6 Ways You Can Update Your Child’s Bedroom

Whether it be because your child is getting that bit older or you simply feel it’s a good idea to spruce up their bedroom, the right changes can make a big difference.

Along with providing the potential to create a more inviting, positive environment for your child and their friends, updating their bedroom can future proof it so that it remains appealing to them as they reach new milestones.

6 Ways You Can Update Your Child’s Bedroom

1. New Bedroom Furniture

Firstly, you may simply find that your child’s bed needs replacing as they grow. To give an example, you may want to swap out a cot for a child’s bed if you have a particularly young child.

For older kids, either their current bed may be too small or it’s the design itself that’s the issue. All in all, swapping out their bed or/and the mattress will be most important where it’s required for safety reasons.

Beyond that, if the bed itself is safe and sufficient for your child to continue using, in most cases, simply replacing the cover and pillow cases with new ones should suffice to upgrade your child’s bed to something that feels better suited to their current age. Again, assuming that they want an upgrade.

2. Additional Storage Space

More storage space may be needed as your child grows and develops. Over time, a child can accumulate more clothes, toys and accessories. Whatever the case, adding more storage space and ideally in a seamless manner can help limit clutter.

Some ideas to consider (with certain options being better suited to given age groups) include the following:

Chest of drawers
Storage boxes
A new bed with built-in storage
Suitable shelves
Storage baskets with specific themes (e.g. animals)

Ultimately, it’s important to consider the right type of storage for your child and their room. Ideally, storage spaces added should be able to limit clutter in the short-term and achieve the same in the years ahead as your child will potentially have greater storage requirements.

3. Repaint Walls or Add New Wallpaper

Simply repainting the walls of your child’s bedroom or/and adding new wallpaper can give the space a whole new lease of life.

If painting, you’ll want to consider whether to stick with the existing colour or to paint the walls a new colour. If looking for a change, it’s important to carefully consider how this might impact on the space as a whole. 

Beyond that, changing the colour of a wall can be challenging depending on exactly how the existing colour and the proposed new paint colour differ. Therefore, always follow the manufacturer’s instructions and hire a professional if needed.

Wallpapering is another approach you might want to take. If you’ve found some standout designs that would suit your child’s preferences and fit well with the overall look and theme of their bedroom, it might be worth considering having wallpaper added rather than repainting the walls. Again, always follow the manufacturer’s guidance and, if in doubt, hire a painter or decorator to install the wallpaper for you.

4. New Decorations

Along with changing the wall colour, you may want to make further alterations by decorating your child’s bedroom.

Some popular decorations to consider adding to your child’s bedroom include:

Bean bag
Wall mural
Small carpet or rug (incl. Colourful or/and themed options)
Magnetic feature wall
Wall decals
Wall stickers
Glow-in-the-dark decorations (incl. Wall stickers)
Wall apart that spells out your child’s name

5. Consider a Reading Corner

For a child that has begun reading, you may want to consider adding a reading corner. This could act as a space for them to read leisurely (which could prove beneficial for any child growing up in the highly digitised modern world). 

Alternatively, or in addition, the reading corner could be used for them to read books related to their education (e.g. a novel they are reading for school). 

That said, there is arguably a big advantage to dedicating a reading corner to leisurely reading while keeping homework limited to another space (e.g. at a desk or at the kitchen table). This way, your child will hopefully end up associating the reading corner with leisure and enjoy reading in their spare time.

6. Tween-friendly Updates

Finally, if you have a tween (i.e. a child aged 11 to 13) or a child that is about to enter those years, there are many specific updates you may want to consider for this time that bridges early youth with adolescence.

Some ideas worth considering are:

New wall murals
High sleeper beds (often featuring a built-in desk beneath)
Swapping out or simply removing aspects and features of your child’s bedroom that no longer appeal to them
Hooks and coats for clothes and their school bag
More sophisticated decorations
Seating that is ergonomic for an older child*

*Not having the right seating could prove an issue as a child gets older, potentially leading to posture issues and back/neck pain problems over time.

With all that said, while there is plenty of food for thought with these six standout approaches, you should keep an open mind about contacting an interior designer if you are stuck or want to better develop your ideas.

Do you have plans for a bedroom makeover this year?