It’s been nearly 2 months since we moved from Nashville to Memphis and into our brand new home. It’s been such a whirlwind I realize I haven’t even shown you what our new house looks like! I’m such a slacker. I promise I will show you the whole house soon. We have been so busy getting the kids’ rooms ready and we let the kids decorate. Well, we let them be a big part of the decorating process.
The first room reveal we are working on is, Jude’s Rustic Lodge Adventure room!
This year I am participating in the One Room Challenge and you can follow along each week to see the progress in his room with the big reveal in on week number 6! Now to follow along with others posts, simply, visit Linda’s blog , Calling it Home, the host of the One Room Challenge. To see everyone else’s design click this post here for week one.
Before we talk about decorating with kids and the plans Jude and I made for his new room. Take a look at what his room look liked in our other house. Nearly, everything in this room was a hand me down or an up-cycle project. You can check out his room here and his upholstered crib headboard here. Jude was only 2 when we decorated this room so he was not very involved.
Here is the best photo I was able to take before we moved in. Jude’s room has two doors and a window. To get to his closet you walk through his bathroom door. The boys have a Jack and Jill style bathroom they share. As you can see this room is about as bland as it gets. But to be honest I really like the paint color and have no plans of changing it. There will be an incredible feature wall element, check it out here.
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Gray and White Teepee Rugby Stripe Duvet Cover Pottery Barn Kids Depot Hanging Pendant
Cabin Bed Whisper Mural Electric Crackling Logs Personalized Story Book Adventure Pillow
White Curtains You are So Loved Art
Jude was a huge part of the design for this room. It was very easy to work with him as a client. As soon as we both decided on the cabin bed the rest of the design came together so easily. I know it may seem crazy to allow a 6-year-old help decorate their room but I promise with the right type of guidance you will end up with a room you both love.
Ways to Decorate With Kids
- Listen to their interests and what they really love. Kids change their minds on what they love frequently especially when it comes to commercialized products (like characters, TV shows etc). I try to find a general thing my kids love and go from there. Here are some examples: basketball, sports, nature, camping, outdoors, music, auto, trains) The options are endless but I try to really steer clear of character themed rooms. I want the design to last at least 5 years.
- Sit down with your child and show them ideas on Pinterest, Online Shops or in Magazines. Don’t show them everything under the sun but give them a few options that you have pre-selected and love. Then let them choose what they like best. I started by showing Jude 3 choices for his bed. Once we found the bed we moved on to three selections for his focal wall.
- Make Compromises I’m going to be honest, I don’t really like the color orange in decor. It’s just a color I don’t really use. But Jude, LOVES the color orange. Try as I might I showed him so many duvet options and none were what he was imagining. So, I finally just asked him. I said “Jude,what do you picture your comforter looking like. He told me, “Orange and White Stripes”. And that was it I found this orange and white comforter and he was thrilled. Seeing him so excited made it so much easier for me to compromise on the color orange.
- Get them involved in projects. Young kids love to help and they are absolutely capable of doing parts of projects. It can be anything from helping to paint to organizing their toys. Getting children involved in the process helps them to have a greater appreciation for their space and their belongings.
- Incorporate Personalized Items Kids love to feel a connection to their belonging. When they feel connected they are even more likely to take care of their things. So how do you create a space with items that kids can connect to? Let them pick out accessories that hold a special place in their hearts. Use the first letter of their name in decor and accessories. Create personalized pillows like this Adventure Story Pillow or add monograms to their pillows like any of these here. You may be surprised how much more a child will love a pillow or blanket with their name on it than ones that do not! I know I did as a kid!!!
More Kids’ Room Ideas
Your room design is so cute! I am doing a room for my son as well! While I couldn’t ask him his input on his room since he is only a little over a year, I did base it off of things that I know he enjoys which is how I came up with my Little Explorer Theme. I will have to keep your tips in mind when I start my daughters room. I am looking forward to seeing how your room turns out!
– Jaclyn
That’s awesome! Yes. little ones are sometimes harder to design with but it’s so cool that you were able to draw some ideas from what you can already tell he loves. He’ll definitely have a room he can enjoy for at least 5 years!
Love it! My daughter has wide horizontal orange and white stripes on the walls in her room. I completely agree with the idea of letting our kids call most of the shots regarding their room decor. It is a great exercise in compromise.
Stacy @ BlakeHillHouse.com
It most definitely is! For me, it was the orange and white comforter but once I found one that was a little more rust orange than basketball orange I knew we could make it work. There were a few ideas that he had that we just couldn’t meet in the middle but mostly because I’m not a Disney Imagineer. lol
It looks like you have a really fun room planned. I really like the cabin bed! I can’t wait to see it all done. and your lucky to have such a good client 😉
xo-Jenny
Thanks so much! He’s been an awesome client. I’ll have to go into detail about the pros and cons of the cabin bed. It’s been very interesting to have a bed like this.
Lesley,
I cannot wait to see what fun you drum up with this room! Your plan looks amazing!
Thanks so much. We’ve got some cool things in store. I had my neighbors over to check it out and they were impressed. This week we will be talking about the feature wall!