Children Bedroom Design

Essential Guide to Creating a Child's Bedroom

Ideas for a nursery

When you plan a room for a newborn, bear in mind that decorating a nursery can be as much about creating a comfortable space for you as for your child.

Decoration

Calm and comfort are all-important for newborns, so choose delicate shades and tactile fabrics for cosiness. Add a pretty mobile above the cot but make sure they are hung high enough to be out of reach when your child is old enough to stand.

Furniture

Rather than furniture specifically designed with babies in mind, choose well-made items that can adapt with your child. For example, a chest of drawers can be topped with a mat to make a changing table, and a two-in-one cot bed will last until your baby is ready for a grown-up bed.

Window treatments

Blackout blinds are a good choice for babies' rooms. They make it much easier to settle small children during the day or on light evenings and should help stop them waking up at dawn in the summer months. Roller blinds also allow you to let in as much natural light as possible at other times.

Temperature

To avoid your baby becoming too hot or cold, don't position their cot right next to a window or by a radiator. It may also be a good idea to invest in a room thermometer and try to keep the room at around 18°C.

Ideas For a toddlers bedroom

As they grow, energetic toddlers will need a place for supervised play, as well as a secure and cozy bed to encourage them to snuggle down alone at night.

Decorating

Children grow out of the latest fads as quickly as their first pair of shoes, so rather than succumbing to an entire room of Dora the Explorer, choose a neutral backdrop and introduce color with textiles, graphic wall stickers and fun accessories. A feature wall in a bright and lively wallpaper is also an easy way to change a nursery into bedroom.

Furniture

Opt for a wardrobe with a pole that can be raised as they grow older. Secure free-standing furniture by fixing it to the wall with anti-toppling devices such as straps or fixing brackets. Open drawers can be used to climb, so use child-proof drawer latches on lower drawers.

Storage

Store toys in a variety of containers, according to their size. Combine see-through plastic storage crates, trunks and toy boxes with tubs, baskets, over-door organizers and mini-drawers. Categories things so that they make sense to your child and arrange them so that they're easy to take out and put away.

Lighting

Dimmer switches are a boon for checking on a sleeping toddler and can be left on low for an infant who's afraid of the dark. A glowing lamp or nightlight is also a good idea, but make to keep it out of reach.

Safety

Cover electrical sockets and keep trailing cords out of reach. Childproof the windows with latches that will allow the window to open no more than four inches and keep window areas clear of furniture so that children aren't tempted to climb onto them to reach windows.

Ideas for older children's bedrooms

Older children will relish having some input in the way their bedroom looks and will hanker after their own den for games and sleepovers with friends.

Decorating

Use their favorite colors, textures and motifs in a way that suits your home - If bubblegum pink and electric blue go against all your interior style principles, compromise with powder pink or dove grey. Instead of dousing whole walls in vivid colors, add accents with soft furnishings and framed pictures, which can be easily and cheaply updated.

Furniture

Have a spare bed ready for sleepovers. If space is limited opt for a hideaway bed with a pull-out truckle underneath for when friends come to stay. The White Company has stylish designs.

Storage

Adjustable shelves can accommodate big picture books for small kids, then be adapted for paperbacks as well as CDs and DVDs. Make use of wasted hanging space inside a standard wardrobe by fixing up a two-tier system of rails or fill the space at the bottom of the wardrobe with small plastic baskets for storing underwear, socks, nightwear and smaller items.

Lighting

Fairy lights are an easy way to add a magical touch - string twinkling lights round a mirror for a little girl, or pin up a net of lights to create a personal cosmos for a budding spaceman.

Finishing touches

Murals and wall stickers can create a fun focal point in a kid's room. Help them to personalize their space in a shared bedroom by spelling out their names with funky lettering so that they each have their own dedicated area.