How To Design A Kids Small Bedroom

Written by Sophie Clemson

Kids bedrooms are usually the smallest room in the home, which can come with some challenges. You want to maximise the storage space because of the never ending toys, but the room is small, which leaves you wondering how you are going to fit everything in while still creating a cool and fun bedroom your child will love.

With some clever storage ideas, multifunctional furniture, interesting paint techniques, and much more, you can make the most of every inch of space in your kid's small bedroom. We’ve shared 10 of our top tips to help you design your kid's small bedroom.

Make the most of the height in your kids bedroom
Cabin beds
Under bed storage
Use a rug to create a play area
Built-in storage for kids small bedrooms
Create a reading corner in your kids small bedroom
Make the toys decorative
Use large scale patterns with fabrics and wallpaper
Multifunctional furniture
Be bold with your colour and paint choices

Make the most of the height in your kids bedroom

When you’re designing a small bedroom for your children, you want to make the most of every bit of space. You may have only thought about how you’re going to use the floor space, such as furniture placement, however, think vertically and how you can make the most of the height in the room. Use the walls for storage space, you could add floating shelves for books and to display their best Lego pieces! Adding decoration, such as artwork, to the walls will draw your eyes up, which will help to give the illusion of height, making the space feel bigger.

Cabin beds

Cabin beds are a great option when you’re limited on space in your children's bedroom. Some cabin beds can even be multifunctional, with lots of storage space and a pull-out desk. Depending on the age of your child, the desk can be an arts and crafts table or, as they grow, a place to do their homework. If you’re wanting to create a cosy den for your children to play in, take a look at the Lottie midsleeper bed from Noa and Nani or the Fort midsleeper bed from Room To Grow. Both of these beds will make for a cool feature in your kids bedroom.

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Under bed storage

Under the bed can easily become quite cluttered, but with some good storage solutions, you can get organised. We love the Fredvang underbed storage from IKEA, which is on wheels, meaning you can easily pull it out from under the bed. You can store clothing or toys inside, and with the open shelving on the outside, you can create a colourful display with your children's favourite books. If you’re wanting to add some natural textures to the room, there are beautiful seagrass underbed storage boxes from places such as John Lewis and Dunelm. This style would work well if your child is older and wants a more grown up look and feel in their bedroom. Make sure you choose underbed storage with a lid, if you opt for an open basket, it could look messy and cluttered, which is what you’re trying to avoid in a kids small bedroom.

Use a rug to create a play area

Your kids bedrooms may be tight on space, but incorporating a play area doesn’t need to take up lots of room. An easy and simple way to create an area for your child to play is by adding a rug. When a room is small, you want to choose larger pieces to trick the eye and make the space feel bigger. This applies to kids rooms too. Go for a big and soft rug, which will be cosy underfoot. Try to avoid anything too deep, as you’ll forever be finding bits in there! Washable rugs are very popular for kids' bedrooms, as you don’t need to be too precious or opt for a patterned rug as it will be more forgiving. Here are a few rugs we love for children's bedrooms:

Built-in storage for kids small bedrooms

Built-in storage is a fantastic option in kids' small bedrooms. It can be completely customised to fit perfectly in the room. If you have a chimney breast with deep alcoves either side, you could build a fitted wardrobe, a desk, or toy storage, the options are endless! When you're deciding on what your built-in furniture is going to look like, remember that it's fixed and is likely to be costly therefore, you want it to be future proof for when your child goes through different stages, even until they're ready to fly the nest! You could make it adaptable by changing the handles. For example, while your child is little, you could opt for quirky themed handles, and as they grow up, change these to a timeless brass handle. You can easily refresh and update built-in furniture with a lick of paint. Perfect for when you’re changing your children's colour scheme over the years.

Create a reading corner in your kids small bedroom

Just because it's a small bedroom doesn’t mean you can’t create a fun reading corner. As I mentioned above, think of how you can use the walls in the room. Instead of using a bookcase that will take up lots of room, use wall shelves to display and store your children's books. There is a great IKEA hack using their Bekvam spice rack for books, or Habitat has an affordable wall mounted bookshelf. You could place a couple of decorative toys with the books to make it more fun! To complete the reading nook, get a comfy bean bag, and you could even layer up the rugs and place a circle one in the corner for more texture and cosiness!

Make the toys decorative

See your children's toys as decorations. There are so many beautiful toys, from scandi wooden stackable rainbows to cute soft cuddly character toys, that deserve to be on display. You can use wall baskets and fill them with soft toys that your child loves. Another great idea I’ve seen on Pinterest if your child is obsessed with cars is magnetic strips for toy cars or a simple yet effective display shelf from Etsy.

Use large scale patterns with fabrics and wallpaper

This rule applies to any small room, not just kids bedrooms. When a room is small, it's important to consider the scale of the patterns you’re using. If there are too many small prints in the room, it will make it feel smaller, whereas if you go for a mix of small and large scale prints, it will trick the eye and make your kid's bedroom appear bigger. For example, you go for a large scale wallpaper or wall mural paired with a large scale curtain or roman blind fabric, and then mix these with small scale prints for a designed and balanced look. If you’re planning on using a feature wallpaper or mural, avoid applying this to the smallest wall, as it will make the room feel narrow and draw your eyes inward. You want to use this on the largest wall to create the biggest impact.

Do you struggle to visualise how your room could look? We can help you, click here.

Multifunctional furniture

When your child's bedroom is small, using multifunctional furniture will work brilliantly. If you would like a bedside table, use a chest of drawers to double up as both and provide you with more storage. Just pop a table lamp on for a reading light. This applies to a desk too, so if your child is older and needs a place to do homework, this could be positioned next to the bed with a desk lamp. A lovely piece of multifunctional furniture is the junior storage bench from Great Little Trading Company. It has toy storage along with a comfy seat.

Be bold with your colour and paint choices

A kid's bedroom is a room where you can be bold and have fun. One paint technique we love to see in kids bedrooms is colour blocking, because there are so many different ideas you could use to create a bold feature. It works well if you want to zone an area in the room, such as the bed, to create a cosy nook with the illusion of paint. To soften the room, you could add some shapes, such as arches or circles, to create a colour blocking feature. If you're feeling really bold, go beyond the walls and paint the ceiling, this will create a cosy cocooning effect.

See how Catherine transformed her twins bedroom with colour blocking here.

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