Top design trends in childrens’ bedrooms

Resene’s colour consultant, Amy Watkins says parents are letting their kids immerse themselves in colour more as is happening throughout the house. People are putting greens, pinks and robin egg blues into their kids’ bedrooms. Woodland themes are popular, she says. Resene’s Secrets green grey paint is a popular choice, for fresh, clean clarity. The main colour of the room might be a soft pastel shade and then there might be a big wall of vibrant colour through a mural, which will provide a contrast, she says.

Interior designer Stacey Gillies from Stacey Gillies Interiors, meanwhile, says in her projects, baby’s rooms are often painted in olive green or earthy tones, or deep blue at the moment.

When it comes to the colour palette in childrens’ bedrooms, Christchurch-based interior designer Olivia Skene says she’s seeing a lot of “dirty pinks”, quite a lot of peach, and pale green, all these colours are restful to the eye, she adds.

Make sure that the shades you pick (especially if resale is in the near future) go with the rest of the house, advises Olivia. If you live in a mid century home, have some mid century furniture in the bedrooms, she suggests. “My daughter is 18 months old and we’ve got a wicker basket which was my 50 year old sister’s."

Try taking your design cues from your childrens’ favourite book covers, suggests Stacey, who’s a fan of wallpapering the ceiling in bedrooms. A beautiful art print can make a room, adds the interior designer, a fan of Society6 for their well priced art prints.

Of course, as your child grows, they’ll make their own art and they love it when they see their work framed. Stacey is also a fan of plants and greenery in childrens’ bedrooms, obviously keeping them high up while the child is small. Draping plants are great for purifying the air and can help create a jungle theme, notes the Auckland designer.

Celene Busher-Nepia says her nine-year-old son has chosen his own plants for his room, selecting a cactus and some succulent plants so far. “He’s definitely keen on some greenery,” she says. It’s a good opportunity for him to learn about responsibility, she laughs.

How can a child’s bedroom have really unique touches? Although built-in wardrobes are popular, a nice antique wardrobe can add real character to a room, says Stacey, who likes to mix up modern and old furnishings.

The mother of two has introduced things from her childhood to her son and daughters’ bedroom, a room they share – she put some dolls of hers in there, for instance. She’s also a fan of having collections on display of a current passion, ukuleles perhaps, or toy diggers.

Interior designer, Olivia Skene agrees childrens’ bedrooms are becoming a lot more individual. “They used to be cookie cutter and similar, but what you see is people are thinking outside the square, there’s a lot more thought about the individual child’s style,” says the Christchurch interior designer.

Olivia worked with a 12 year-old boy in Whangārei who requested an interior designer to help do over his room for his birthday. “He had some very specific things he liked,” she says.

Rooms for babies are more transitional now, explains the Christchurch-based interior designer. The room might be used as a study in future years.

These bedrooms may have feature walls with painted hills or wallpaper mural wallpapers with clouds, hills, trees and flowers but these are multi-functional spaces now, especially if they’re smaller rooms.

A comfortable armchair in a baby's room is essential for feeding and settling, and let’s face it, having a quick snooze. Make sure it’s on scale with the room, says Olivia.

Beds are bigger from an earlier age, says Celene, as people are loath to keep replacing them as their children grow. She bought vintage beds for her girls on Trade Me, one of them she painted a soft pink.

Bedrooms should have multi-functional furniture, advises Olivia. She recommends a trundle bed stored beneath the main bed but which can pop up to the same size for sleepovers, and the two combined will turn into a king size bed.

Urban Kids bed designer, Umur Yazici, who’s been making beds from his Devonport base for the past 15 years, says he started out wanting to take his customers from cot to bed without having to change units. “My idea was to design something that children can get into at the age of one but as they get older they can move the bed to the next height,” he explains. As the bed gets higher and kids accumulate more stuff, there’s room under the bed for storage.

Materials for children's beds have changed in recent years. Umur used to paint MDF, now he uses birch plywood. “I love birch plywood, it’s very strong and easy to clean and it doesn’t really age,” he says.

A lot of consumers in New Zealand are becoming greener, they understand if they buy at low cost from a retailer that one kid will use it and then it’ll become landfill, he says. “They’re a bit more aware that if they spend a bit more and buy something nice, it will last.”