When thinking about designing your kids’ rooms, it is easy to fall in the trap of only thinking for the short term instead of imagining how the room can be transformed easily through the years as personalities bloom and interests flourish. Our precious children deserve to be in a space that is safe and both stimulating and calming for the different times of the day. Let’s look at the big picture and think about four main categories to consider when designing your childrens’ rooms. The promise of childhood is to be free to explore, play, chill out, stretch imaginations and drift into sleep at the end of the day. Their view from their room is personal and needs to be nurtured. Let’s look at some ways you can create an exciting room.
Color
Paint is most likely the first thing you decide and thank goodness, it is the quickest and easiest way to change up a room, but do think ahead so the color can evolve with changing interests. Consider the paint combos you like as color dictates the vibe. You can go bright and primary or soft and subdued. Consider these hues as possibilities: a berry blast of lemon, pink and sky blue, a candy land mix of lavender, mint green and yellow, or the preppy look of navy blue, white and dark green.
Of course, ivory, cream or white create the background for colorful accents. Painting stripes can carry a room through many years but be assured that these rooms mature, so consider each child’s personal viewpoints. Color highly affects all of our moods. Whether you embrace or shun color, color rules. Treat it with respect.
Fun
Play is the fundamental to learning and without a room filled with excitement and the opportunity for experiment, we create a dull room with a dull kid. Some of my favorite things in a room are a big chalkboard, a bulletin board or a spot to hang art, drawings and sayings that can be changed often. Decals, murals, large oversized posters or photos, mobiles, magnetic boards, flying animals or colorful kites and pinwheels are just a few fanciful objects to inspire creativity. Many things can be DIYed by yourself to add interest. One of my grandson’s is car obsessed and I vividly painted a few old hubcaps and tacked to the wall of his room and I took some of his miniature cars and glued them together for a wall collage in his room. One grandson is so car obsessed that I vividly painted a few old hubcaps and tacked on a wall a fun collage from all his “car miniatures.”
Floors, too, can be kid proof. Even though we love carpet for its ease, have you thought about a cork floor as nothing will break and it is soft underfoot? A child’s room should be the play/work room for life. As you create, your children can see the possibilities within their reach.
Furniture
It goes without saying that the furniture should be able to grow with the child and with so many adjustable desks, chairs, beds and beanbag and lounging soft furniture, this problem is easily solved. Make use of the vertical space for bunk beds or create a jungle gym floor plan to allow for lots of room to spread out the Legos, trucks, dolls, puzzles and games.
Storage is essential for organization and for quick and easy access for taking out and putting away all the messes that are the requisite of childhood. Bookcases are imperative as reading is still paramount. Everyday we have quiet time for “real reading with books” and nighttime stories together is a ritual in my home, with or without kids.
Whether you have closed storage cabinets or a big wicker trunk or baskets, it is important for clarity of space, to keep everything under wraps when not being used. This helps instill organizational and “clean-up” skills and keeps you from going crazy from clutter abuse.
If you love to browse the junk or secondhand stores and are a savvy DIYer or have the patience to trek to IKEA or shop online for anything kid centered, furniture today is as creative and fun as ever and you will find the style that fits your children.
Window Treatments
I saved the most important for last as I insist that you have child safe window treatments for peace of mind and for the ultimate safety of your children. There should never be the chance to have any dangling cords to entice the curiosity of toddlers or any young ones to be caught in a tangled up cord or a faulty slat. At Blindsgalore, we insist on the highest standards of safety mechanisms and believe in only cordless options for childproof bedrooms and all the rooms in your house as kids roam all over just like all little busy critters.
Cordless window treatments are outfitted with an easy lift control to gently push and pull to raise or lower the shade or I highly recommend to choose a motorized option that can be operated with a remote and even paired with your smartphone.
Cordless blinds come in many styles from Cellulars, Solars, Rollers, Pleated, Romans and Wood Blinds and our new magnetized Roman Shades with built in magnets that lock together as you raise the folds of the shade. Shutters are always child safe, along with Draperies.
We support the safety standards of the Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) and the Certified Best for Kids label whose window treatments have been rigorously tested by a third party.
A dark room is another essential for children’s rooms to induce peaceful, restful, life-long sleeping habits. Our window treatments come in a wide variety of room darkening and light filtering options to battle annoying light issues.
At Blindsgalore, we are seriously committed to the safety of your children and to their personal growth and well-being. Our BG Kids Roller Shade collection is full of interesting patterns, along with our wide assortment of many other styles of custom window treatments to fit perfectly in any window. More importantly, choose CORDLESS for every window in your home.
Yes, it is that important and once you have chosen safe window treatments, style the windows, plain or fancy, content that tucked in for sleep or wildly playing, your windows are keeping watch over the children.
