After the excitement of designing a beautiful nursery for your little bundle of joy, comes the realisation that the ‘baby’ stage has flown by and you now have a toddler on your hands. Out goes the cot and change table, and in comes a whole new set of needs, and decorative challenges, including a finger-painted feature you hadn’t bargained on.
Of course life goes on, and after a rather messy blur, the toddler years are over too, and you’re into pre-school, primary school and the ‘tween’ years. You’ll need to update your little one’s room every so often – that’s part of the fun – but you’ll probably want to avoid having to completely re-do everything four times in ten years.
Here are 4 ideas – a mixture of functionality and fun – to help make sure your kid’s room lasts the distance.
1. Choose your basics carefully
The most important basic is, of course, the bed. This might seem like an easy choice, but it’s worth thinking a few years ahead. Will you choose a single bed, or up-size to a king single – with 15cm of extra length, it will be worth it once they start growing quickly.
If you want to make sleepovers easy, it might be worth thinking about two singles, a trundle bed or a bunk, depending on the size and layout of the room. Snooze’s ‘Charlie’ bunk has a range of combinations, including the traditional single over a single, but also a king single over a king single and a single over a double, all available in a choice of 5 different colours to suit your style.
2. Incorporate flexible storage
You’ll need as much storage as you can get, full stop. It’s rare for kids to be ruthless minimalists. For this reason, it’s a great idea to incorporate low height storage shelves they can access themselves.
You’ll also need storage options for clothes and shoes, and it helps to have extra space (which can be at adult-height) for extra bedding, out of season clothes, toys or books. Once the toy years are over, your tween will be able to use the space for more clothes. A mix of open and closed storage provides visual interest and the opportunity to display some of those treasured artworks.
3. Limit the ‘theme’ element
It can be tempting to go all-out on the Frozen theme, or create a pirate wonderland in a small child’s room. The problem happens in 9 – 12 months when the obsession is over, and they’ve moved on to something else. Suddenly, it’s less yo-ho-ho and more ho-hum. For this reason, it’s great to avoid too much character or theme-based decoration. Choose a colour palette and stick with it for the paint and large furniture items, and let them go crazy on themed or trend items in a more contained way.
