Guest Post
When the day comes to ditch the fluffy bunny wallpaper and the night-light that plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. When the slide down sides of the cot haven’t been used for weeks and the smell of spilt milk have given way to sticky sweets fingerprints and biscuit crumbs, it’s time to change the nursery into a bedroom for little people!
January is a fantastic time of year to start afresh and attend to re-decorating those areas that have been put on the back burner for a while. A New Year and a new look! There are oodles of bargains to be found in the sales too, so what better time to start than now?
Firstly, decide what items can utilise in a toddler’s bedroom from the nursery. Can the rug be kept? Are there pictures in frames that will be comforting and suitable for the new look bedroom? Will the cot and the changing table really be used again? Anything that is not worth keeping, put to one side and think about adding to it any other unused items from around the house. Remember the car boot sale season starts again soon! Alternatively take it to a charity shop and giving someone else a bargain. Or, if the items are in very good condition, get onto eBay and make some extra re-vamp cash.
Once all the furniture that no longer has its uses is out of the way, it’s time to decide on the colour scheme of the bedroom. Avoid cute wallpaper that children will grow out of in a year or two, Peppa Pig may be all the rage today, but in several months it could be something quite different! However for cartoon or patterned wallpaper, paper just one wall and leaving the rest painted and spacious. This also makes the task of re-papering next year much easier.
Choose colours that are calming as opposed to energetic, like softer pastel tones, gentle pinks or cool blues. For bold colours, choose one wall to paint brightly and leave the others a softer shade to help relax the ambience. Depending on the size of the room, tester pots of paint are cheaper than a huge tin, giving more opportunity to be creative. Experiment and have each wall a slightly different shade from the other perhaps? Cheap and fun too!
Once the decor is decided upon, the bed is the major furniture piece for the room. This needs to be comfortable, supportive and also sturdy enough to last several years of rest and play.
There are many bed styles for of all ages and fresh out of nursery, now is the time when a fun or novelty bed can be bought. Keep in mind storage space, as there will be more toys and trinkets accumulated than you can imagine in the upcoming years! Any bed that has built in cupboards or drawers will be extremely useful and good value. Research Millbrook beds at Bedstar for some inspirational ideas.
For additional storage, invest in large colourful plastic storage boxes. Available in many sizes, these are robust and often stackable, which is brilliant for storing out of season clothes or old toys. Whether underneath a bed or stacked up inside a wardrobe to free up floor space in the room, these boxes are available from supermarkets and cheap homeware stores. Shop around and look online for some bargains!
Timeless ideas for a child’s bedroom will last years and be cost effective for a long time to come. Accessories can be added along the way to make the room age appropriate, without having to have a complete room overhaul again this time next year!
Now to start with the parent’s bedroom re-vamp!