Parenting
5 Tips on how to
Makeover a Kids Room on a Budget
By Karen Ghidella When I first became a parent, I wish someone had told me that their interests today would quickly change tomorrow, and to therefore invest in room choices that the kids (I have twin boys) would love for more than a year or two! My kids recently decided that their bedrooms were for babies. This time the ‘makeover a kids’ room’ has been done properly and we managed to do it on a budget, all the items were purchased from Pillow Talk.
1. Make sure the theme will grow with your child So far, we’ve had: Winnie-the-Pooh, transportation, Aeroplanes, Transformers, and Batman. None of these interests have lasted more than a couple of years and each theme has had remnants of the last “stuck” on the walls. Pillow Talk has a fantastic new kids’ range that has a bunch of mix and match options, all of them are designed to be quite age neutral i.e. they will look great in a toddler’s room and last them into the double digits. This is the easiest way to makeover a kids’ room – trust me!
2. A reversible doona cover is exciting for kids It sounds like such a small thing, but a reversible doona is a quick way to freshen up the look of the room when you wash the sheets. If you own a couple of sheet sets for the kids, buy two different styles, that compliment both sides of the reversible doona.
3. Don’t change the walls / if your walls are wrecked already … be creative Please, please.,. don’t change your walls! I mean, go ahead and do it, if you’re prepared to renovate regularly as your child gets older. Instead, buy some complimentary, budget friendly artwork that can be hung with removeable 3M tape. If it’s too late and you’ve already gone down the path of not so removeable stickers and you’re not ready for a re-paint, then get creative with rugs to hide the damage that has already been done.
4. Complimenting accessories make the room Don’t under-estimate the difference a few ‘soft furnishings’ can make. Adding a lamp, a few throw pillows and soft furnishing accessories in with a new doona cover changes everything (without spending a fortune).
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Your Local Families Magazine February / March 2018
Accessorise with colours that blend in and are quite neutral, then if you buy a second doona cover, everything will mix and match.
5. Use the room makeover as positive reinforcement Family slumber parties are fun occasionally, but for me, the novelty started to wear off when I realised that I couldn’t get them out of my bed! We had a discussion “I’m not going to spend money turning your bedroom into a big boys’ room if you’re not going to use it”. Whilst I was only planning on decorating one of their rooms at a time, I hit the jackpot because both boys wanted to sleep in the ‘new room’. I also found that this was the perfect chance to downsize on the toys and “stuff” that they’d accumulated over the years (my kids are hoarders). “Darling, if you’re going to keep that toy for little kids, why don’t we just keep your little kid room? They match!” So, the stuff went too, without a fight *happy sigh*.
In Summary I was so proud of my efforts that I showed off the room to my close friend, her comment “WOW, where did you get it? Paddy would love this!” Paddy is 14 years old. I did it, I decorated on a budget, Tom loves his new room and I’ve had confirmation that this style is going to last me into the teenage years. To find out more about the bedroom makeover, see the range and check out the afford prices, visit our website and watch our video: www.familiesmagazine.com.au/kidsroom-makeover *This article was sponsored by Pillow Talk, but everything I said was 100% true… oh, and without the sponsorship component, I’m heading back tomorrow to decorate twin 2’s room!