What do children want?
Loads of space to play, not have to pick up after themselves, and huge bare walls to unleash their inner Picasso on!
What do parents want?
They want their children to be reasonable. Not create a lot of ruckus, not draw or paint on the walls, not leave their toys littered all over the place, and basically be sensible and responsible little things.
We can see the root of the problem now. What we want from our kids, and what the kids want for themselves, is diametrically opposite.
Is there a way we can reconcile this? Can we actually have good-looking and neat rooms for our children?
Fortunately, the answer is yes. But for that to happen you will have to let go of your own strong ideas about what your children’s rooms should be like, and tap into their personalities to inform how you should change or upgrade their rooms.
Let’s look at a few smart solutions for dealing with kids’ mess and in the process create beautiful, highly functional, and child-friendly bedrooms.
But first, take all the adult stuff out.
You know what we mean. Expensive curtains, vases, artifacts, work stations, glass tabletops. Anything that is expensive, too classy, or is simply of no use to your children, remove it from their room.
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Set Your Kids up for Success
How does one do it?
By setting up the room to meet their needs, not your desires.
We all know the biggest problem with children is that they don’t understand the importance of putting things back in their place. So help them get around this problem by expanding the storage area. Invest more in storage solutions that are easy to use. Hang multi-colored calendars or huge to-do lists on a wall to serve as reminders of what they need to do before going to bed.
Create Interesting Storage Solutions
With kids it’s pretty simple. If you want them to pay attention to something, you will have to make it interesting for them. So if you want your children to tidy up after themselves, you are going to have to give them simple to use but interesting looking storage solutions for that. Wardrobes and drawers are no good, I’m afraid. Everybody has these in their rooms and yet half the stuff remains lying outside of them, and all over the place!
We recommend you go for colorful wicker baskets placed along the walls on the floor, easy for children to reach out to and dump their stuff in.
While a variety of colorful baskets are available in the market, you can simply spray paint an existing one and turn it into an eye-catching thing for your kids. It is preferable to opt for big baskets with lids, to amplify the storage space as well as keep all the clutter hidden. Choose a different colored basket for each of your child’s needs — blue for toys, green for stationery, red for clothes, yellow for story books, etc.
If you don’t want the baskets to be on the floor, create a compartmentalized structure (refer to the picture above) and assign a different colored basked to each of those compartments. If the baskets are all in the same color, label them accurately so the kids know what goes where.
Go for Funky Toy Organizers
You can have a lot of fun with these yourself. Have any old IKEA racks or refrigerator trays lying around? Turn them into toy organizers for your kids!
Wall toy organizers clear up the space on the floor so you can use them to stack a few of your kids’ (non-heavy) things.
Coat the Walls in Washable Paint
Give your children a wall in their room that they can draw, sketch, and paint on to their heart’s content. You know it’s very likely that little kids will be tempted to do so anyway. Designating a wall for this purpose will at least limit the damage.
More importantly, paint your walls in the washable variety of paint. The kind on which nothing sticks, not even crayons used with all a child’s might!
If painting the walls is not on the cards, install a chalkboard somewhere and direct your kids to scribble on it however much they want. Whatever you do, you need to make sure you allow your children access to some “creative” outlet or the other. Expecting them to respect the walls all the time is simply not going to work.
DIY Art Displays
Chuck out boring paintings from your children’s room and instead install a board on one of the walls.
Encourage your children to draw or paint and put on their best creations on this wall. An art display of their own!
Opt for Child-Friendly Furniture
Depending on how old your kids are, any type of furniture can become a danger for them. Some kids are just little bundles of energy who love running around without watching where they are going. Tripping, slipping, or simply banging head long into something is always a possibility.
We recommend you get rid of any furniture from your kids’ room (or from your entire house) that can be easily toppled.
Carpet the entire place, especially if you have toddlers in the house. Carpets cushion the fall and can be the difference between minor and serious injuries on a concrete floor.
For chairs or couches in your children’s room, opt for fabrics that are stain-resistant or washable. Leather is usually a good bet. Wooden furniture is better than iron or glass furniture.
Give the Room a Theme
Tap into your kids’ likes and dislikes to come up with themes for their bedroom.
If your son has a crush of sorts on Batman, get a superhero-inspired theme for his room. If your daughter is stuck in the fairy/princess mode, a Disney theme would do wonders.
A nerd’s room would look different than a sports lover’s. And a kid who has a keen interest in nature and wildlife, get him a wall-size poster of his favorite animal or landscape.
There are many ways you can have fun with this. Involve your children in doing up their room and have fun along the way! And remember, if they slip up every now and then, which they will, don’t make a fuss about it. Messes and clutter are a part of growing up. As long as your kids know that there is something at hand for the clutter to be directed to, it’s a job well done!
Author Bio:
Erin is fond of home decoration and DIY and loves to organize her home in unique and beautiful ways. She often reaches out to others over the internet by sharing her ideas on various blogs.
