Better Homes And Gardens Kid's Bedrooms

From infant to rugrat to toddler to teen, decorating your children's rooms can pose a constant challenge and seem like an ever-moving target as favorite colors change on a weekly basis and hobbies are tried and abandoned. Of course, the best decor schemes for your kids' rooms will conform to their personalities as they develop. But your decorating time and money may not be infinite.

Here are a few suggestions that won't break the bank but will help ensure your kids' home decor reflects their personalities without putting you as a parent on a decorating treadmill.

Decide how the space has to be used

If your children's bedrooms have to fulfill many functions, your decor scheme has to map to the room's usage. You may have a study area in another part of the house, and if you don't want your children doing their homework in their rooms, they may not need a desk. You may have a large playroom where your kids spend the bulk of their spare time, and if that's the case, creating storage within their rooms for all their favorite toys isn't as critical.

But if space is tight and you're trying to create a room that looks good, allows your child to express his or her personality, and will also be the place they craft their first book report, you'll have to create a plan that works with the space and makes your child feel their room is a haven to which they can always retreat.

Treat one wall

Rather than paint an entire child's room in the color of the month as their favorites change, keep three of the four painted walls neutral and take a creative approach to the fourth.

The options for the fourth wall are endless:

Create an entire chalkboard paint wall so they can get creative whenever they want.
Wallpaper a single wall in a pattern dominated by their favorite color. Wallpaper is a lot easier to apply and a lot easier to remove than it's ever been before, and there's a lot more variety in design and texture. It's easy to indulge in various childhood phases (puppies and kittens, dinosaurs, space exploration, sports) when you know they're not permanent decorating features and can be easily removed if you want to sell.
Create a "map of the world" wall for all the Dora the Explorer and Diego fans in your family. Even if your children ultimately decide Diego and Dora are no longer their heroes, maps are beautiful in and of themselves. If they learn a little geography along the way, that's a good thing.
For younger children, an alphabet wall with each letter in a different size, shape or pattern can be a great decorating feature as well as an early learning tool.
Dedicate one wall to decorative decals that are easy to apply and easy to remove. Inexpensive and immensely varied, this is the quickest and cheapest way to give your kids' room "feature wall" an almost-immediate facelift.

Keep things kid-sized and shaped

Invest in some bean bag chairs or some colorful pouffes in your kids' favorite colors. Soft furnishings are a lot easier to move than actual furniture, and they're a lot less likely to cause tears and bruises when your child collides with them. Large pouffes are particularly versatile: they can hold a tea tray, act as an impromptu couch, or let your child perch on them cross-legged while watching cartoons.

If your kids' rooms are playrooms as well as rooms for sleeping, make sure they've got a little table and chairs so they can do crafts at the table. Having child-sized furniture will make them feel special and all grown up simultaneously.

Painted furniture

Buy some solid wood furniture at a thrift store or haul some of those old dressers out of the basement or garage and paint them in your children's' favorite colors. Paint them as often as their favorite color changes. It's a lot easier to paint a dresser or bookcase than it is to paint an entire room. And these small pieces of furniture can provide a welcome pop of color against neutral walls.

Even if the dresser, desk, and bookcase don't completely match in terms of style, painting them a single vibrant color will pull the room together and please your children.

Celebrate the ceiling

The ceiling is an under-used decorating feature, but one of the newest trends in kids-room decor is celebrating ceilings. There are lots of ways to do this:

Go bold, and paint the ceiling something other than boring white. Maize, medium green or blue, or even terra cotta could all work.
Wallpaper the ceiling in a bold stripe or interesting pattern.
Put glow-in-the-dark decals on the ceiling. Even a tiny bit of light is enough to make them light up. Decals are easy to apply and easy to remove.

Whatever approach you take, if your children are old enough to talk they're old enough to be consulted about the features and color schemes for their personal space. Involve them in the process and they'll be a lot more invested in keeping rooms they love clean and tidy.