1. Make two bedrooms out of one.
When we visited Helena in Denmark, she was sharing her bedroom with her 4-year-old daughter, Villa. “I used a BILLY bookcase, which I fastened to the wall, as a room divider between my area and Villa’s,” says Helena. “And kitchen units with wheels under my bed saved extra floor space to give Villa more room for her play area and toys.”
2. Make creative use of space.
We discovered a clever use of space in Natalie’s small New York apartment. “Size is no limit to imagination,” says Natalie. “Turning a wardrobe into a bedroom for Huck (3) was easy – and there’s still enough space for us all to snuggle up for a bedtime story!”
3. Turn their bed into a play den.
When we visited Teresa in Portugal, her little girl Maria (3) had a space-saving bed that doubled as her play area. “I love everything in my bedroom,” says Maria. “But, most of all, I love my bed. Sometimes it’s a tent or a castle, then, other days, it’s a car.”
4. Create storage they can use too.
Sanna in Finland makes sure she has some storage her twins Vilho and Vieno (3) can reach so that they can help out with their clothes. “I like the Finnish saying: ‘pienella vaivalla’,” says Sanna. “It means ‘small effort, big result’ – and reflects the way we live with our kids.”
5. Make it a place you can enjoy too.
If your child is lucky enough to have a large bedroom, make sure it’s one you can enjoy together, with a grown-up sofa as well as the usual children’s furniture – somewhere you can read and be together. “I love spending time with Oswald (5),” says Dorit, “laughing, painting, building things. Playtime isn’t just for children!”
6. Turn a small attic space into a kid’s bedroom
Anki in the Netherlands used her loft as a bedroom for her little boy, Wolf (4). “It’s his own little world up there,” says Anki. “Wolf loves it because it feels like a secret den – and it’s the one place he can leave his toys out.”
7. Make storage fun.
Helena in Denmark has customized her daughter’s storage with wallpaper-covered boxes. “Having pretty storage encourages Villa (4) to keep her shelves tidy,” says Helena.
8. Give them a color theme they love.
Cecilia’s daughter, Anaïs (4), loves the color blue – which we soon found out when we visited the family home in Sweden. “Our home documents who we are,” says Cecilia. “So that goes for the kids too. It’s nice that Anaïs has a bedroom where she can express her individuality and creativity the way she wants to.”
“When furnishing a kid’s room, always make sure to look at it from their perspective.”
9. Make furniture child-friendly.
Sanna in Finland loves getting her twins to paint. “I covered their table with wipe-clean fabric,” she explains. “That way, I don’t have to worry about spillages.”