Decorating bedrooms for toddlers / children (advice please)

[Knomester]

We are about to embark on decorating our loft room (currently a spare room) for our soon-to-be 3 year old. He is currently still in a cot in his little box sized bedroom which he has been in since he was a baby (there's enough room for a cot, a small chest of drawers, a chair and not a lot else...). We can't fit a bed into that room so we're having a wholesale change of room, furniture and decor.

The problem is that I really don't know what he will need in his room over and above the basics (bed, clothes storage, etc). We'd like to decorate the room in a way that means we won't need to redecorate in a few years' time and we'd also like it to be fairly neutral (i.e. not really 'boyish') because we're not so keen on that and in case a brother or sister ever comes along as they would share the room.

I've had a look at other Family Room threads which mention themes, wall stickers, etc which are helpful and I've also started trawling through websites (IKEA, NOTHS, Aspace, etc for ideas), but what I still can't get my head around is what furniture does a child of this age AND for the next say 7-8 years need. Lots of toy storage, clothes storage, a single bed....do I need to be thinking about a bedside table, a lamp (what sort), a desk and chair, somewhere comfy to curl up and read, a wardrobe???

I'd be super grateful for any advice or ideas or if you could just share what your children used / needed / would have liked from age 3 to the end of primary school.

Thanks so much...

[bluesuperted]

Following! It's really hard isn't it? We need to make a neutral large-ish room for our toddler boy and baby girl to share at some point... Really don't want to be boyish or girlie either. Interesting questions about future needs of older children as well...thanks for starting K!

[melbourne groover]

I find they do like to play up there so flexible play space and maybe a table height surface, whether that is the top of some drawers or a specific play table, as it does drive me slightly batty getting the call to get stuff up and down constantly!

We were at ikea recently and I think their storage drawers and cupboards combos look good where you can combine high and low storage and get a play space. Cheap, effective, reliable and not devastating if you need to change it in a few years...

Good luck!

And let me know if you want some affordable hand painted art for the walls.... www.facebook.com/amydevlinart

[Fuschia]

Expedit shelves with boxes for toys will grow with him

A bed with pull out trickle bed under good for sleepovers and patents sharing when he is ill

A gently glowing lamp fixed to the wall best to avoid risk of touching a hot bulb

[Ruffler]

Search children's bedrooms on Pinterest. It's great for inspiration and not addictive at all!

[imhoweb]

I have a wide range of wall stickers for selling, designed and produced by me.

Stickers come in different colours and size.

If you click the link below, you'll see the collection and all the details (size colour etc..)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58256669@N02/sets/72157634935400575/

I'm selling them for:

? 5.00 small design (frogs,life,woodlife, insect)

? 7.50 big design (all otheres)

[fl0wer]

He's probably a bit too young to say what his favourite themes are, but a large cork noticeboard is always welcome, so you can stick up paintings & add cards/posters/favourite pages from comics etc as time goes on.

I think those rugs which make it easy to collect up Lego are a good idea, also a light with a dimmer switch, also curtains which do exclude light efficiently, also a foldup bed for when a friend stays over. One single wall can be hung with a decorative paper, keep the rest of the colours soothing and airy.

Having read about allergies to fireproofing/insecticidal chemicals in new furniture, would also recommend thorough airing of all purchased pieces, including carpets and underlay. Department stores usually have a system of warehousing material to allow treatments to evaporate - but cut price places can sell you stuff that has sinister odours and effects. A little child receives a proportionately large dose, as well.

[Cazzab]

Also look on Remodelista.com. Amazing site for interiors inspiration

[GinaG3]

We have just done our daughters room. She absolutely loves it. Everything is packed away in built in wardrobes toys etc so I can just shut it away. We have the Ikea Kura bed which can be used forever as it even takes the weight of an adult and can be used as a four poster or a cabin bed. At the end of this we bought the stepped trofast unit to use as stairs, so she goes up the ladder and comes down the stairs, this also contains another mass of toys. I've put the old cotbed mattress underneath with loads of pillows to make a upcycled sofa section, with her play kitchen at the end but think that needs to come out as its too much, could have a small bookcase there instead. We also threaded old christmas lights round the bed. Other than her bed she just has a chest of drawers in her room. Its decorated with changeable items. Right now she is in to pirates so I picked up some pirate bedding and pirate flag and intend to put wall decals up and find some cushion covers from under the bed.

I was doing this on a tight, tight budget of less than ?300! We are limited to what we can do as we are in private rental as I would love to paint the room in blue and white stripes nautical theme! Try to upload a picture of what we have done.

[buggie]

That looks fab Gina :-)

Also watching with interest as we're getting a "big girl bedroom" ready for bugglet (exciting BH w/e of polyfila & painting coming up!)

[Helen GV]

That's lovely GinaG3!

[Knomester]

Thanks everyone - some great ideas here to get me started. The spare bed / truckle bed is something i hadn't thought of so I'll look into those. A trip to Ikea and some sofa time with pinterest is in order...

Gina - your daughter's room looks lovely!

If anyone has any other ideas, shops / websites to look at, advice, etc it would be most welcome.

[Passiflora]

This thread was started 6 years ago and still nobody seems to know how to decorate a toddlers room.