The parents’ job is to make sure a child’s room is a safe place in which to play and sleep. It’s up to you to work within a budget and to execute the ideas, especially for the little ones. And it’s the parent who will be thinking about storage space and study space and furnishings that will grow with the child.

The important thing is to deal with is the clutter, according to Darcy Lundgren, a professional residential and interior designer and co-owner of Dade Gallery in Inglewood. “Kids accumulate stuff and organizing their space is important, having neat shelves and bins where they can put away their toys and clothes and that is easily accessible to them should be a priority.”

He says closets can be arranged to have a combination of hanging rods and shelves, and maybe even some plastic bins that are readily available to put away toys.

“Designing kids’ rooms should be fun but you do need to put some order to it, it’s about organizing the kid not so much as the kid being organized,” Lundgren adds.

Maximizing the space is crucial, as kids’ rooms are smaller. Shelving and clothes pegs behind doors work well, having furniture with multiple purposes are good, like beds with pull-out drawers underneath or low dressers that can also be a nightstand.

Lundgren says, you don’t have to buy new furniture, and you can just re-purpose old pieces or give them a new coat of paint to use in a kid’s room. “There are also a lot of stores in Calgary that sell vintage furniture that are built sturdier and have more character than some of the new stuff around.”

Colour is the best way to create character in a kid’s room, says Furniture Connection’s Olga Brovkina, a design consultant who does a lot of home staging work. “Many parents fail to realize the influence a room’s colour can have on the behaviour of the child, I’ve often seen children’s rooms in dark reds or blues and this just ends up energizing kids who really don’t need that much stimulant to begin with. Also, solid colours make the room seem smaller.”

Brovkina opts for softer, more subtle colours, although you can have bright colours in small doses in certain spots of the room. “You can use bright colours to accent a room, to direct the eye, but not so much that it completely overwhelms.” She recommends having a maximum of four colours to a room.

The bed would be the single biggest item in the room, and both Lundgren and Brovkina suggest that having one that ages with the child is best. “Bunk beds are always a good idea, as kids will always have friends over anyway, or you can always use the top bunk as bed and use the bottom half as study space,” he says. “Stay away from the Lightning McQueen beds and the like, which kids may like at the time but will outgrow shortly, besides these kinds of beds do tend to overwhelm a room.”

Brovinka agrees. “These kinds of beds can be garish, the same with beddings with superhero designs, they can be a bit much.”

She suggests that kids can still make their room their own by having their toys and memorabilia in one spot, a shelf where they can display their favourite dolls and action figures that can establish their identity and mark the room as their own much better than a Spiderman bed sheet can.

IKEA always has some great deaign ideas in organizing. They always have some innovative products that make organizing fun for kids,” Lundgren says.  NL


Safety first
The saying “better safe than sorry” applies doubly so in a kid’s room. Here are some tips from HGTV’s Barbara Dingle on how to make your child’s bedroom safe and kid-friendly.
1.     Furniture should be sturdy and well built.
2.     Remove locks and heavy lids from storage containers.
3.     Secure open shelving or bookcases to the wall so that they cannot topple over if a child decides to climb or hang from them.
4.     Avoid sharp edges and corners on beds and tables.
5.     Install overhead lighting. If a lamp or other electrical equipment is used, tape the cord down behind furniture and use a safety plug.
6.     The cords on Venetian window blinds are a hazard. Choose roller blinds or curtains that are securely installed.
7.     When decorating, use non-toxic latex (water-based) paint on walls and furniture.
8.     When decorating, if you are using a ladder or there are open cans of paint, remove small children and pets from the room.
Source: http://www.hgtv.ca