How to: Style a Child’s bedroom – from Pre-schoolers to Teens

If you are reading this looking for tips on ‘how to style a child’s bedroom’, you are probably past the first couple of years of sleepless nights, bedtime routines (what bedtime routine?) and blackout blinds (highly recommended by the way). Congratulations on getting this far in the extra-terrestrial zone known as parenthood.  As you’ll know, life with little ones is an endlessly joyful adventure, a mixture of total exhilaration and sheer exhaustion. There is probably no book written that can advise you on how to do it right.  Everybody’s experience is totally different and ever changing, and that’s how it should be. And the bedroom your children sleep in is an ever evolving space too. Which is hopefully where we can help.

Style a child’s bedroom – pre-school

At Go Modern we have lots of experience advising on children’s bedroom furniture.  From the design and style to the practical elements, for pre-school through to teens.  Some of us are parents too so we are on this interesting journey with you.  As a company we spent a long time looking for a manufacturer we thought could offer the quality and type of children’s furniture that would fit with our ethos. We found them in the shape of Nidi.  Nidi are Italian brand that is part of Battistella, one of our long established manufacturers, and who we know we can rely on for high quality, exemplary design and assured providence.  Plus an abundance of clever ideas.

Pre-schoolers are usually out of cots and past the toddler stage. But still wanting to spend hours playing.  Their bedrooms are their dens. In fact they aren’t bedrooms; they’re wild woods, the high seas, magic castles… little ones’ imaginations are incredible.  Which is what we also like about Nidi.  Their designers know that kid’s bedrooms should be places where the imagination is allowed to run wild.

 

Cot to bed

Your pre-schooler will probably have left their cot far behind but the initial transition to a ‘big bed’ can often be a bit daunting. At Go Modern we have beds that start at widths of just 88cm.  You can also add upholstered safety panels, guard rails, upholstered headboards etc.  Or simple panels running two sides of the frame which will offer ‘first timers’ that little bit of extra reassurance.

Style a child’s bedroom + storage

By the time children are hitting pre-school they will have clocked up three or four birthdays and the same number of Christmases.  Which is an awful lot of toys.  And much as we all love Lego, it should probably come with a health warning.  The pain of walking across a dark bedroom floor, scattered with sharp cornered bricks, is something that stays with you for a very long time. So if storage isn’t already an issue in your house, it soon becomes one.

This is where you might want to think about a multi-functional bed design. One that incorporates tons of clever storage space built into the design.

Nidi offers a multitude of beds.  The Indy bed, above, has deep, easy pull-out drawers for quick access to favourite games and toys. This particular bed also has an end extension.  Great as a small table/desk seat etc. or with shelves as a small storage unit.

Style a child’s bedroom + wardrobes

Children’s wardrobes are an obvious solution to storing clothes.  However, Nidi take the whole concept one step further.  Their children’s wardrobes include pull-out drawers, positioned at suitable heights for kids (encouraging them to put their own clothes away – although good luck with that one). They can also include sliding doors (creating more space for playing).  Plus end units with open or closed shelving which cleverly utilises space often overlooked. Alongside all of this they can be uniquely personalised with different handles and an amazing selection of colours. And as an added bonus, the internal fittings on offer also match those found in grown-up versions.  Think pull down rails, trouser racks, pull-out wire baskets, mirrors etc.

The sleep-over

This becomes a thing. It starts with play dates (we’re not sure what they used to be called… but that term is definitely a new import) and play dates quickly turn into sleep overs. When you style a child’s bedroom you need to bear this in mind. This is when investing in a bunk bed, trundle bed (pull-out bed) or both is a clever idea. Sorting out single bed ‘head to toe’ sleeping or negotiating who’s got the most duvet at 2 a.m. is not grown-up time well spent. Nidi makes sturdy, stylish bunk and trundle beds to suit any age.  If your child isn’t sure about using a traditional ladder for a top bunk, then opt for a design with inbuilt steps.  Nidi’s designers are also fantastic at making sure that every last centimetre of space is well used.  For example using built-in steps to double as extra storage.

The Gino design above is a great example.  It includes a traditional bunk bed, trundle bed, plus built-in steps to the top bunk including storage drawers.  There’s also an option of choosing a ‘tipping’ top mattress, which is one that folds down when not in use.

Style a child’s bedroom + safety

When they reach the age where you can leave them to play alone in their bedroom, it feels like another giant step for parent-kind. However, when choosing children’s furniture it goes without saying that safety should obviously always be the first consideration. Mattresses should be a minimum of 10cm below the top of the guard rail.  Steps up to the top bunk should be sufficiently deep and wide.  Blind cords should be out of reach and windows fitted with safety catches or locks so that sashes can’t be fully raised. Any free standing shelves should also be fixed securely to the walls (you see ‘book case’, your child sees ‘rugged mountain to climb’). The bedroom is now more than just their sleep area; it’s also a great place for adventures.

Accessories

The finishing touches are always the fun things.  Alongside small poufs, wall shelves, side tables and bedside drawers, Nidi offers soft furnishings too. All in a kaleidoscopic selection of great colours from zingy primary’s to subtle neutrals and pastels. Parrot-shaped rugs, stickers with fish and polar bears, wallpaper patterned with giraffes… when did it get to be so exciting? And if homework really has to be on the agenda at this age, make that fun too.

 

Play V Homework

Nidi offers children’s desks which are totally customisable.  Starting at just 60cm high and in a variety of widths, you can also choose from a wide selection of colours and finishes. We also have an amazing desk, the Graphic Rewritable (with a matching wardrobe) which has a re-writable whiteboard surface.

It’s designed to be dry-wipe clean so that if the finished art work displays an interesting knowledge of words you didn’t know they’d learnt, there needn’t be tears before bedtime.

So, once you’ve found designs and styles that can be adapted and that will grow with your children, we can leap forward to… ideas for the teenage years... 

…of which Go Modern has many!

In our experience (and yours too if you’ve reached this stage) you’ll start to see a lot less of them during daylight hours.  Teenagers’ bedrooms become their bunkers.

The bunk beds you invested in during the earlier years will still be getting great use, as those sleep-overs (aka ‘OK if my friends crash?’) becomes an even more regular occurrence.

Sleep V Study

There’s tons of research to show that… teenagers can sleep for Britain.  Which obviously means they need those extra zzzzz hours. It’s hard for all of us to remember but there’s a heck of a lot of stuff going on in teenagers lives.  Friendship issues, grades, self-esteem issues, maths tests… so keeping a room tidy is understandably fairly low down on the priority list.  Homework also steps up a pace too so having somewhere quiet and easy to do it in is definitely a help. But it’s also their sleep/relaxation space and it’s important to get the balance right.

Which is why we love the Nidi Tippy bunk bed which combines a desk and pull-down second bed. When the desk isn’t in use it simply pulls up and the second bed neatly folds up in its place.  There’s also lots of roomy storage space with pull-out draws tucked underneath the lower bed/desk. It’s a brilliant idea, and one that means friends can crash but allows the space to easily turn into an instant study area when it needs to be.

Keeping it all together

Another clever idea, and a great way of ingeniously combining where teenagers sleep with where they study, is Nidi’s Twiddy bed. Here the bed is designed to fold into the unit, while the desk smoothly slides up and down on discreet runners fitted either side. And there isn’t even the fag of having to put texts books away before the desk is put away for the night. It all stays neatly in place. As with all Nidi designs there are lots of great colours and finishing touches to choose from for the final look.

 

Teenagers like to lounge. Buy them a pair of ‘lounge pants’ and they’ll live in them.  It seems there’s no escaping it.  It’s a phase most of them outgrow (or some of us take forever more into our weekends). So the Niddi Bug sofa bed is a great way of giving them their own chill space as well as providing an extra bed space for when it’s needed. The back cushions are comfy for relaxing (aka revision) and the mattress has a lose cover for easy cleaning.

Wardrobes V Floordrobes

It’s a universally recognised fact that most teenagers have a blind spot when it comes to being able to identify a wardrobe.   But praise where praise is due, they’ve very cleverly created a multi-functional space of their own called the floordrobe. Most teenagers would score A* in their ability to totally comprehend this concept, while parents manage a bare pass in the subject.

Nidi hasn’t yet created a device for magically moving clothes from the floor to the wardrobe and drawers (they’re working on it) but they do offer a multitude of designs that make life easier for everyone along the way. From compartmentalised cupboards to open hanging rails, soft close drawers to walk in wardrobes, there’s an amazing amount of choice and creative ideas to inspire.

Sharing space

If your kids are still sharing a room at this age and regularly threatening to inflict serious damage on each other, finding a way of creating separate space for them is almost certainly an idea you should consider if you haven’t already.

A simple curtain separating one side of the room from the other is definitely worth a go.  Or how about incorporating a bookshelf as a practical room divider, which will also accommodate the ever growing piles of books and stuff.

Personalise and accessorise

Nidi’s choice of accessories is also something that can help with territory issues.  Most teenager will have definite ideas about their own style – so let them choose.  Nidi offers a variety of different rugs, wall units, mirrors and side tables… which will help them stamp their own personality on a space and may just save you from having to call in a UN Peace Corps.

For more great ideas on choosing and styling children and teenager’s bedrooms check out the bedroom section of the Go Modern website.