Home visit: ideas to cosy up a child’s room
This spring, use soft textiles, fun lighting and smart storage to turn your little one’s room into a cool and cosy play space with everything they need to feed their imagination, encourage independence and sleep well.
Room for fun and relaxation
“It’s important for the kids to have room to be creative, where they can play and feel free,” says mum Nina, who balances work as a designer with home schooling her three children, Nahla, Keanu and Lian. “Keanu and Lian were sharing this room but Nahla sometimes likes to sleep in here with her brothers. And during the day, they all play together on the rug so it’s really a shared room.”
I wanted to make this room cosy and cute, with lots of neutrals (do kids really only have to have bold colours?). I especially wanted to have a lovely rug for them to play on and curtains to make the room feel warm.”
Nina
Make a spot to snuggle
Reading together is great for kids’ development. “We have a bedtime story every night,” says Nina, of the end of day routine shared by her three children. Create a spot where you can all cosy up. A sofa may not be first choice for a kid’s room but sofabeds like FLOTTEBO make it easy to sit together. No room for a sofa? Have extra cushions by the bed to make a comfy backrest.
Making this a safe place for the children is about making it easy for them to navigate around – to be able to find everything. For us it’s important that they are independent to a level that matches the stage they are at.”
Nina
Space for arts and crafts
“Make things accessible,” says Nina. “My kids love to draw and paint so I make it easy for them. I want them to have space to do their art and to be able to open the drawer and find the glue and scissors.” Find ideas that suit the space you have, try blackboard wall stickers children can chalk their masterpieces on then scrub them out and start again, or the MÅLA roll of drawing paper and easel.
Play on the move
Children don’t stand still. Make it easy for them to take their toys where they want to set up play. Use lightweight boxes that they can pick up and carry for smaller toys and add castors to bigger boxes so they can push and pull their bigger toys around. Add labels to help them find what they’re looking for. And pictures work as well as words for those not quite at reading stage yet!
Add their new favourite thing
Their new favourite thing may change faster than you can keep up, but textiles are a pretty quick way to change their room. It can be as easy as adding a cushion with a picture of their jungle hero, but a bedspread with illustrations of their hobbies, rugs with racing tracks for car lovers and curtains in their favourite colour will all raise a smile.
Dream bed
Make up a bed your child will love climbing into. Start with soft bedding that they can snuggle under. Soft toys make comforting bed buddies and can take starring roles in bedtime stories. And think about night lights and little additions that cocoon the space and give your child a sense of security, like the LÖVA bed canopy.
The kids don’t have electronic devices. They watch the odd movie but mostly they play. They have just seen The Lion King so now all their play is in the jungle, crawling and roaring and eating from plates on the floor.”
Nina
Pick a rug for comfort, that feels soft under bare feet and little knees. But also pick a rug that can be part of the game. The mix of textures and stripes of colour on BRÖNDEN, turn the rug into a world to explore.
We love to see our customers get creative with our products. Go for it! But please note that altering or modifying IKEA products so they can no longer be re-sold or used for their original purpose, means the IKEA commercial guarantees and your right to return the products will be lost.
Made by
Interior designer: Ashlyn Gibson
Photographer: Benjamin Edwards
Art director: Jules Rogers
Writer: Helen Bazuaye
