No. 76: How to Design a Room for Littles that You Both Love & the Kids' Spaces I'm Most Inspired By

This might be controversial

source

When we bought our home, I had a four year old, a six year old and a nine month old. When we move into our home, my kids will be 9, 7, a couple weeks from 4 years old and a 10 month old. I actually can’t believe it. When I walk through the house with Enakhe in the baby carrier, I can still picture the smell of Zeameh’s bonnet under my chin the first time I walked the property that cold morning in Februrary. It’s surreal. There are many “shoulds” I’ve clung to in this process. The architect who told us when he “should” have completed the plans, the builder who told us when we “should” move in, but most of all I feel the weight of how different it would have been to move into that home three years ago. Ultimately, I’m grateful for the extra time to continue to hone my interior designing skills and to know my kids’ in different ages and stages to create spaces that will last.

In the first year of renovations, Oshiolema wanted a space themed room. I’m talkin’ planets, stars on his floor, neon lights everywhere and an abundance of red. Keogena wanted a fairy unicorn room with bright pink all over and flowers covering every inch of the room. Their visions have evolved over the past three years and their desires swayed from wanting a western horse themed room after a week at the ranch in Colorado, a mermaid themed room after watching the Barbie Mermaid movie a few too many times and everything in between. It didn’t matter to me because I already knew the base of their room would stay the same no matter what. Some would probably argue kids’ spaces should change as often as they request and I get it. “They’re only little once! It’s a moment in time!”

I personally am a firm believer that spaces can grow with a child if the base—the things that would stay if you turned the room upside down and shook it—remains somewhat neutral.

When I say neutral, I don’t want you to picture a white space with tan bedding and a cream rug. No, ma’am. If that’s your kid’s vibe, more power to them! You can’t go wrong with it. But if your kid wants a football room, a dinosaur room, a Taylor Swift room, a Trolls room, a candy room, an Antarctica room—chances are the All White Everything look isn’t the only option.

Before I go too much further, let me just make a couple disclaimers. Firstly, we’ve been renting since we moved from Virginia to Dallas five years ago which means I’ve had lots of time to experiment with renter-friendly room decor. If you’re renting too, you can do wonders with very, very little. After we had to abruptly move because of mold poisoning in our previous rental down the street, we had to get rid of tens of thousands of dollars worth of furniture. We needed pieces in the meantime but didn’t want to rush out and invest in a house full of new things without planning, so we bought only what was necessary, especially in the kid’s rooms. Super customized, lavish bedrooms are a phenomenal luxury for a child, but so is a thoughtful space that they feel themselves in.

In addition to every wall of our rental being painted brown, the walls and ceilings are textured like orange peels and a speckled brown carpet covers the upstairs. I went to Target and got a set of dalmatian sheets for Oshiolema and unicorn sheets for Keogena with a matching duvet for each of them. I put their favorite color of my hero rolling cart (we have one in almost every room) next to their bed as a nightstand with a lamp and their favorite books and hung their artwork over their beds. On extra bright summer days, we hang a giant blanket over the window as a blackout curtain. Friends? They don’t have a care in the world. There has been zero mention of the crunchy brown carpet and they’d never notice the texture (or even the color) of the walls. We’ve been waiting and saving for years to put together spaces for our kids and in the meantime, they have had bedrooms that are clean, safe and comfortable. Kids truly don’t need much more than that and in a world of endless Amazon hauls and over consumption parading on Instagram and TikTok, I hope that is comfort to someone’s soul right now.

If you are in a season where you’re planning spaces for your littles—whether it’s a new home or they’ve outgrown their current space or you’ve just got the itch, here are some of my favorite ways to personalize a kids’ space with some of my favorite details: