Don't let space issues keep your kids from having a bright, lovely bedroom

Looking for small children’s room ideas? Small children’s rooms can be a challenge when it comes to decorating. We all want our kids to have a bright, uncluttered place to play and do homework, but they’ve often been stuck with the smaller or oddly-shaped rooms due to space issues. Not to worry: with a little bit of inspiration, it can be easy and inexpensive to turn these into fun, attractive, and organised spaces.

Whether you are looking for girls’ bedroom ideas or boys’ bedroom ideas, it is important to start with the essentials: kids room furniture bed and storage. From here, there is plenty of opportunity to indulge in charming decoration and that crucial bit of extra aesthetic effort. Although the possibility of your child growing out of a design should be considered, there’s nothing to stop you from making sure they have their own lovely space for both rest and creativity.

1. Keep the colour scheme balanced
Small rooms can become easily overwhelmed by clutter and busy colour, leaving them feeling cramped. For this reason, it pays to keep a compact space white, but this doesn’t mean colour and pattern can’t be used to add fun and character. Window treatments and bedding are the perfect vehicles for colourful scenes and patterns, and will bring the bed and blinds or curtains into sharp relief in a white room. Add scatter cushions and rugs to increase the impact. Alternatively, knock colour back to a few key accessories, such as table lamps or wall art for a more controlled scheme. Bear in mind that objects and toys targeted at children are often brightly coloured or patterned, so that once the room is a little more lived-in it may appear more balanced than when first painted.

2. Buy the right bed
Often the focal point of the room, the bed is a crucial consideration. Traditional bunk-beds are the perfect space-saver if you have a small room shared permanently by two children. It is also worth considering buying children’s rather than adult-size furniture, as one way of increasing floor space. This bed, for example, can be bought in narrower and shorter sizes. However, you will need to weigh this up against the added expense of having to buy again once your child outgrows everything.

Whichever path you choose, make the bed feel specifically incorporated into the design, rather than a functional necessity. Paint colour can be used to add interest to a backing plain wall and play-off a simple design. This mountain scape in warm orange is a lovely addition and makes a feature of the open shelf and the bed below, complimenting the pale wooden furniture. A thought-out decorating style keeps a room from feeling too untidy.

3. Make use of wall storage
In a compact space, make the most of walls for storage. Wall-hung shelves or units will not take up floor space, leaving it available for playing. Open shelves will keep everything within easy reach and will make tidying a quick and easy task. Combine storage with display by using crates as wall-hung, box-style shelves. Each of these boxes has been painted to match a chest of drawers, creating an eye-catching practical feature space against a white backdrop. The boxes have been lined with a decorative paper and then filled with favourite toys and accessories, proudly visible but nice and neat. The tops of the crates create additional display shelves too.

If you prefer a more streamlined look, incorporate wall cabinets so you can store toys and other bedroom paraphernalia behind closed doors. Look for shelves that feature hooks or peg rails for a little additional hanging space.