Designing for children, male or female comes with its own set of challenges. First of all, their interests keep fluctuating on a weekly basis. Your little tyke will come home one day with a joker costume and say that’s what he loves more than anything in the whole wide world, and just a few days later he will have switched his loyalty to football, you need therefore to take this and the fact that he will grow up physically really quickly into consideration when designing his room.
Don’t despair though, we have a checklist of things you can do in order to ensure that your son’s room isn’t ever rendered obsolete either by change in interests or physical growth.
Ideas for the perfect boy’s room:
1) A multifunctional bed:
One thing to remember is that the furniture in your boy’s room must grow with him. Forget about race car beds or dinosaur sheets, instead think of a more practical option. How about a bed with built in storage, that is easily accessible. Think cubby holes with slide out drawers, deep enough to hold his books, toys and sheets. Remember to keep your son’s growth spurt in mind when choosing the bed. Choose the larger one, rather than a smaller one. He’ll thank you for it when he’s that tall.
2) Multifaceted study-cum-entertainment table:
A study table is going to be one of the most utilised pieces of furniture in your son’s room. So why not make it his entertainment centre to. It’s really quite simple, why not build in a retractable mechanism that can accommodate his desktop/LCD screen and gaming console as well. It’s simply about maximising the available space in the room.
3) Stack them up tall:
An amazing way of both maximising space and a quick decor solution is devising a vertical, stackable storage system featuring colourful deep trays. These are excellent at holding virtually anything from toys, to clothes and books. Leaning them up against a wall and mixing and matching with their vivid colours is truly a stroke of genius.
4) Colour me up:
Just because it is a boy’s room there is no need for it to be a monochromatic landscape. Indulge the inner Picasso in your boy, and get him to choose the colour scheme he has in mind. Inform him though, that darker colours are preferably avoided and explain to him that they will make his room much hotter.
5) Self expression 101:
Your son is bound to have a plethora of interests and will look towards his room to express himself creatively. Why not then designate a space where he can do just that? At the intersection of two walls you may want to mount a softboard (for his posters, notes and artwork) and a whiteboard, where he can jot down whatever he has on his mind. Another innovative way to help him express himself is covering an entire wall in cork and letting him pin up his posters, notes, greeting cards and knick-knacks on the wall itself!
6) Involve your little man in the decision making process:
The main resident of the space, needs to have a say in the decor of the room, quite frankly because he is the one who is going to be residing there. It is fundamentally his room and your son should be the one calling the shots, when it comes to its decor. With your inputs and suggestions no doubt. The most important thing here though is the fact that he feels like he is in control, as this is also a way of teaching him to be a responsible person.
Quick Checklist:
- Enough storage space
- Involve your son in the decision making process
- Multifaceted furniture
Remembering these simple tips and following this checklist will ensure that your son’s room will truly be a space he can be ‘himself’ in and will be future-ready, for his teens and growth spurts.
Kate Beckett, is a structural designer who specialises in designing innovative spaces for children. She loves to write about the latest trends in the children’s decor space.