Child’s Play

Nowadays it’s common to see children’s rooms beautifully decorated to within the nth degree.  If this inspires you to create a similar space, remember that although they’re stunning in their setup, it’s the clever little details that’ll make these rooms really popular with their inhabitants.  Here are our top tips to remember when it comes to creating a kid’s room of everyone’s dreams…

Embrace your inner kid

This is the room in which to let your creativity and imagination loose.  If possible even get some input from the room’s occupants; there’s no such thing as too over the top when it comes kids!  You’ll often find that just through talking you’ll get a good feeling for their favourite things and hobbies.  Designs can then spring from a favourite colour, storybook character, theme, or environment.  Just remember to try to keep everything in balance and aim for compromise; walls completely dedicated to Marvel characters could be somewhat headache inducing.

DIY Dynamo

Don’t be afraid to try and customise the space through family photos, artworks and colour.  It doesn’t have to match the rest of the house – this is the whole beauty of the room.  Your aim is to create a space your child/grandchild feels both safe and loved. Putting up photos of family, their friends and favourite moments will make it feel like their special place.  Displaying items, they’ve created (like artwork) is a lovely way to show you’re proud of them!

Supreme Storage

It’s an understatement that kids today own a lot of stuff, so don’t underestimate the power of installing some great storage.  Building in a myriad of shelving options into the wardrobe cupboard to store away items is a great idea – as well as having toy boxes, baskets, or bins at ground level to allow for little hands to easily access their creative activities.

Safety first

For smaller children remember safety is paramount.  Keeping tiny trinkets and little ornaments out of reach that can be easily swallowed, or having displays on walls that may look so enticing to climb are best held back until the child is of an age that they understand not to do those things.

Growing with the times

A kid’s room typically transitions at least 2 or 3 times; the nursery feel will change out once a child enters school and then again at the onset of pre-adolescence.  Consider furniture that can change out to adapt to a child’s growth i.e. a cot that turns into a toddler bed, or a colouring area that will become a desk for homework.

For more inspiration on how to update or renovate a room in your house suitable for growing kids; head along to New Zealand largest home and renovation exhibition and speak to design experts at the Auckland Home Show on September 6-10 at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane.  Tickets available now at  www.aucklandhomeshow.co.nz