Hi! I’m Lisa from Shine Your Light, where I blog about home improvements, food and family life. Thank you Adelina for having me over here today!
My kids are growing at the speed of light and I suddenly find myself the mother of two teenagers and a tween. They each have such distinct personalities and since we moved to our current home three years ago I’ve had fun creating spaces for them that are functional and also reflective of them. I am a huge believer in the power of paint to completely change the feel of a room, and to breathe new life into old things, and in decorating the kids’ rooms I am always looking for ways to repurpose what we already have.
My daughter Hannah is like her mother – she loves to create and make a big mess. When she’s working on a school project the glue, glitter, markers, scrapbook paper and every other art supply in the house are spread far and wide. Likewise with her clothes and shoes – she is very visual and likes to see how this pair of jeans would look with that shirt – some days it looks like a tornado made a quick entry and exit through her room before 7am. This girl needs all the help she can get to keep her space organized. When we pulled her room together I kept in mind how she works and gave her lots of open storage space for clothes and art supplies by taking the doors off her closet.
Our house needed a lot of cosmetic love but one huge bonus were these built in shelves the previous owners installed. Tons of potential to keep a messy marvin more organized!
We had already chosen the room color from our one splurge for the room – a throw pillow from PB Teen that I bought on sale a few years back. There are so many fun colors in it and Hannah decided she liked that turquoise blue for the walls.
When it came time to spruce up the closet, I showed Hannah a few paint colors for the inside and let her decide.
The hot pink was a little shocking at first, but seriously, how could a kid be in a bad mood in this room?
Once we filled it up the hot pink-ness wasn’t so dramatic! The open shelving provides tons of space for art and craft supplies. The boxes on the second shelf are just cardboard boxes that I covered with scrapbook paper, and threaded a ribbon through the side for a handle.
I spray painted white just about anything I could find to store all her “things” in. One of Hannah’s favorite parts of her room is a big chalkboard that I painted a border around, and then added a little shelf at the bottom to hold chalk and catch the dust. Her friends write on it every time they come over and it never gets old.
Hannah’s room doesn’t always look this tidy, but it’s easier to clean up a room and put things away when there is a place for everything right in front of you. Hannah and her friends spend a lot of time in this space, doing their homework together, braiding hair, doing nail art, having sleepovers. I love that they hang out here!
Hannah will be in high school next year (I can hardly believe it!) and we have been talking about ways to make her room a little more “mature”. I’m on the hunt at thrift stores and Craigslist to find a cheap office chair I can makeover into something like this – wouldn’t that be fun?
Over the course of my 15 years of motherhood, in 4 different houses along the way, I have learned a few tricks for creating a space that is both functional and fun for kids.
1// Let your child have a few choices. Give them a few paint colors to choose from that you can live with too.
2// Keep the curtains and comforter/bedspread neutral and you can get years out of them, even as your child grows and their tastes change. Hannah’s comforter is from Target and is still going strong after being bleached countless times! Her white curtains are also from Target. We added ribbon to them with a hot glue gun, which will be easy to remove in the future.
3// If your child wants some kind of theme for their room like Spiderman or Tinkerbelle and you are theme-resistant, buy sheets and a pillowcase with the theme on them. The room won’t scream “theme” but the child will be so happy!
4// Provide plenty of storage that is easily accessible. Even a 2 year old can learn to put their socks or toys in a basket, and a 15 year old boy is more inclined to put his football uniform on a shelf marked football. 🙂
Here are some other ideas for creating a cheerful and happy kids’ space:
1//Spice rack repurposed as nail polish storage at Sweet Caroline. 2//Make a colorful banner to cheer up a space/ image source unknown. 3//Use Christmas lights to make a fun light garland, from Rebecca’s DIY. 4// Change up plain curtain panels with ribbon. 5// What’s more fun than your mom letting you write all over the walls? /image found here. 6// Tissue paper pom poms are inexpensive and easy to make!
Thanks so much to Adelina for inviting me to talk about kids’ spaces with you today, it’s been so much fun!
