Sometimes it’s difficult for adults to remember what it was like to be a kid: Restless with endless energy, humming with imagination and creativity, jumping from obsession to obsession because everything in the world is brand-new, a revelation.
If you have children, you know that all of this restless energy can make coming up with a kid’s room design an exercise in frustration, because if you manage to create something that’s in line with what the child is obsessing over this week, chances are they’ve left that behind for something else. Cowboys this week, knights next. Knights last week, dinosaurs this week. Keeping up is exhausting – and probably impossible. Instead, the secret to designing a room for a kid is to build that changeability right in.
Go Modular
The true key to kid’s room design is to bake in a modular approach that allows the child to take charge and arrange things to suit them. A good start is a set of modular furniture:
- Casters. Whether bought with casters already incorporated or by adding casters to the bottom of everything, having furniture on wheels will allow your little dynamo to re-arrange their room at any time, on their own, just by pushing everything into a new position. Bonus: Furniture on wheels allows for easy cleaning.
- Sculptural furniture. Many places sell modular children’s furniture that can be arranged in a cube and then pulled apart to make different configurations, and this not only allows the room to be very flexible, it gives the child a creative outlet as the modular piece goes from desk to bed to chairs and back to desk again.
Of course, furniture is only half the challenge.
Creative Walls
The art that decorates your child’s room also has to change constantly to reflect their ever-changing passions and interests. Here are a few strategies to create a changeable room for them:
- Cork-board. Covering one or more of the walls in their room with cork-board will allow them to pin anything they want to the walls, from complex art installations to party invitations to paintings and posters. Cork-board also allows them to change out all the wall art at any time, so their room can be reinvented at will.
- Chalkboard. Chalkboard paint on one or all the walls is another way to give your child the power to reinvent their personal space at any time – just add in a pack of multi-coloured chalk and an eraser, and see what they come up with!
- Temporary wallpaper. You can buy peel-and-stick temporary wallpaper in a wide variety of designs, allowing your little one to change their room’s look at any time just by peeling off the old and putting up the new! Get it in white and let them draw on it, then peel it off and put up fresh sheets.
In the end, your child’s imagination is their greatest asset, and encouraging it to develop will pay dividends for the rest of their lives. Allowing them to choose the art on their walls and the configuration of their furniture also means their room won’t need a major renovation until they move out – and who couldn’t use a twenty-year breather? If you’re looking for some high-quality wall art to complement their imaginative adventures, look no further: Click here for our collection of ideal kid’s room art.
