What are the Best Decorating Ideas for Kids' Bedrooms?

When decorating kids' bedrooms the first thing to do is to choose a color scheme or a theme. Keep the size of the room, the child's age, and his likes and dislikes in mind. Kids' bedrooms should be fun and whimsical yet age-appropriate and functional.

Color plays an important role in the decor of any room. If a theme is being used in the room, take colors from the theme to use for the walls and accessories. Themed items can be used for the bedding, window treatments, wall decor, and other accents. If a child has a favorite color, incorporate that into the design. If it's a bright or bold color, such as neon green or orange, use a muted tone of the shade, or paint only an accent wall in that color.

There are many bedroom themes for kids' bedrooms. Some popular young boys bedroom themes are cars and trucks, superheroes, and sports. For older boys, sports cars and camouflage decor is popular. For young girls, popular themes include fairies, butterflies and ponies, while pop stars and animal prints are more popular with older girls.

To decorate a baby's bedroom or nursery choose either a neutral or gender-specific theme and colors. Farm animals, alphabet letters, and character themes are good for both boys and girls, as are the colors yellow and green. For a baby boy's nursery, trains, dinosaurs, and teddy bears are popular and shades of blue, brown and red make good color choices. For a baby girl's nursery, popular choices include bugs, butterflies, and flowers along with the colors pink and purple.

Once a theme has been chosen, incorporate it into the room. Paint the walls a color that complements the overall theme and add a decorative wallpaper border or vinyl wall decals to add some flair. Choose bedding, decorative pillows, window treatments, and an area rug that match the room's theme.

An important consideration in kids' bedrooms is storage. Provide enough storage for items such as toys, books and stuffed animals. There are many storage options available, from toy chests and storage bins to book and toy shelves. If the room cannot accommodate a toy chest or bookshelf, store toys in under-the-bed boxes or designate an area of the closet for storing these items.

Children grow quickly and they can soon outgrow a room that had been designed for them only a short while earlier. Keeping that in mind, try to design a kids' bedroom that will grow with the child by choosing main features in the room that will not need to be changed. Lighting, carpeting, and wall colors can remain the same for several years if they are colors and styles that can grow with the child. This way, when the room is ready for an update, only the bedding and accessories will need to be changed.