We’ve been almost obsessed with home decor for decades now, trying to find the perfect interior design for our homes.This is normally centred around living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms, but nowadays, we’re focusing on our children, and their playrooms in particular.
Designing a playroom which engages your child’s senses and piques their curiosity is vital to their overall development and their confidence. These days, a regular playroom just won’t cut it. If you want to stay ahead of the fashion game and make sure that you give your child the push towards their developmental milestones they need and deserve, you need to focus on designing a playroom in line with all of that.
Of course, that means researching ideas and coming up with something unique that looks the part, fits in with your budget, and gives your child a play environment they can truly enjoy.
To give you some ideas, let’s check out a few suggestions for the ideal modern kids playroom.
A Grown up Dining Space
If your child is 5 years upwards, they might not want the same toddler-style playroom we’ve all become so familiar with. So, when they want to have a teddy bear’s picnic, or they want to sit and colour and draw, why not allow them to sit at their own grown up/yet still a child dining space?
We’re thinking bookcases against the walls with all their favourite books and toys, a few chairs to one side where their stuffed toys can sit, and a large table and chairs in the middle where they can sit and be as creative as they like. Of course, the floor should be carpeted to give it a warm and cosy feel.
Their Own Soft Play Area
If your child loves to run around but perhaps you don’t have the world’s largest garden, how about creating their own small soft play area in their playroom.
Keep the colours neutral to avoid too much stimulation, but have padded and fabric covered furniture options which they can climb on and explore, with a soft carpeted floor to stop any bumps. You could even have hanging chairs which they can use as small swings!
An Indoor Tree House
All children love climbing trees, but perhaps an actual tree house is out of the question, due to the weather or the fact that you simply don’t have any trees in your back garden! In that case, why not create a ‘mock’ tree house in their playroom?
We’re thinking a mural on the wall with clouds, trees, and other natural elements, calming colours and a neutral palette, with a wooden tree they can climb in safety. Of course, at the top of the tree should be their own little ‘den’ where they can sit and read, have ‘tea’ with their stuffed animals, or simply watch the world go by.
Getting up to the tree can be as simple as a small wooden ladder, so it certainly doesn’t have to be higher than a metre from the ground.
An Artistic Room For An Artistic Child
Does your child love to paint, draw, colour, and imagine? If so, an artistic-style play room is a great idea. You could have large wooden pinboards on the walls where they can hang their art work, a large easel for painting and drawing, a table for colouring and colourful furniture to bring about more creativity.
Make sure you have plenty of natural light making its way into the room, with the windows open for fresh air. This is ideal for piquing their interesting and their creative skills. They’ll spend hours in there!
A Library For The Child Who Loves to Read
Does your child love reading? If so, why not build them their own library? There is nothing better than getting lost in a book, but these days children tend to be far too focused on devices and video games.
Take it back to easier times by having wooden bookcases on the walls, plenty of books, and comfortable floor cushions, or their own beanbag-style seating. They’ll be lost in their imagination for hours!
Let’s go to The Circus
Why not turn your child’s playroom into a mock circus tent? Think funky lights on the wall, perhaps spelling out their name, a striped design on the ceiling for the tent, plenty of cushions and comfortable seating and stuffed animal toys to represent the circus acts.
You could even have a swing in one corner which they could pretend to be where the acrobats play!
Around The World
Children love to explore and opening up their minds at an early age the huge potential the world has in terms of places to go is vital. Have a huge map of the world as a mural on the wall and get them to colour pictures and stick them to the corresponding parts of the world. For example, they could draw the Eiffel Tower and stick it where France is, they could draw a lion and stick it where Kenya is, to show the safari parks in that part of the world.
Make sure you have bookcases with plenty of books to help them learn, and small pictures of famous landmarks dotted around. You’ll easily raise a child who is curious to learn about the world’s sights and cultures with a playroom like this.
A Home Within a Home
Children love to pretend, so why not create their very own home to look after within their playroom. A small pretend kitchen, a pretend garden, the list goes on. They then need to complete their household chores to keep the “house” looking clean and tidy.
This is ideal for helping your child to understand the idea of responsibility and as a result, maybe they’ll start to help you with their own chores too!
A Dressing up Room
Do you have a children who loves to dress up and pretend to be their favourite superhero, a princess from a Disney film, or their favourite movie star? If so, create a dressing up room, complete with a large mirror with lights around it, a rail full of costumes, and encourage them to let their imaginations run wild.
When their friends come over to play, they’ll dress up as their favourite stars and have pretend runway shows!
The Great Outdoors
Children love to explore and be outside getting dirty and playing in the mud, but for some this isn’t possible. You might also become fed up of the constant trail of mud! In that case, bring elements of the outdoors into their playroom. Open up the window spaces and let plenty of light in, decorate the space in greens and other natural colours. You could even paint clouds on the ceiling to really make things look authentic. The more natural the space looks, the better.
Natural decor is also known to help calm and destress, which could be ideal for a very active child.
We’re All at Sea
Why not turn their playroom into a metaphorical boat? Paint the walls to look like the ocean, with murals of marine life all around, have rubber rings to give the room a really authentic feel, ropes for your children to pretend to man the sails, and a porthole for the window. Your children can pretend to be sailing the oceans and seas, and it will certainly inspire plenty of creativity.
Creating The Perfect Playroom
Of course, creating a playroom costs money so you need to be sure that you have the budget for whatever you’re trying to create. There are plenty of ways you can cut corners and save money, but make sure that if you’re trying to create an active room, e.g. a soft play area, you go all out on the safety elements. Of course, it goes without saying, but you should never cut corners when it comes to the safety of your child.
Overall however, you can create these looks yourself, without having to call in the services of a professional painter and decorator. That in itself saves you a huge amount of cash, and the knowledge that you created the space yourself makes your child’s playroom all the more special when they adore it and spend a lot of time in there.
Make sure that you use as much imagination when designing the playroom as possible. That means your child will use equal amounts when playing in it, and we all know that creativity and imagination are vital when helping your child to hit their milestones and broaden their minds.
You should also think carefully about what your child enjoys before you go all-in and create their playroom. If they love animals, a safari theme would be ideal. If they love reading, a library theme is perfect. Make sure you design the room around your child and as a result, they’ll probably never want to leave it!
