Bedroom, Home Decor, kids decor

Children’s bedroom tour and ideas – Room By Room series week 4

Hello all! How is your summer going? I feel like it is speeding by and I am trying to soak it all in, cherishing every sunny and warm long day I can. I have finally figured out the balance that is kids at home all day and working from home, it was a process to figure it all out, but I finally have it down! Today I am sharing Children’s bedroom tour and ideas – Room By Room series week 4.

The last few weeks I have been taking part in the Room By Room summer home tour series with a group of talented bloggers. Each week we share details, information or plans for a specific room. This week it is all about bedrooms, guest rooms or kids bedrooms more specifically. Next week is all about the master bedroom. Week 1 was the entryway, I missed out on week 2 and week 3 was the living room. The other bloggers sharing their bedrooms are at the bottom of this post. Click on their images to see their rooms!

My house had always been all about my family, making it comfortable for all of us and functional to work for our busy life. In my kid’s bedrooms I took those ideas to a whole other level. For my boy’s Caleb and Gavin a few years ago I updated their bedroom. It was my first fully thought out room, planning from the ground up with furniture, style, theme, accessories and function.

I wanted the room to work and be organized. Have a set place for them to play, store toys, rest, read, and sleep. I also had a goal of wanting it to grow with them. At the time my boys were 3 and 5, so we were just out of the toddler phase and entering true boyhood.

Now that they are 7 and 6 the room still works perfectly for them! I have had to alter a few things, most importantly the book shelf area. With both of them reading now and my oldest Caleb grew into a big time bookworm so I had to add storage for their books. Which is a great problem to have when raising kids.

I went with these large built in bunk beds because I also wanted something they could grow into. These beds have an extra long twin mattress so it is ready for my little boys to do a lot of growing. I am not sure if I am ready for full size sons, but these beds can handle them even if my heart cannot handle my littles growing up.

As far as the decorations I kept the colors bright. In kids bedrooms I have always felt like it is ok to go a little overboard on color and patterns. The space is full of life and activities so having a colorful space fits perfectly. Another priority was storage, tons of storage for toys.

Along with storage, I really thought out how my boys use this space to play. They are really into Legos, so having a play table for them to build or store their creations that are in progress was a big priority. I have found with three young kids that staying on top of the clutter and mess, before it even happens goes a long way in keeping things picked up long term.

If there is a place for everything and designated zones for the playtime kids usually stay within those planned out areas. They have a play table, they play and build on it. We have bins and baskets for certain toys and when it is time to clean up they go on auto pilot when cleaning and put them all away.

With any child’s bedroom I think it is important to let their personalities shine. With this being a shared room blending the two very different personalities can be difficult. I took their busy and active personalities and let the colors shine. Caleb was obsessed with cars and Gavin loved trains when I picked out this transportation theme.

Another fun way to personalize a kids bedroom is with a gallery wall. I used their transportation theme, along with cute quotes for kids, and smaller DIY crafts and wall art to make it perfectly them. The clipboards are also a fun way to let them show off their art work without it being a big issue to add their newest creation to this gallery wall.

Dale and I are fortunate enough that we have decor and furniture from our childhood that are in each of our kids bedrooms. Dale has a lot of airplanes and cars that are displayed in the boys bedroom and it is so sweet to be able to have those family items in their room.

I have to say, I have yet to share the DIY tutorial for these bunk beds. I know I need to, they were time consuming to make but the process of building them was not actually very difficult, just a lot of steps. But to organize the steps, explain it all and make sure I have all of the pictures I need to share the DIY tutorial is a lot of work. I have yet to feel ready to tackle that beast of a DIY tutorial. I really hope to get to that soon!

Their beds are so comfy and sturdy. Dale and I have both been up in the top bunk trying to make it and it does not even wobble a little. Dale who is 6’2 in height can sit in the beds and his head does not touch the top, or lay down and his feet are not smushed against the bottom. That was why we built them instead of purchasing ones from the store, those ones seemed so small and like their was an expiration date on size of my boys.

At the end of the day my boys have a room that is ready to grow with them for at least a few more years. In time I am sure the cute transportation theme will be “uncool” but for now they still like it. The function and lay out of their room still work great, and taking that times to plan out their bedroom the way I did really helped in keeping it practical years later. Plus, I mean… built in bunk beds with their own cute little light…. can’t get much better than that!

Moving on, let’s talk about my daughter Nora’s bedroom. She is 9 now and we recently did a mini makeover on her room. When I say we I mean Nora and I. With her being older she had a ton of fun picking out decor items and bedding with me. This was 100% a collaboration with her and I. It was so much fun working on this with her.

She is a legitimate book worm who also loves to draw and is oftentimes daydreaming of what she will write a book about or the song she is going to create. The one struggle for this room was her and I on different ends of the spectrum when it comes to organizing her room. She loves clutter, and I was trying to keep it in check so that she could actually use her desk or have floor space to play. Eventually we compromised enough to get a beautiful room for her.

Two really special things about her bedroom is that this canopy bed was mine when I was a teenager, and the desk was also mine; before that my Mom’s and before that my Grandmas! Nora requested the white desk to be painted bright pink.

Nora chose her bedding, colors and throw pillows. Her baby nursery had a bug theme and she has always loved that theme. I have helped her update it to feel less cutesy and more “grown up” 9 year old. She calls this her woodland themed room, and I tell her it has a whimsical flair which makes her feel fancy. Nine is such a fun age for her, she is un-apologetically herself and her personality is full force so her room should definitely be all about her.

To keep the cost of decorating my home (including the kids rooms) low I do a lot of DIY projects and small crafts. It also allows the space to feel custom, instead of lurking online or going from store to store to find the perfect items I can just make them myself. Filling in any little holes in the decor that is lacking.

Since Nora loves to draw I added these frames to her desk area. They used to have pictures of bugs in them that I purchased, and while they were very cute nothing beats her artwork. Letting each of my kids and their talents shine as decor in our home makes all of my kids feel special. They get so excited when I update the picture frames with their newest art work, they take such pride in knowing their work is displayed.

We created a few smaller crafts to add to that whimsical and colorful theme.

Nora dreams of the day she can have a big window seat to draw and read on. You and me both girl! We made it work with two tall bookcases that I turned on their sides and placed under her window. We will be having to add to the book storage in her room. She adores her books, always with her head in a book and does reread them over and over so she is always begging us for a new book. I am all for buying her books, it is much better than more toys!

Our compromise in her room was me pushing for organization and helping to keep that sought after function in mind. Nora wants to stuff every nook and cranny with her treasures and stuff. I wanted her to be able to use her room and desk to draw on. Have her window seat to actually relax on and read, and finally her floor space to be for playing. Getting her to not stuff every inch of her room with things was a struggle, she is a mini hoarder in the making. But, once I explained why I was pushing for controlled chaos when it came to her art supplies and room she understood and went along with it.

I am happy to report that in the months that her room has been done in this way she has kept it relatively uncluttered. I do have to encourage her to clean her desk, but that has been the only thing I have to stay on top of.

Like the boys room I also wanted her personality to shine and doing it with the gallery wall is the easiest way to do that. Most of the items within this gallery wall were things we made together or her actual artwork.

With all three of my kids I want their bedroom to feel like their space, their domain. Because I have this blog and my job is technically to decorate our home a lot is constantly changing. I am always rearranging things, updating to working on our home. Their bedrooms remain untouched, unless they specifically ask to change things up. I also want to let them know that their opinions matter, their property matters, their style and their personalities all matter. Having them be involved in the process of decorating and allowing them to have this designated space to their interests gives them a lot of pride. That has been my goal in tackling their bedrooms and I adore walking into their rooms and getting hit with their lively, active, perfectly imperfect selves! I love these three kids and am so excited to have a front row seat to them growing up, knowing these rooms will hold so many memories for them is so sweet.

I hope you enjoyed the Children’s bedroom tour and ideas – Room By Room series week 4! Don’t forget to check out all of the other bloggers with their bedrooms tours and details! I am off to finish up a top secret decorating project I am working on (details will be revealed soon) and then I plan to enjoy the sun and have some fun with my kids on this beautiful summer day!