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CTV Morning Live/Children’s Bedrooms
Tips for Sprucing Up a Child's Bedroom and How to Transition the Decor Through the Years.
1. Use neutral colours on the walls if there are a lot of vibrant colours in the toys and in the bedding to balance out strong colours. This is also useful if you intend on making this room a guest room after their infant years and moving the child to another room. Some of my favourite combinations are light grey with fushia or bright yellow, amber/beige with navy blue or red, cream with light blue or purple, and pale turquoise with emerald green.
2. Consider making a headboard that can attach to a standard bed frame in white vinyl if you have a penchant for white and don't want to worry about stains or consider dark indigo blue cotton denim. Adding chrome upholstery tacks around the edge of the headboard ups the luxe factor and makes it feels more sophisticated. You know the "race car" beds will eventually have to be replaced!
3. Opt for window coverings that are not too "themey" - invest once in the window coverings whether a blind or drapery as window coverings can eat up the lion share of the decor budget. Remember to consider black out lining on your drapes or an opaque blind for those who cannot sleep with any light filtering into the room. If you know what you require, my go to spot for drapery is C&M Textiles. Ask for Anna Dicenso, the manager/owner @ 613-727-1547. She will be able to offer you a discount off retail if she knows you are one of my clients.
4. Buy original art for your child's room that can be taken with them when they are older. Not only are you supporting local artists but are training your child's eye to appreciate the real deal instead of copies. If on a tight budget, consider framing your child's masterpieces in off the shelf white or black frames. Even the cost of custom matting if neccessary is minimal compared to having the work custom framed.
5. Don't be afraid of dark colours on the walls especially if your child insists. For example black, white and a colour is a timeless colour palette and dark colours like chocolate brown and charcoal grey lend sophisitcation and a grown up quality to ultra sweet colours such as pink.
6. Buy lamps that are of the right scale and proportion. I often see lamps that are much too small both in child and adult bedrooms, therefore are not that functional. A general rule of thumb is that when you are seated in bed, make sure the bottom of the lamp shade is level with your shoulder.
Here is a link to my recent TV appearance on CTV morning live talking about this topic.
http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=278727