How often do you redecorate your kid's room? Once every two years? Five? Unless you want to change it up completely every couple of years, the room needs to grow along with your child, from toddler to school age, and beyond. Here are some basic tips:
Keep it in Neutral: Invest in good basic furniture early on that will last your child a while. He'll outgrow that fun, bright race car bed faster that you can say Ferrari, and no thirteen-year-old boy wants to stare at grinning gnomes on the walls at night. Keep it ageless and classic instead. It's much easier to repaint than to steam and strip wallpaper, and you won't have to fold up your growing boy's legs when you put him to bed. See? Everyone's happy.
These three key pieces above will transition nicely over time:
• Mid Century style bed from Land of Nod
• String Pocket Shelving from Atomic Interiors
• Wooden Stump Stool from West Elm
Have Affordable Fun: Now, layer in the other stuff, depending on the age of your child and your budget. Pillows, bedding and artwork are easily swapped out. The room will likely become less theme-y once your child has more input. In the meantime, there's no need to go broke while he figures out if he's really going to be a fireman, or actually a goth skateboarder.
Add Some Permanent Flexibility: Include a space that they can control themselves and change themselves at will. Whether it's a bulletin board, chalk board or a particular shelf, they can show off what they are most interested in at that moment.
Our three pieces, paired with toddler-appropriate accessories and decor:
• ABC Print from Land of Nod
• Half Moon Cylinder Pillow from Ferm Living
• Fire Kit Lamp by Skitsch
• Bear Rug from Node
And, again, with a slightly older aesthetic:
• Paint by Number Art Block from StudioLiscious
• Lapa Pillow from Fab
• Industrial Sconce from Urban Outfitters
• Ikat Rug from Target
I won't even guess what your teenager's room will look like, but it will no doubt include some poster of 19-year-old Suri Cruise once her career takes off.
(Images: as linked above)
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One thing this post forgets. That pretty West Elm stump table will get drawn on. Parents should be prepared to deal with that.
I just like how the tips are presented here, they are concise and straight to the point.
I feel like it's time again...my kids' rooms are the easiest to decorate - all inhibitions go by the wayside mixing colors. This time they both want to participate, too.
Can anyone suggest a cheaper version of the Urban Outfitters industrial sconce? I like the look but seems overpriced for what it is.
MCM is NOT "neutral". It's trendy right now. When your kid is 15 it probably will not be. I'm sure my mom picked "neutral" and "timeless" pieces for my nursery in 1980 but guess what, it's not timeless anymore.
I see lots of free stumps all over the place, no need to spend big bucks. Craigslist often has free firewood listed when people cut trees down in their yard, be a good place to start. Don't forget to involve the kids in all this decorating frenzy, after all it's their room. Do some DIY with them, they'll love it.
maynelander
That's a good idea, but it should be mentioned that he stumps you get for free need to be dried and seasoned for a while. There is some extra work involved to get the free (fresh new wood) stump into table material. You also want to make sure it is free of insects and rot. There are tutorials online with specifics.
I second nellymom. It's nice to think you're buying something timeless, but there's really no way to know. Fashion spreads do this all the time, especially with trench coats. "They're timeless!" they shout, "buy an expensive one!" Well, yes, the concept is kind of timeless, but the cuts change remarkably over time and very, very few things stay in style decade after decade.
It might possibly come back into style, but in the meantime...
Who is arguing that MCM is not neutral?? Do you know how many decades that stuff has been in style? The current mainstream resurgence it has been experiencing has been going on for at least a decade, but it has never gone out of style a single time since the pieces were first designed more than 60 years ago. No one who isn't completely style deficient is ever going to look at an Eames piece and say "oh GROSS lookit this awful chair" unlike the aforementioned orange oak monstrosities of the 80s.
A word of warning about Land of Nod wood furniture: We bought very expensive Land of Nod furniture for our son's room four years ago. It has not weathered well. It took only a matter of months for the stain/varnish on his solid wood dresser to start look like there was air in the finish causing half of it to appear shiny. We also bought a bookcase that has completely warped under the weight of his books.
Our take away from this disappointment was to cease buying wood furniture from Land of Nod/Crate and Barrel. It looks like Room and Board but wears like Ikea. We bought our son's bed from Room and Board...and it looks to last much longer.
I love that campfire lamp, but at 130 euros, it seems both pricey and fragile for a toddler's room!
Is there a difference between kids beds and adult beds, aside from range of sizes? I remember a salesman at REI telling me once that women's sleeping bags generally have a bit more insulation in the feet, since women tend to get chillier feet while sleeping. I'm just kind of curious if there was a similar piece of inside info about adult vs kids beds?
At any rate, I would think any bed designed knowing a kid might end up jumping on it, can probably handle the kinds of things I have in mind. I want the Full size of that bed, for real.
MCM can indeed be neutral. I got my first piece in the early 1990s, so if it's a trend, it's been going for an awfully long time. Maybe it's popping up more since the reproduction market took off, but depending on one's aesthetic (and maybe location? It's always been somewhat popular in southern California, where I'm from), it's pretty timeless.
More generally, I love this idea. As we replace outgrown or worn out pieces, we are trying to only replace them with items that will withstand the test of time—solid materials, shapes we're truly excited about, etc. Over time, it will be more cost effective (not to mention less wasteful) than getting cheaply built furniture. So we bought our two boys Webster twin beds in natural steel from Room & Board. They're made in the USA, sturdy enough to last, not easily stained/marked up, and can be refinished if necessary. My hope is that after they're gone from the house, the beds could be used in a guest room. The kid elements are in the accessories—dinosaur sheets (they're 2 and 4), bright walls, and fun posters.
Hi - I'm the CEO of Land of Nod. I hate that you have had bad luck with our furniture - quality is really important to me. Your pieces should have worn better. I would love to rectify this - please contact me at michelle@landofnod.com
Thanks
Michelle Kohanzo
Holler, there's no difference between kids' beds and adult beds other than sizes. In fact, when our kids outgrew their crib-that-converted-to-a-toddler bed, we skipped over the next kid sizes and went straight for full size beds. Sure, the beds were roomy when the kids were really small, but the full size beds will see them through high school (and beyond). Saved a ton of money. The only reason I could see buying a single/twin size bed would be if you didn't have room for something larger.
Sadly, we had a very similar experience with Crate and Barrel.
Really? My ex husband and I bought our dining table from C&B and it was amazing. Solid mango wood. Woods like that have a maintenance routine that you have to do every now and then to keep up their appearance, so if you maybe forgot or decided to skip that part I can see where you had trouble...
So annoying that I can't edit my post! But I wanted to add that we had a very naughty pug who would jump up on the dining bench we had on one side and then onto the table pretty much every day at least twice a day. Usually at top speed. Emphasis on "naughty". The table still looked great.
Michelle, I sent you some photos and look forward to hearing from you.
Perhaps the finish/treatment of your Mango wood is better--I'm very glad it has withstood your naughty pug's best efforts. We have many pieces of nice, much older, wood furniture that hasn't warped, spotted or chipped as these two pieces have. To be fair, we have C&B couches and Land of Nod accessories that we enjoy. Our only complaint is w/the wooden furniture.