Your child’s room is more than just a place where they lay their head at night. It’s a place to call their own. It is a place in which your kiddo should be able to, within reason, express themselves, with kids’ colors and style rules.
Not only that
You don’t need to spend a fortune giving your child’s room a makeover. By items, you already have around the home or spending a couple of bucks at the dollar store, you can take a kids room from awful to awesome quicker than they can say “Mom, I can’t find my…..”
Hide Stuff So You Can See It
Parents often end up exasperated because their kiddos have tipped every last item thy own onto the floor, rummaged around a bit to ensure the whole room looks like a tornado has passed through it, picked up one item and walked off.
There are two reasons for this. First of all, they have emptied everything out because they are looking for a particular item. Second, your child is so focused on finding that one thing, that when they do, the mess ceases to exist and the annoying little buggers go off and carry on what they were doing before they created chaos.
To minimize the rummaging through every box in sight, choose storage items which are transparent, like the plastic boxes above. If the kids can see what’s in the boxes before emptying them out, you might have a fighting chance of some stuff staying in the cupboard.
Use Organizers
They call them treasures, you call them “bits and pieces of random junk with no discernable purpose.”
I say To-may-toes you say To-Mar-toes
Don’t waste time trying to sit with your kiddo and sort through their treasures. Unless, of course, you want to become embroiled in a conversation about the relative merits, or otherwise, of keeping half a mussel shell “because it is a nice shiny color inside” or similar.
Instead, try one of these ideas:
A Treasure Chest
Have your little one store all of their essential to keep treasures in a special box. This way they do not think you have consigned their “preciousies” to a dark corner of the cupboard and you do not have to look at the strange and wonder collections your child is spreading around their room.
These basic wooden boxes from Amazon make fabulous treasure chests and are perfect for you and your little one to decorate. If you are feeling that you want more of a treasure chest consider this one below.
Once you have the main core collection stored in the treasure box you can choose one spot in the room for “Treasure Displays” and have your child place two or three treasures there at a time. Every night or every weekend, depending on how you feel, you and your child can swap out the display treasures.
This also provides an opportunity to talk about what your child finds special about each treasure and to discuss where each item came from, what they were doing when they found it etc.
Hanging Bags
Buy clear plastic shoe bags and hang them on big, brightly colored hooks on the wall. Your child can fill the pockets with their “stuff.” Alternatively, you can hang a clear pocket organiser behind their bedroom door and use it in the same way.
Depending on your child’s age you could sort the treasures by color, alphabetically, or by any other method you can both come up with.
Hanging Tough
Hang a decorative rope or ribbon across one of the walls. You can find both thick ribbons and ropes in many different colours so it should be relatively easy to coordinate with the room.
We found ours at the dollar store, in the arty / crafty section.
Then use large, colorful, burnished steel, decorated, or wooden clothespins and hang photographs and your child’s artwork on it.
Safety Note
Only do this in a room where the child or children are old enough that a long line will not be a safety hazard. No matter how securely you attach something to the wall, there is always the possibility it will become detached and could then, potentially, pose a safety issue.
Think Color
Crayola makes some fun shades of paint for kids’ rooms, but remember-Paint isn’t just for walls. Look around your child’s room. What could use a splash of color? Ceiling fan blades, dresser tops, shelves, bed headboards or chairs can all be painted in accent colors.
Decorate For The Dark
Use glow-in-the-dark paint to add stars and planets, or any other cool design to your child’s ceiling. In the light of day, it’s nearly invisible. When the lights go out, they’ll have a softly glowing mural to lull them to sleep.
This is an especially good idea if your child is a bit of a space fan and has learned, or is learning, about the constellations.
Read a bedtime space-themed book by flashlight together and stop to find the relevant star groupings on the ceiling.
Get Creative With Furniture
Decorate an old chair or stool for an artistic piece of furniture in your child’s room. Lightly glue pictures, a map, or a montage of something that interests your child, onto the seat of the chair or stool. Decoupage over the top with several coats of decoupage medium, such as Mod Podge and paint the legs of the chair or stool with brightly colored paint.
This idea can be adapted to make memory furniture. You can print photos from a special event, or a vacation, from your computer and use these to decorate the furniture with.
Let Them Be Board
Turn your child’s bed headboard, the side of a dresser or even a shelf into a center for creativity. Paint any flat, relatively large section of a piece of furniture with magnetic paint and attach a holder for magnets. Magnetic poetry kits are fun, and teacher supply stores have artistic and educational magnets of all sorts. You can turn almost anything into a magnet with magnetic backing material, found in craft stores.
Alternatively, use chalkboard or dry erase paint, and attach a pen or chalk holder, to create an art station
Create A Kids’ Reading Corner
Buy an inexpensive beanbag chair and a few throw pillows. (If you have a sewing machine, make your own pillows using some of the new, novelty print fabrics available at fabric shops.) Paint a crate and turn it on its side to hold books.
If there is a window nearby, attach a window box on the inside, just below the window. Fill it with paperbacks, pencils, paper, a journal, bookmarks, and a mini reading light.
If neither of these work for you, use a sheet or a large piece of fabric which matches the look you are going for and create a reading tent.
Hang a strong string or a rope between two walls, and through a sheet or other piece of fabric over it. Either weigh the sides down with books or tie them off somewhere safe.
Don’t Forget The Fabrics
Think beyond curtains with a window in your child’s room. Attach scarves, beads, windsocks, or anything fancy or flighty to a curtain rod instead of a traditional curtain or valance.
You can use bedding, cushions, and other soft furnishings against a plain wall colour to liven up a room, then when your child decides that green is nolonger their favourite colour, you can swap to this weeks favourite without having to weild a paintbrush.
The Final Word
By using small, inexpensive items you can give your childs room a complete makeover for little in the way of $$.
My experience is that parents have all of the best ideas so – share your ideas here, I’d love to know how you give your kiddos room a fresh look without breaking the bank.
