I will never forget the feeling I had when I discovered I was expecting my first child, Ella Grace (yes.. the namesake for this very blog). As you can imagine, my “nesting” instinct was STRONG and Ella’s first bedroom was a small expression of my love and need to care for her. Since then, I have decorated many more kid’s bedrooms. In that process, I have learned so much about what works well in kids bedrooms!
Can you relate? Do you want to create a mini haven for your child? An escape from the world where they can feel safe, loved and free to be entirely themselves? Everyone wants a comfortable cozy room for their child.
Unfortunately, I can’t travel the country redoing every kid’s room, I really wish that I could! But I CAN share some of my go-to tips for a kid’s room. What every room needs and maybe help to shed some light on what things aren’t necessary for an awesome kid bedroom!
Tips for Kid’s Rooms-
Good Sleep-
Black-out curtains are an absolute MUST! First and foremost, your child’s bedroom should be a place that is conducive to good sleep for them. This may look slightly different for every child, they could even help you come up with a sleep plan for themselves! For the most part, though, everyone likes to sleep in a nice, dark room. (I like these blackout curtains from Walmart.com). Our girls are older, pre-teen and don’t need blackout.
We also recommend a good diffuser and white noise machine. Difusing essential oils at bedtime are a great way to calm your mind and invite relaxation. Your brain will begin to tie the aroma of the essential oil to shut-down mode. Personally we like a little noise even from a fan.
A Place for Everything
In my experience, I have learned that a kid’s bedroom can quickly become a collection of every “treasure” your child discovers. Art supplies, Legos, notes, etc can take a room from classy to chaos in just a couple days! Every child is different, and some kids are going to be more attached to their collections than others.
Help them stay organized by giving them a place for everything (and reminding them to put everything in it’s place). Giving them a spot for the things that are special to them will also help them “weed out” the things that carry less importance. Rock collector? “Let’s pick our top ten favorites for this shelf.” You get the idea. Or I have given my girls a drawer. Baskets are a great way to keep things organized! I loved this basket for stuffed animals, such a great price for a large basket!
Books
Every child’s room should have a place for books. There is almost nothing that makes my heart sing like seeing my kids curled up with a book. It is the best thing they can do for their minds and imaginations! Encourage book-loving by creating dedicated book storage in your child’ room. Our bookcase isn’t available anymore, but this bookcase is a really great option from Walmart. Or even a nice sturdy basket for books, like this basket that we put our holiday books in!
Toys and Play
Let’s face it, kids aren’t kids for as long as we want them to be! Far too quickly, they “age out” of toys and their play becomes work. Although I don’t love to have a bunch of toys lying around, I do love to hear my kids creatively playing in their rooms with their toys! I have found the best way to keep toys is in easily-accessible bins and baskets. As a bonus, this makes clean up a breeze for even the smallest family members! We also utilize closets for toy storage. We have always only kept toys in bedroom, mostly because of lack of space and also it really helps to keep our home tidy.
Tip- start at a young age teaching kids to clean up before moving onto the next thing. Early on Finn knew to put toys away before starting a puzzle or going out to play. And he sure is proud of his clean room.
Creativity
I was surprised how much more time my girls spent in their room being creative when we added their desks. They really came in handy this year when they have been doing part of their schooling at home. Lately, Finn has been asking for a desk in his room, too, so we added this darling desk and stool for him to “work” and create on!
Don’t let the color of a new desk or piece of furniture to stop you from getting it. The price of this desk was good, so I decided to paint it. We wanted to paint the desk in our favorite mustard yellow to match his dresser. The dresser came painted, so we took a chip out of the back (you could take in a drawer or a pillow etc) and had it matched at the paint store. I like painting furniture in Behr Chalk Decorative Paint and then seal it with a Behr Chalk Decorative Wax (I used the white).
We even painted this Desk with a Metal Base for the girls bedroom! They use it everyday for distance learning. You can read about the makeover here.
One of my go-to places for finding affordable and stylish decor and furniture for kids room is Walmart.com!
Kids Room Favorites from Walmart-
- Easel
- Black-out Curtains
- Set of two baskets
- Large Floor Basket (we have 19″ h)
- Kids Table and Chairs
- Kids Writing Desk with Chair
- Bookcase with sliding bottom storage
- Small Gray Bookcase
- Wall Hook
- Black and White Tent
- Desk with Metal Base (we have in girls room, here)
monica says
Agree with much of this and love Finn’s room- especially that ceiling. Have a couple of notes: If your kids get used to needing total darkness or white noise machines to sleep they may have trouble sleeping elsewhere, like at a friends house or traveling. Agree that this may be necessary for babies but as they get older I think that would be good to have room darkening but not blackout – when they are teens you will want them to wake up at some point- especially for school and many studies say waking to natural light is best for overall brain and sleep health My niece who always had her own room, became used to having a fan for white noise. This caused issues when she slept over her cousins or friends houses because not everyone is set up to have a fan in the room at all times, and it can actually disturb the other kids in the room. She had a major issue when she went to college and had a roommate and now has to sleep with earbuds in , which is uncomfortable, and white noise so as not to disturb her roommate!
[email protected] says
I actually like the white noise too! I never had it as a child, but after having Finn we started to get used to the ocean waves!
So we sleep with a fan that makes a little sound.
We prefer blackout for younger kid’s, my girls don’t have blackout because they don’t nap like a younger kids might.
And we don’t allow sleepovers so we don’t have to worry about that 🙂 but a roommate for sure that can be an adjustment for everyone!
Thanks for your comment ♥️
Jessica-Marie says
Hello! Thank you for sharing your styling tips 🙂
I’m interested in the small gray bookshelf but link for it doesn’t seem to be working.
[email protected] says
Sorry! HERE is the link
Jessica-Marie says
Thank you!! ❤️
Tia says
Hi Brooke! I can’t get the small gray bookcase link to open. Would you be able to check it? Thanks so much!
[email protected] says
Sorry! That was weird- HERE is the link
Bree says
Hi Brooke,
I’m interested in the easel, but didn’t see a link for it!
Thanks!
[email protected] says
HERE it is!
Jessica says
I’m interested in the desk that Finn is sitting at but don’t see a link. Thanks!!
[email protected] says
Sorry that is confusing! We painted the brown desk that mustard. It is THIS desk.