Delightful Decorations!

By: Suzie Nassar

Check out these tips to make your child's room look great!

When you think of designing your child's bedroom, one important factor should override all others – children grow up quickly. The furniture, décor, and storage space that was adequate one year becomes outgrown, outmoded or inappropriate the next. The room itself also takes on new functions as the years go by. A bedroom usually starts off as a nursery, then a playroom, but then becomes a place for entertaining friends, playing music, studying and using the computer. The design should therefore be flexible, with furniture shelves and worktops that can be easily extended, converted or discarded as time goes by.

Before you buy anything for your child's room, first think carefully of function. To utilize the space in the most efficient way possible, each piece of furniture must function according to your child's needs. This will also ensure that the room stays organized and clutter-free.

Baby's Room

Not much furniture is needed for a baby's room, but try to incorporate items that will be useful as your baby grows. For example, a crib that can be converted into a toddler's bed is a good idea as well as short cupboards with deep shelving that can be used for many years afterwards.

An essential item in a baby's room is a changing table. This is most efficient when the table is of comfortable height for the mother, and serves as more than just a changing table. It can have other features such as a chest of drawers or a small cupboard (underneath the table itself). The changing table does not have to come ready-made, any suitable sturdy piece of furniture can be used by gluing a piece of thick sponge to the top then covering it with a washable plastic fabric. A shallow safety shelf or rail can be added to the sides to stop baby from falling.

To have everything on hand when changing baby such as diapers, cotton and cream, a shelf or shallow cabinet can be mounted above the changing unit. This can also be decorated by adding a selection of stuffed toys on top.

Don't forget to include a comfortable chair for nursing baby (you can co-ordinate the fabric to tie in with the color scheme of the room). Remember that baby will very soon outgrow this room so keep the décor simple and easy to change and don't spend too much money on decorations or furniture that will need to be replaced in a very short time.

Layout of Furniture

Whatever shape of room you have, rectangular or square, small or large, furniture placement will always depend on the position of the door and window/s, and how much room is left on either side that can be used efficiently. Bear in mind that children need maximum floor space to run around freely without banging into the furniture. For example, a bed is often the biggest item in a child's room, so place it parallel to and against the longest wall; to do otherwise will drastically reduce floor space.

Only fitted furniture fits perfectly, so if you have this option go for it rather than a ready-made solution. The average 'unfitted' bedroom is quite the opposite of the 'fitted' solution because you end up with a collection of different sizes, shapes, and styles placed wherever they can be squeezed in, rather than where they should be.

Storage Space

Storage is always a problem in a child's bedroom. Space has to be found for clothes, books and toys, which all accumulate rapidly as the child grows up. A wall-to-wall closet (plaquard) usually maximizes storage space because you can use the top half of the closet to store 'out of season' clothes or toys that your children have outgrown. Closets with deep shelves are also more suitable than closets with a lot of hanging space because kids' clothes usually need to be folded rather than hung. When a child grows up and more hanging space is needed, some of the shelves can be taken out and a hanging pole inserted instead.

Sliding doors for closets are not that practical as it is difficult to see all the clothes at a glance. Likewise, drawers are not as practical as shelves. You may just need a couple of shallow ones for socks etc.

Additional shelving can be arranged around the walls of the room, where it will not interfere with traffic flow, window/s or the door. The shelves can be fitted on adjustable brackets so that their height can be increased as the child grows taller.

A long work surface is more practical than a desk as it will serve long term interests from crayoning and painting to homework and board games. Wipeable surfaces are essential for the worktops.

Don't forget to utilize the space under the bed. A multitude of plastic kitchen boxes can be stored under the bed containing smaller items such as crayons, paints, puzzles etc. These boxes are easy for children to access, and most importantly clear away quickly after using them.

Undoubtedly toys are the biggest source of clutter in kids' rooms so it is worth spending a few hours organizing them. Put the toys in clear plastic containers according to categories such as dolls, cars, puzzles, board games etc. and label each container. Whatever organization you decide on encourage your kids to participate in determining the way items are sorted and labeled. Not only will they have a better sense of where things are, but they will also learn how important organization is.

Wall mounted large square cubicles are also a great solution for kids' toys, books etc. A small desk can be built to fit underneath the cubicles, either facing the wall (directly underneath the cubicles) or coming out sideways from the wall (perpendicular to the cubicles). Pocket holders are also great for kids' storage and can be hung almost anywhere, on the backs of doors, inside closet doors etc.

Window seats with storage space underneath can also add storage space in the room (the sponge seat cover can coordinate with other fabrics in the room).

General Hints for Making Rooms Appear Bigger

Stay away from dark colors. However, this does not limit your choice to just white! Yellow is a nice color for a child's room, as well as many other attractive suitable choices for kids' rooms. Ready-mixed paint colors are now available in every shade.
Try to keep the flooring in a light color as well to reflect the lighting upwards into the room. A wooden floor (the preferred choice in Egypt) is the best flooring to use in childrens' rooms, but make sure the color is not too dark otherwise the room will look smaller. MDF wood flooring is available in numerous shades of wood, including colors.
Avoid heavy curtains and allow as much light in the room as possible. Nets are now available in many different colors, and can be used instead of heavy side curtains. A roller (venetian) blind can be used during bedtime to darken the room. Roller blinds have become widely accessible in Cairo and can be found in fabric, bamboo or aluminum in various colors.
Place a mirror on the wall opposite the window to reflect more light into the room.
Metallic, glossy and pearly furniture and wall finishes will make the room appear larger (and be easier to clean in a child's room!). Even a door painted in a glossy finish will add to this illusion.
A hint for making a square room look wider is to add a dado rail (strip of wood attached on the wall horizontally all around the room) or a painted strip (in the same way); this will create an illusion of a wider room by leading the eye around the room.
What to Look for When Buying Furniture

It goes without saying that if a room is small and two beds are needed (either for two children sharing a room or for friends sleeping over), bunk beds are the most space efficient option. Many bunk beds now incorporate extra storage. Some are even integrated units incorporating desks, drawers and shelves. These are particularly suited for small square rooms. Even if the beds are custom made to fit in with the rest of the bedroom furniture, try to incorporate a couple of deep drawers built under the base of the bed.

'Sleigh' beds (beds with sides/rails) are a particularly good option when you decide not to choose a bunk bed. The high sides of the sleigh bed stop the child from falling out of the bed and the style will not look childish as the child grows into a teenager.

A good alternative for a small toddler is to buy an inexpensive bed with a 'trailer' behind (for example, built to look like a train) to hold stuffed or larger toys. This however will only look appropriate in the child's early years.

You may also like to invest in a low table on wheels that can be used for arts and crafts because it can be pushed easily against a wall when you need more space in the room for play time.

Decorating Tips

Consider painting the ceiling in a 'sky and clouds' or 'sun and stars' theme, leaving the walls plain for a contrast. Alternatively, keep the ceiling plain and paint your own 'stencil design' on pale colored walls. Other themes can be used in this way as well, for example moons, circles, ribbons, etc.
Matching curtains and bedspreads can be incorporated into your decorating scheme. If you can't find fabric that you like or fits in with your decorating scheme, choose a plain-weave cotton fabric (available in dozens of colors); this always looks great in a child's room.
When selecting your fabrics and paints choose the fabric colors first because it's easier to match the right shade of paint to fabric than vice versa.
Buy the smallest tin of paint available to test on the wall first because sometimes the color looks different on the paint chart than on the wall.
If the room's ceiling is low, you can paint the ceiling and walls in the same color and hang pictures lower than usual to give the illusion of a higher ceiling.
After completing your paint job, you can pull the whole color scheme of the room together by identifying the 'main' colors used in the decorating scheme and painting the chest of drawers, for example, using a different 'main' color for each drawer.