Planning a kid’s room is not a child’s play. It’s a quite complex process where an adult has to incorporate all the safety features and blend them with childlike fantasy.
The difference between child and an adult is that kid's ideas and liking change more rapidly thus they need a flexible environment.
Thus kids’ room decor needs to be less expensive and easily changeable.
Kids need separate areas for sleeping, playing and studying. They need more elbow space compared to adults. Similarly, younger kids need more floor space to spread out while playing.
Thus a typical room needs a bed, study table and storage. These three things are fairly stable provided they are designed futuristically. Thus it is wise to invest in these stable furniture pieces.
However, while decorating a room you can be as thrifty as possible.
Here are some ideas for low cost décor.
1) Preschoolers and toddlers love primary colors. These bright colors and complex patterns engage them for a longer time. The most inexpensive way to decorate their room is using paint. However, their tastes change too fast so it is not a good idea to paint the walls or furniture in primary colors.
The key is to keep these in neutral color. Instead,
a) You can make large murals on poster boards with complex patterns and colors and hang them.
If you are not comfortable with painting it on your own you can just stick pieces of colored paper and some pictures form the magazines or stickers.
These murals are not costly. They can be changed easily. You can make three or four of them and change them every week or fortnight thus giving your child the change of environment.
b) You can also hang posters discussing some science phenomena or some theme depending on the age of the kid.
2) Addition of a colorful area rug is another way of adding the color to the room. These rugs come in all sizes. Pick one most suitable to your kid’s need. Create a cozy corner with rug and lots of pillows. The kids love to snuggle down for reading or quite games there. You can also place a bookshelf next to it to define the purpose of the place. Kids of all age love something like this.
Play-mat is another alternative for rugs. They can be made at home from a twin bed-sheet with batting placed between two sides. You can make reversible play-mat by painting different designs on both the sides. Kids themselves can make these.
This is very important specially if siblings share the room. Each one can have a corner for them and they can choose their colors and theme.
3) Decorative shelving is another way of adding functionality and the charm to kid’s room. Buy simple, plain and inexpensive shelves or make them out of plywood. Paint them in desired color and decorate them with designs, motifs or stickers. Fix them to the brackets. They are great for displaying books and soft toys. Add few colorful knobs and all the things like bags belts, caps can go there.
4) For a temporary storage get some black or white metal carts that can be stored away when not in use.
5) As a rule of thumb storage in kid’s room should be accessible to them. If you have less floor space vertical storage becomes necessary. Then you can store all less frequently used items on top.
6) Inflatable furniture is a quick and inexpensive way to fulfill changing needs for furniture. It comes in variety of colors and designs and is appreciated by kids of all ages. It is also easy to store away when not in use or when more floor space is needed.
7) For preschoolers and toddlers, hang a large black board or white board on the wall at their level. This satisfies their need to write on the wall without actually doing so.
