Fun ideas for a very small child's bedroom.
May 4, 2018 5:10 AM Subscribe
I'm just (hopefully) finishing up turning an old sail locker into a child's bedroom so now's the time to think about features, decorations, storage. Anything cool and fun that a child person might like in their room.
The room is pretty small and the walls are very curvy, (it's at the front of a boat) so the ceiling is in fact much bigger than the floor.
I've built the walls (mostly, got a few tiny bits to finish up right at the front) and am going to put the ceiling in this weekend. I'm hoping to get it all ready to go for their 4th Birthday a week from now.
So, any fun thoughts. Storage ideas? Decorative touches? Wacky Schemes?
Things that might encourage the child that they want to sleep in their own room all the time now?
The room is pretty small and the walls are very curvy, (it's at the front of a boat) so the ceiling is in fact much bigger than the floor.
I've built the walls (mostly, got a few tiny bits to finish up right at the front) and am going to put the ceiling in this weekend. I'm hoping to get it all ready to go for their 4th Birthday a week from now.
So, any fun thoughts. Storage ideas? Decorative touches? Wacky Schemes?
Things that might encourage the child that they want to sleep in their own room all the time now?
Oh you must have a hanging chair or swing. Or even a hanging bed!
posted by caoimhe at 6:12 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by caoimhe at 6:12 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I would fill the ceiling with glow-in-the-dark star stickers and put a Moon in my Room on the wall.
posted by bondcliff at 6:26 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bondcliff at 6:26 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Hammock, hanging fake ivy or beads, a beach mural on the walls, blue sky on the ceiling, several colours of fairy lights, bean bag chair, a gooseneck lamp on the wall, and a bunch of netting pockets to store stuff in.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:29 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:29 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I have some kid friends who LOVE LOVE LOVE sleeping in their hammocks. Like, seriously LOVE IT. Their hammocks are actually hanging above their beds but they sleep in the hammocks, every night.
posted by cooker girl at 6:41 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by cooker girl at 6:41 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Definitely hammock storage for stuffed animals and toys. Also can you carve out some space up near the ceiling that's like a little secret hiding nook for reading? Ideally it would be hidden with curtains, with a built in reading light and a cubby for book storage (or whatever, since it's for a 4 year old), lots of cushions, with a ladder or furniture-scaling for access. I would have freaked out with joy at such a thing as a kiddo.
Something I saw on tv and was really covetous of when small was a drawing roll on the wall. It was basically a dowel mounted on brackets with holes in them so it could spin and be removed, with a roll of butcher paper on the dowel. Reach up, pull paper down, go to town with art, roll out more when you have run out of room, rip off what you've made or ask parents to cut with scissors. I feel like you could do this even on a sloped wall, mount some baskets next to it for crayon and pencil storage.
posted by Mizu at 6:55 AM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Something I saw on tv and was really covetous of when small was a drawing roll on the wall. It was basically a dowel mounted on brackets with holes in them so it could spin and be removed, with a roll of butcher paper on the dowel. Reach up, pull paper down, go to town with art, roll out more when you have run out of room, rip off what you've made or ask parents to cut with scissors. I feel like you could do this even on a sloped wall, mount some baskets next to it for crayon and pencil storage.
posted by Mizu at 6:55 AM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Cubbies and buckets for toy storage. We used shelves and plastic buckets. Disorganized toys do not enable creative play. Hooks for pajamas and jackets. Make it easy for the room to be picked up. A mesh hammock if they have 250 stuffed animals, which for many kids is typical. Boat? hooks and buckets or tote bags to store stuff.
Furniture and stuff that is easily moved, esp. to create forts and cozy play spaces. Maybe a railing on the wall with hooks for attaching blankets. I love the mosquito nets for beds, and they are effective for bugs. Maybe make something a bit more substantial to make it even cozier.
Lots of fairy lights, glow-in-the-dark stuff.
As much as you want to make it a magical surprise, consider asking the child to design it, or put on a basic coat of paint, and use paintball guns to decorate. I would have loved that opportunity as a kid.
posted by theora55 at 7:12 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Furniture and stuff that is easily moved, esp. to create forts and cozy play spaces. Maybe a railing on the wall with hooks for attaching blankets. I love the mosquito nets for beds, and they are effective for bugs. Maybe make something a bit more substantial to make it even cozier.
Lots of fairy lights, glow-in-the-dark stuff.
As much as you want to make it a magical surprise, consider asking the child to design it, or put on a basic coat of paint, and use paintball guns to decorate. I would have loved that opportunity as a kid.
posted by theora55 at 7:12 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: My smallest is getting a new room shortly and will be getting one wall done with floor to ceiling cork board, and another floor to ceiling magnetic blackboard laminate so she can go nuts with her artwork and also re-arrange little shelves as needed. The main furniture is going to be sturdy wood in plain white so I can easily swap the colour scheme around with different fabrics and posters as she moves in and out of interests over the next couple of years.
I put the hammock chair in my room and not hers because she's a climber/jumper and I did not want her fooling about with it in the middle of the night and getting hurt. She really reallllly wants a swinging rope, climbing frame, etc but I would not put them in a small child's bedroom, only in a shared living space.
Originally I wanted to do a huge custom bunk bed thing with little shelves and cut-outs, but she changed her mind A LOT, and I ended up stripping it down to essentially a blank canvas box of a room. She'll have a basic IKEA bunk bed with a built-in wardrobe, and the rest will be sturdy plain shelves and chairs that can be repainted/crafted repeatedly. Apparently it will be a unicorn-cat cafe for the next six months with flamingoes on the front 'lawn', in her current plans.
My other kids had the same thing - the more adaptable and easy to maintain the room is, the more they will use it. Don't do an elaborate theme they will outgrow in a year, infuriatingly. Cheap wall stickers and soft cushions are enough to do a theme. Stick to a base colour that can adapt well, and give them space to display their own things. They always wanted more space to display their things and to be able to easily and quickly stash toys.
Re: toys, be very honest with yourself if your kid has too many toys out. A friend and I have done the thing where we stash away 75% of our kids' toys and then rotate them. The kids play SO much better with fewer toys out, and greet the returning toys every few weeks when we refresh the stash with renewed interest. Keeping most of their toys out of sight in a tidy cupboard, with only 'in use' toys accessible in easy bin/basket storage has been a big win.
For tiny tiny toys like playmobil and those awful shopkins, I recommend going to a cheap plastic $2 shop and getting stacks of makeup acrylic trays. Putting those up on shelves to order the little suckers or just as stackable boxes makes the kids happy and stops me from cursing when I crunch another tiny faced-creature barefoot.
I also got narrow acrylic display shelves for books, so I could put books up on the wall cover out - like these, but not so low. She also has a cart for books that I will put wheels on which is shaped like a doll's cradle, to be used for both. She has a doll's house already but I did consider building an oversized dollhouse shelf (the American Girl 18" DIY plans by Anna White are great) at first.
Definitely for the glow-in-the-dark stars - let them help fix them onto the ceiling (mark dots where you want them to stick them if you are particular).
We have pets, so my youngest and I are getting large cat flaps on our doors so the dog and cats can go in and out of our bedrooms when the doors are closed. The other kids have strangely chosen not to do so.
At 4, I would seriously consider a play kitchen. They don't take up much space and with a pegboard hung to one side to organise the little pieces, you're looking at hours of play for several years. Mounting Lego/Duplo baseboards to the wall/shelf would also be pretty awesome for displaying finished pieces if they're already building.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:14 AM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
I put the hammock chair in my room and not hers because she's a climber/jumper and I did not want her fooling about with it in the middle of the night and getting hurt. She really reallllly wants a swinging rope, climbing frame, etc but I would not put them in a small child's bedroom, only in a shared living space.
Originally I wanted to do a huge custom bunk bed thing with little shelves and cut-outs, but she changed her mind A LOT, and I ended up stripping it down to essentially a blank canvas box of a room. She'll have a basic IKEA bunk bed with a built-in wardrobe, and the rest will be sturdy plain shelves and chairs that can be repainted/crafted repeatedly. Apparently it will be a unicorn-cat cafe for the next six months with flamingoes on the front 'lawn', in her current plans.
My other kids had the same thing - the more adaptable and easy to maintain the room is, the more they will use it. Don't do an elaborate theme they will outgrow in a year, infuriatingly. Cheap wall stickers and soft cushions are enough to do a theme. Stick to a base colour that can adapt well, and give them space to display their own things. They always wanted more space to display their things and to be able to easily and quickly stash toys.
Re: toys, be very honest with yourself if your kid has too many toys out. A friend and I have done the thing where we stash away 75% of our kids' toys and then rotate them. The kids play SO much better with fewer toys out, and greet the returning toys every few weeks when we refresh the stash with renewed interest. Keeping most of their toys out of sight in a tidy cupboard, with only 'in use' toys accessible in easy bin/basket storage has been a big win.
For tiny tiny toys like playmobil and those awful shopkins, I recommend going to a cheap plastic $2 shop and getting stacks of makeup acrylic trays. Putting those up on shelves to order the little suckers or just as stackable boxes makes the kids happy and stops me from cursing when I crunch another tiny faced-creature barefoot.
I also got narrow acrylic display shelves for books, so I could put books up on the wall cover out - like these, but not so low. She also has a cart for books that I will put wheels on which is shaped like a doll's cradle, to be used for both. She has a doll's house already but I did consider building an oversized dollhouse shelf (the American Girl 18" DIY plans by Anna White are great) at first.
Definitely for the glow-in-the-dark stars - let them help fix them onto the ceiling (mark dots where you want them to stick them if you are particular).
We have pets, so my youngest and I are getting large cat flaps on our doors so the dog and cats can go in and out of our bedrooms when the doors are closed. The other kids have strangely chosen not to do so.
At 4, I would seriously consider a play kitchen. They don't take up much space and with a pegboard hung to one side to organise the little pieces, you're looking at hours of play for several years. Mounting Lego/Duplo baseboards to the wall/shelf would also be pretty awesome for displaying finished pieces if they're already building.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:14 AM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
My son LOVES this moon light. It's a great nightlight because the "moon light" is gentle and then it automatically turns off after a set amount of time.
posted by LKWorking at 7:32 AM on May 4, 2018
posted by LKWorking at 7:32 AM on May 4, 2018
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posted by Too-Ticky at 5:52 AM on May 4, 2018