Creating Your Kids Bedroom
Posted by Michelle on Mar 26, 2020
Creating your kids bedroom
Kids can definitely have their own agendas when it comes to their bedrooms.
Here are ten tips designed to keep you and the kids happy with the way their bedroom works.
1. Let your kids choose their own bedding
There are a couple of great reasons to let the kids choose their own bedding. Not only will it allow them to personalise their bedroom by filling it with things they like, but it also gives a sense of ownership.
If they have been the ones responsible for ‘buying’ that item of bedding, you can encourage them to think of it as their own, not just another random sheet or pillow, thus teaching them about responsibility and ownership.
2. Choose a good theme for the room
Choosing bedroom furniture for your kids can be difficult, especially considering how fast they grow up, and how quickly their tastes change. There are a couple of routes to take here. One would be to completely customise the room, if your child has a long abiding love of a particular theme, like dinosaurs, space, or nature.
Customising like this can be a way to encourage your child’s imagination, and give them a fun way to escape into their dreams. Generic, blocky furniture can be a good alternative if your child is going through transitional phases, as these pieces can be easily customised with paint and materials to suit your child, without having to purchase new furniture.
3. Decide on a bed type
Bunks vs. single beds. It can be difficult when you have more than one child per bedroom to know how best to furnish their space. Bunk beds can be a great way to clear floor space, thus allowing for playing room and less clutter.
As someone who always had the bottom bunk, I can tell you that the top bunk is like an unreachable oasis, defended by the dreaded older sibling, and it can leave your kids feeling like there is a certain hierarchy that needs to be followed in the bedroom. Single beds can help to put everyone on a level playing field, but the downside is that you will lose some of that valuable floor space.
4. Let kids be kids!
I know how great it is to have an impeccably designed, classy house, but this is the viewpoint of an adult. A kid’s room is their sanctuary, and they certainly have different priorities to us.
If you can, try to adjust your standards in relation to the levels of tidiness and clutter that you will allow in your children’s room, as this is not just the place they sleep, but also their office, library and playground. We get the rest of the house to spread our lives around, but it can be a very rewarding thing for your child if they feel like they have ownership over their own space.
5. Think like a kid
Take a child’s eye view with organising. When big, tall adults like us organise our rooms, we usually organise it in a way that makes sense to us. The things we often use go at eye height, and the less used items go in the low cupboards.
Our kids, however, are tiny, little, short people, and their rooms should be organised with this in mind. The toys and books that they love most should be low down, and the less-used items higher up. The same should apply to their clothes if they are at a stage where they dress themselves.
6. Keep it tidy through imaginative ways
Take the Mary Poppins approach. Make cleaning up a game that the kids will enjoy. Your children love to play, and they especially love it if you play too. By making a game out of cleaning that you get to play together, you can give them happy memories of being tidy that can last their lifetimes.
Think about things like tidying races, where you get half the floor each, and the one who wins (hint: try to let the kids win) gets a treat of some sort. You could try arranging toys by type, or size, or colour code all the books. The key here is to not make cleaning up a punishment, but a bonding experience that you can enjoy together.
7. Keep their bedroom simple
Make it simple by giving the kids less things to clean up. By this, I don’t mean that you should be frugal, and only give them a stick and a ball to play with. I mean that if you break up the whole task into smaller, simple tasks, it won’t be as much of a chore for your kids.
Give them a simple task, like picking up their books, and then let them play for a while as a reward. By asking them to tidy everything at once, they will feel overstretched and daunted by the seemingly enormous task.
8. Label EVERYTHING
Make labels your friend. This is a great tip that plays into the idea of making tidying fun, and keeping things simple. Label your storage containers with different pictures that keep to a theme that your child likes (like space, for instance). Then label all of the items that they own with one of those pictures.
When it comes time for your child to tidy, all they need to do is put the toys labelled with a star, for instance, in the box with the same label. It gives them a clear understanding of where things should go, and will make their lives much simpler.
9. Play smarter, not harder
Play with small toys, like Lego, on an old sheet. Once the kids have finished playing, all you need to do is gather up the corners of the sheet, and all of the fiddly little pieces are effectively held nice and tight, and in one secure place. You can go a step further, if you’re a bit crafty, and sew a rope/drawstring around the edge of the sheet, for ease of tidying.
10. Think outside the toy box
The unfortunate thing about toy boxes is that they are loaded from the top, and invariably, the favourite toy will be down the bottom. This usually means that the toys that were in the box get spread all over the place.
Toy shelves can be a great alternative, as the unwanted toys can stay in their allotted space while allowing easy access to the toy your child wants. If you want the toys out of sight, you could consider putting a curtain across the front of the shelves.
And that's our ten tips on creating your child's dream bedroom that is also really practical for you. If you want any help with creating your kids bedroom or want to know more information, contact us! You can reach out to us via email, or you can give us a call! You can get our details here.
If you are interested, we have a full range of kids bedding and bedding accessories that you can see here.