subject: Top 3 Things To Consider When You Design A Room For A Child [print this page] A child's room can be the most fun, and the most challenging room to design and decorate. When you tackle a kid's room design you will want to keep these three design elements in mind. A kid's room needs to be functional, creative, and easy to adapt for their always changing needs.
Incorporating all three of these factors into one space can be difficult but if you use these guidelines and creative ideas, the result will be a space your child can grow into, enjoy, and really feel at home. Do not forget, the most successful children's designers often find ways to incorporate the child's own ideas and art into the space.
The first of the three important aspects of children's room design is functionality. Many novice designers make the mistake of letting their creativity run away with them and forget that a child has to live in the room and use it for practical everyday tasks. When you are designing for optimum functionality, storage is very important. Consider breaking the room in half with a horizontal line. Make sure you create storage both below and above the line. The lower storage areas should be easy to access and contain children's everyday items like their favorite toys, and even pajamas. As kids grow, they will learn good cleaning habits if you make it easy for them to help clean up by keeping things they are responsible for at their level. The upper storage areas can house toys that require adult supervision, clothes that are out of season, and other items of your child's you want to hold onto for sentimental reasons.
After you have created a space that functions well with your child's needs, you will want to bring you and your child's creativity into the space. Remember, your child's room should be a place where they can be comfortable expressing themselves freely. The best way to accomplish that is to give them several spaces in their room that they can create and display their own art. Many parents worry about children drawing on walls, but the reason kids are drawn to them is the large amount of open workspace they provide. In your child's room, why not give them a special wall they are free to draw on any way they like? Chalkboard paint can be applied to any wall to give your kids their very own creative space. If you do not want to paint the walls or if you live in an apartment and do not have the luxury of painting, many companies have created themed series of wall stickers that can be applied and easily removed to and from painted walls. If your child is old enough to handle the large stickers you can let them decide on the placement. Giving your child a creative place to display their art work and school work they are proud of will also help them demonstrate their own creativity.
Finally, unless you have the budget to make over a room every few years, you may want to make choices that can be adapted to your child's needs as they grow. One big mistake people make when choosing paint colors for a kids room, is choosing bright child like candy colored walls. Hot pink walls may be awesome for a 5 year old girl, but by the time she is 9 or 10 the color may seem a little babyish. When you are adding childlike elements to a room, use accessories and items that can be easily changed as your child grows. Invest in real pieces of furniture and other large items that will grow with your child.
