Kids today have eclectic tastes, heavily influenced by popular media and their friends. Kids want the latest and greatest and most popular, just like we all do! Their tastes are reflected in what they wear, what they watch and listen to, and in their personal spaces–their rooms! As parents, we want our kids to have a space that they enjoy spending time in for homework, play, and sleep. But, let’s face it–kids’tastes change frequently! What’s in and hot today can easily be out and totally uncool in a few months ! And who among us has time or funds to be constantly updating and redecorating kids’ rooms all the time? Not many!
So how can you keep your child’s room interesting, fun, and current for him or her without breaking the bank? Here are a few ideas!
1. Paint is your friend! Whether it’s an entire room or maybe just an accent wall, a fresh coat of paint in a new trendy color can transform a room for a modest investment of time, effort, and money. Older kids can even help with the job! Home stores have sales and that’s a great time to pick a new color. Inexpensive throw pillows or a new bedspread, maybe some new posters, can carry on the new color scheme and are easily replaced when a new color beckons. Be sure to keep some extra when you re-paint for touch-ups.
2. Be cautious about doing an entire bedroom in a theme around a character or something else that’s popular right now. As kids grow, their favorites change, and when they move up to middle school, they’re not going to want a themed bedroom around something that was popular a couple of years ago! Trust me on this one!!
3. For furniture or other larger items, garage sales, consignment shops, online sales such as eBay, are great sources for gently used furniture that can be refinished, painted, or brought up-to-date in other ways. New hardware can be transformative. Plus, it’s a great way to recycle by finding new uses for old furniture pieces.
4. Shelves and bookcases are handy and useful to provide a place for kids to display their current favorite items, books, collections, etc. They can be arranged and decorated in a variety of ways and will be useful for many years for kids of all ages. The possibilities here are endless for cost, decorating, uses, all the way to college age! I love the component units that can be assembled one way for now then reconfigured later for a new wall or a different room. There are so many options!
Some of these ideas are just as handy for other rooms in your home as well. Need some ideas? Check out Pinterest! People post all kinds of things and ideas there. Need a dresser or some shelving? Check on eBay to see what someone else doesn’t need any more. I sold a very nice computer armoire on eBay a few months ago. The piece was just too big for my current space, but it worked perfectly for someone else who bought it and came to pick it up. She’s thrilled with her new desk and I love my new space and smaller desk!
Good luck with your redecorating! What a fun project for you and your child to work on together!
Sue