Doing up a child's room can be an interactive and ongoing exercise which can fulfill both, yours and your child's creative urge. You don't have to splurge on interiors for your children's room. We show you a cheaper and more exciting option of designing it. And what's more, you can involve your children in the process, too.
How you design a child's room or what props you put up there will decide what contours you give to your child's persona. Doing up a child's room can be an interactive and ongoing exercise which can fulfill both, yours and your child's creative urge. Instead of buying expensive accessories, importing plush furnitureor other decor items from shops, try making them at home. It will serve a dual purpose of involving your children in art and craft, while providing a cheaper option.
Decorative ideas
Walls
Cover up the lower portion of the wall, three feet high with a white drawing paperall over the room. Let this blank canvas be your child's outlet to perfect his art. He can scribble on it, write, splash colours, stick modeling clay flowers on it, whatever. His graffiti will be unique and ever changing.
Frame your child's painting made on paper and display it as a work of art. Innovate a little on his dabbing. For instance, transform an oval shape he might have drawn and make it a mouse or a bird. Hang his paintings in the room; it will give it the feel of an art gallery.
Collages are another way of draping the walls. As indulgent parents you may have shot lots of pictures of your little darlings. You can use them to make a collage. Children love tearing paper; it helps in coordinating their fine motor skills, too. Make a collage of printouts of digital pictures. That way, you don't even have to worry about your child tearing the picture. Dressing up his room is a game too; remember?
Similarly, make a collage of pictures of birds and animals cut out from old magazines. Let them get scissor-happy doing this one.
Kites and face-masks (can be made at home or bought) will make for colourful embellishment on the walls and cupboards.The ideas to dress up the wall are as unlimited as your imagination. Look around and you'll find plenty of cheap options to make innovative use as.
Furniture
It is a good idea for a child to have minimum furniture in his room.
His mattress can be set on the floor or he can have a low-bed or couch as the main piece of furniture.
For a rug, you can sew together asymmetric patches from old clothes cuttings and leftover stitching material. This mosaic-like quilted rug will look very striking.
Bright, sheer dupattas (panels of cloth) can be hung in place of curtains.
Small cushions and bolsters can be made at home, too. Stuff the hand-made covers with cotton, sponge shreds, feathers and leftover cloth cuttings. Like the simple panel drapes, cushion covers too can be in plain primary colours or soft pastels. You can paint designs on them by fabric colours - any line drawing or cartoon character. Stick or sew beads or cowries (sea shells) on them.
Beanbags or small cane stools are the best furniture for the little ones. They are comfortable and cane looks elegant, too.
Simple footstools or wooden stools of very basic design can be made as peg tables, coffee tables or sit-ons. The sit-ons can have soft cushions on them. For those who like to tinker with tools and wood, there are umpteen do-it-yourself designs. Or you can conceptualise the piece of furniture and have it made from a carpenter.
Storage spaces
A child's room needs large amount of storage space. After all, there are innumerable toys, books, stationery, school supplies, clothes; you name it. While a few colourful toys like soft toys themselves serve as props for a decor, a lot of other things like shoes need to be hidden out of sight.
To accommodate the toys that are spilling over, make storage boxes of interesting and varied shapes and sizes. Cardboard or packaging boxes can be fortified by pasting additional layers of durable paper or cloth on it. This can be used to stash away all kinds of odds and ends, soft toys, puzzle boxes or even books.
Grocery bags make for good storage because they are sturdy and non-tearable. They are environment-friendly too. Attach strings for handles and you have carry-bags to tow away toy tools, G.I Joe's, Barbie's and so on. They also have the advantage of keeping the clutter off the floor space, as they can be hung on hooks on walls, in cupboards, or behind doors.
Paint motifs on them to signify the contents, such as a Clifford or Keeper or Winnie the Pooh for animal sets. Bob's image for a tool set. Children's picture books have amazing illustrations that are colourful and easy to draw. You can paint these as designs on storage boxes or bags.
Make innovative stationery desk set to keep his school supplies. Some ideas are given in Kidcentric Funstuff.
Big size wall hangings with several pockets are easily available as stow-aways. Make innovative use of it to stash away a whole lot of things. This can be put behind a door to keep it out of view.
Decorative Props
Plants
Dot the room with potted plants. These are good interactive props. You can plant anything handy such as carrots, coriander, grains or beans.
You do not have to go out of your way to buy pots; any plastic container or even those that florists send bouquets in will do fine. Your child will love the activity of watering them everyday and watch them grow.
Easy-growing indoor plants like singonia or money plant can be put in see-through tumblers. You can add painted stones or marbles in the water for added effect. But ensure that it is out of the children's reach. Keep them on a window sill or hang them if they are trailers.
You can also make a window box, where you plant a variety of ferns or easy-to-care flowering plants as a mix. This requires a bit of knowledge of indoor plant species that are symbiotic and can co-exist. Take it as a hobby that you and your child are nurturing. There will always be books to guide you or better still trust the next-door gardener to give you some tips.
Bird feeder
If the child's room has an adjoining balcony or verandah, you can hang a small elementary bird feeder. Have some grains or grass seeds put there and soon a flock of birds will start visiting your place. Read Invite Birds Home.
Wind Chimes
They add colour to the room and when they sway gently with the breeze they produce most soothing tinkling notes. Chimes will make your child more attuned to the finer sensory impulses and he'll learn to appreciate distant bird-calls andsounds of ocean waves, for instance, better.
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