestanding storage units can be potentially pulled over onto children – it’s best to screw or nail the back of these storage units to a wall to prevent them from accidentally toppling. Meanwhile, when it comes to nurseries for babies, consider safety features like electrical socket covers to stop infants poking their fingers in them, as well as door guards to prevent kids from slamming doors on their fingers. When shopping for furniture, choose furniture designed for kids that doesn’t have sharp edges. When choosing paint, make sure to use non-toxic paint.

Choosing hard-to-clean surfaces

There are many messy substances that kids love to play with such as play dough, felt tip pens, paint, glitter and slime. Meanwhile, young kids can often make a mess with food – getting it on their hands and leaving handprints everywhere. Using the wrong paint or choosing the wrong flooring could result in marks and stains that are impossible to shift. This is why it’s important to think about the surface materials you use. Satin and gloss wall paints can be a good choice in a kid’s bedroom, because you can easily wipe away blemishes without damaging the paint. Meanwhile, when it comes to flooring, consider laminate flooring to make cleaning easy (if you’d prefer to choose carpet, consider a nylon carpet, as this is usually easier to clean than other carpets).

Ignoring lighting When Decorating A Kids’ Bedroom

Lighting is an element of kids’ bedroom design that can often be overlooked. Don’t settle for a single overhead bulb – multi-arm light fixtures and track lighting can help to brighten up all the corners of the room. Many young kids may also appreciate having a bedside lamp or nightlight next to their bed. There are all kinds of fun bedside lamps for kids that you can explore from moon shaped lamps to dinosaur lamps. You can even consider options like fairy lights to provide a magical ambient glow. As well as finding ways to introduce light, it’s worth also considering ways to reduce lighting from outdoors. Many young kids will wake up at the crack of dawn if curtains or blinds let in too much light – consider blackout blinds or blackout curtains to prevent this.

Embracing trends they’ll soon grow out of

Kids can quickly hop from one trend to the next. You should therefore be wary of decor themed around interests that they may grow out of in the next year or too (for example, wallpaper themed around a certain kids TV show). Things like themed duvet covers or rugs aren’t as much of a problem because they’re not as permanent, but you should still consider your child’s age and whether they’re still likely to be a fan in a few months time. When theming decor around interests, it’s better to consider long-term hobbies and interests that they’re likely to still be into in the future.

Forgetting to have fun

You should be careful of making your child’s bedroom look too grown up. Adding some playful decor will help to spark their imagination and make it a more cheerful space. Consider playing around with colour, but don’t feel you have to stick to a strict colour scheme (your child will accumulate lots of toys that won’t fit a scheme). A few fun ideas you can look into could include murals, fairy lights, a tent den, a ball pit, a blackboard on the wall for drawing on, a messy play area or even a loft bed with a slide. As your child gets older and closer to teenagehood, you may want to consider suggesting ideas like a gaming high sleeper bed, Hollywood mirror and makeup station, reading nook or custom photo collage.

Not taking the chance to declutter When Decorating A Kids’ Bedroom

If you’re in the process of re-decorating a child’s bedroom, make sure that you take the opportunity to declutter. There could be lots of clothes they’ve grown out of, or toys they never play with. Getting rid of these items could help free up some space and give you more layout options when decorating their bedroom. If they’re still quite young, you may be able to choose yourself which clothes and toys to throw away. If they’re older, you may need to work with them to decide what to keep and what to throw away. You can sell these items online or donate to local charity shops. Make sure that if you bag up toys, you deal with them straight away – don’t hoard bags of toys that could take up more space or end up being reopened.

Failing to consider your child’s preferences

Something that is particularly important with older kids is making sure to consider their preferences. What colours do they like? What are their hobbies? Are there musicians or games that they’re really into? Make sure to get some ideas from them. It’s their bedroom, so they deserve a say in how it is decorated. Obviously, certain ideas they suggest may not be practical or affordable. But there could be other ideas that are perfectly reasonable and that allow your child to express themselves. Doing this will ensure that you don’t make decor changes that they dislike.

Not considering used furniture

When choosing furniture for a child’s bedroom, many parents splash out on brand new furniture. However, you can save huge amounts of money on desk and beds and wardrobes by considering used furniture. There are many parents giving away items cheaply and even freely on local selling sites. Much of this furniture will still be in good condition and will last a good few years – which may be all you need before you have to upgrade to new furniture.