“Lovilee” Children’s Room Inspiration
From night-time nappy changes to starting school, children’s needs change almost as quickly as they do. Having a children’s room that meets their and your needs as they grow can seem like a never-ending project. We chatted to award-winning blogger and mom, Karen Kelly (The Lovilee Blog) to get her tips and insider info for beautifully designed, functional children’s room decor.
Use What you Love
Having recently redecorated her daughter and son’s rooms, Karen says she embraced her love of “bunnies” and monochrome Scandinavian style to build on from what was already there for her daughter’s room.
“My daughter’s room was easy, I wanted bunnies as these are my own obsession and she has cottoned on to this as well. Her room was a mushroom colour when she was born with a bunny theme so I just built on this... I fell in love with mono bedding that I saw at Hema in The Netherlands on a trip there and it was so well priced that I decided to purchase it. I had a complimenting rug from Mr Price Home that I used in our main bedroom and it was the perfect pair with the bedding.” said Karen.
Photo by: Melanie Wessels Photography
Making Happy Spaces
Karen gets her kids involved by asking them what they want and ensuring they have something they love in their rooms “… to make it their happy spaces.”
“If my son had the choice, he would paint his walls red. But I wanted to keep it light and airy. He had the choice when it came to a bed and chose a large bunk bed which he loves... I was given the opportunity to redo the princess’s bedroom with Dulux and their “Easy Care” range. I asked my daughter what she wanted for her bedroom and she said ‘pink’. She wanted an all-pink bedroom, so that is what I did. Transforming the bedroom into a pink room fit for a princess with the Dulux Adobe Pink colour.
Photo by: Melanie Wessels Photography
Neutral Building Blocks
If you follow @Lovilee_za, you know her style is all about being light and airy. To ensure her kids’ rooms remain trendy, easily changeable and cohesive with the rest of her home she used lots of white, neutrals or greys with accent colours that the kids love.
“You can add wall art with their favourite characters or vinyl or even removeable wallpapers. If you stick to neutral curtains and bedding the theme can change in an instant with minimal expense or effort… Walls are easier to repaint than furniture pieces so I try add colour on the walls rather or alternatively the scatters or bedding.” explained Karen.
Photo by: Melanie Wessels Photography
Forward-Thinking Furniture
Kids room redecorating is bound to be part of your life as they kids grow. For Karen, redecorating was determined by her kid’s life stages: nursery (ages 1 – 3), “big boy and big girl room (ages 3 – 6) and school (6+). Karen suggests starting a room refresh at about 3 – 4, redecorating and adding a desk when your child starts school.
Making careful furniture choices means you can change a room more easily. “If you decide to not use natural wood furniture, white or black furniture items are great choices for me. You can relatively easily add more pieces of furniture that could match the colours.” suggested Karen.
Photo by: Melanie Wessels Photography
Storage and Packing up
A newly redecorated room is beautiful but it also needs to be used at some point. With children, that is likely to mean toys and/or clothes left lying around (you need to know they’re having fun somehow). This is where storage and packing up come into play.
Karen is lucky enough to have large built-in cupboards that she has optimised with loose storage, bookshelves and draws to keep most of the clutter behind closed doors. In addition, she also has easily accessible storage boxes that complement the rooms décor. “I love the use of wooden storage boxes like the princess’ toy box on feet that I made or ones that are not see–through so that they can complement the decor whilst hiding items inside.” explained Karen.
“I rotate their toys as they don’t play with everything at once from a large wooden toy box in another part of the home. This helps not having all the toys in one room at the same time. Wall hooks are great to use in kids’ (and adult) bedrooms. I have them at the doors to add towels or hang items that need to be hung and not lie on the floor.” added Karen.
Making packing up fun is another way Karen keeps the rooms tidy. “We also try to tidy the rooms at night before bedtime together and they get a sticker on a rewards chart for this. Making it fun for each item to go back to its place.” said Karen.
Embrace your inner child by redecorating your kid’s room in a way that reflects their developing personality and complements the rest of your home.
Photo by: Melanie Wessels Photography
Karen has used the following items in her children’s rooms:
“The Princess’” room:
- Custom Bunny Print by Musetto Mini
- Bunny Scatter Cushion by Hello Dolly Designs
- Duvet inners Lifson Products
- Bunny Pillow Made from material from Twig & Fi
- Scandinavian Kitchen from Lil’ Peanut
- Walls painted with “Easy Care” in Adobe Pink by Dulux South Africa
- Smudge bedding by Little Love Kids
Son’s room:
- Bedding from www.hema.nl
- Wall vinyl from www.matchsetlove.com
