Making a kids room a fun place

Your child’s room is a wonderland.  It is a place for kids to play, to laugh, to hide out and most importantly a place for them feel comfortable and safe at night.  To decorate a kid’s room, it generally takes a little youthful imagination but here is an easy way to start.  Start out by asking your little one what “theme” they would like.  Then take that theme and run with it. This is a little different than the rest of the rooms in your home but what we recommend next is to choose the print for his/her theme before picking anything else.  Let say, your son is into sailboats.  Shop around for the perfect print for bedding and windows to bring to the room that will incorporate the sailing theme.  There are so many prints and there are many shades of blue so first decide on the print, and then play off that. 

So you have decided on a true nautical sailboat print with navy, red and white.  You are going to use this on the bed and the windows.  The trick with kid’s rooms that makes them look almost “magical” is that the more you match the better.  It is okay to match a seat cushion with the bed and the windows.  Overkill is the way to go when it comes to kids…let’s say “in your face” sailboats are the way to go.  Remember, this is the only room in the house I would recommend this approach!  Kids love it.  The designer secret to making the overkill technique work is to bring in a coordinating fabric, otherwise the finished room may “store bought”.  Introducing another fabric will give the room a custom flare.  There are so many fabrics to choose from, for help visit our website at Fabric Workroom  to get some ideas rolling.

Using the sailboat theme, my suggestion would be to go with a navy & white stripe fabric.  The secondary or coordinating fabric is going to be used for accent pillows on the bed, chair, a table skirt (more appropriate in girls rooms), lampshades, picture frames, covering books for the bookcase …the list goes on. 

To complete the room and give it the all custom look, an upholstered headboard will do the trick.  This is one of the best ways to make your child’s room look tailored, not to mention, it is soft and cushy for when they are jumping on the bed.  You can use the coordinating fabric (navy & white stripe) to have the headboard covered.  This is not very expensive and you can pick your own shape and size.  Visit our website at Fabric Workroom and take a look at how easy and practical it is. 

Now it is time to choose your wall paint.  You have your bed fabric selected, window treatments and seat cushion for his desk chair picked out.  Now pick a color from the fabric that you will use as your paint base color.  You always want to go a shade or two up from the base color.  If the color you pick is navy, paint four to six samples on the wall before you decide on the perfect shade.  When you are done painting don’t forget to put theme pictures mounted in fun frames on the wall.  You can add fish, boats, family pictures in fun frames, lighthouses, anchors…you get the idea.

Our last design tip is to incorporate fun centers in your child’s room.  Just like their classroom, you should have a reading center, an art center and a play center.  These are easy to create in three corners in the room.  If you can’t fit all three activity centers, try for one or two.  It will help to keep the room organized as well as a creative fun haven for your child.