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Decorating a Child's Room
by Michael Holland
8 Simple Strategies to Make You Both Happy
When it comes to decorating a child's room, your approach should
be much different from decorating an adult bedroom.
For kids, their bedroom is where they play games, read, listen
to music, day-dream, or just go to be alone sometimes. So use these eight
strategies to help create a space that will make you both happy:
1. Talk to your child. Find out what activities and fantasies he
or she enjoys; what their favorite color is; and what's unique about their
personality that a theme could be built around.
2. Allow your child to help. Let them have a say about colors,
fabrics, and how they want to display their collectibles.
3. Make the room multi-functional. Since children use their room
for many activities besides sleeping, it should have several different zones,
such as a play area, reading area, and entertainment area.
4. Make storage a priority. Try shelving, large decorative
wicker baskets, plastic see-through containers, and closets that contain plenty
of shelving and racks.
5. Keep window treatments simple. Avoid long draperies. Shades,
blinds, and shorter curtains are safer choices. The fabric should be versatile,
and patterns should be repeated in other items in the room, such as in pillows,
quilts, lampshades, bed ruffles, etc.
6. Choose the right lighting. A child's room should include both
task lighting for homework and reading, and soothing light for quieter times. A
nightlight is also important.
7. Use wallpaper or paint to add color and texture. You can
apply whimsical borders along the top edges of the walls, and clouds or stars on
the ceiling. Make sure walls are washable, so if you are using paint, choose a
semi-gloss or gloss finish. Kids love bright colors, but you should limit any
strong color to only one wall.
8. Allow your child to select the design theme. Here are just a
few: firehouse fun room, starry night, angels, rainbows, unicorns, baseball, a
bedroom for a princess, underwater scenery, outer space, race cars, airplanes,
trains, jungle motifs, wizards and dragons, and dinosaurs.
Decorating with your child offers a great opportunity to display
your playful side, while doing some memorable family bonding, so have fun with
it!
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Michael Holland is the creator of
http://www.kids-rooms-and-crafts.com and
http://www.home-decorating-made-easy.com. His web sites offers lots
of FREE decorating tips and ideas for decorating your home.
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