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How to Design a Kids Bedroom With Your Kid (Lose the Character Bedding)
One question lands in our inbox every time we touch one of the girls’ rooms: how do you design a bedroom with your kid? The close second is why we don’t just hand over the paint deck and let them run the show. Fair question! Parenting styles are personal, and we’re not here to tell anyone how to do theirs. But we can share how it works in our house.
The short version: we curate, they choose. Our three girls are three very different people, so no two rooms start from the same place. We want each room to reflect the kid who sleeps in it — their interests, their stage, who they are right now — while still feeling like part of the house.
And if you’d rather hand your kid the paint deck? We genuinely respect that. Here’s how it played out in each of our girls’ rooms, as they look in our fall house tour.
Polly’s Room: A Storybook Hideaway
Polly’s Room Sources
Polly’s room has always felt like a fairy tale, and her space takes that concept and runs with it. The walls are a green woodland wallpaper full of trees and horses (we turned some of them into unicorns with a marker). The newest addition is a canopy over her white spindle daybed. It turned the daybed into her own little hideaway. (We shared how to make it in our DIY no-sew canopy post.)
Her room is also proof that kids’ rooms are the best place to play with pattern. Whimsical wallpaper, blue-and-white stripes on the pouf and Roman shades, a bold block-print throw — it all works together because the colors stay in the same family. One design note: if you think your kid will grow out of it, opt for removable wallpaper! We probably have a few years left with this print and then it’ll be time for something new.
What makes the look:
Shop Polly’s Cottage Bedroom
Her bedroom in Idaho was her first “big girl room,” and we wanted to combine some darling forest elements while incorporating Polly’s favorite color at the time, Purple. But you’ll notice we went with a purple color that tied in with the rest of the house rather than a super-pigmented, vibrant purple.
Faye, on the other hand…
Faye’s Room: Growing Up, Not Starting Over
Faye, our budding designer, wants to be very involved in the process. Ever since she was little, she’s shown an interest in design, so I want to involve her in the process of renovating her room. After presenting her with wallpaper selections that we hand-selected, we let her make the choice! In hindsight, we presented her with too many options, which overwhelmed her, but she went with her gut, and she totally nailed it.
Faye’s Room Sources
The moth and bird prints have moved around our home, and they perfectly add a little bit of nature in the room without tipping into childish. The new CLJ x Loloi blush pillows with scalloped trim soften all that dark wood.
What makes the look:
We did the same process when we renovated her bedroom in Idaho (picture below).
Faye’s Last Bedroom Sources: Wallpaper | Curtains | Curtain Rod | Narrow Stripe Fitted Sheet | Duvet Cover | Faux Fur Chair
While we let Faye narrow down the wallpaper selections, we chose the coordinating paint color. Kids tend to go with what is their “favorite,” and since we’re the older, wiser parents, it’s good to hold the reins a bit.
Think about comparing designing to making a meal plan. If we let our kids choose what they wanted to eat in a week, they would likely end up eating pizza, mac and cheese, and chicken nuggets every night. We would never do that because we, as parents, know better! While our kids don’t need a well-designed room to survive (as opposed to a well-balanced meal), it’s still a huge responsibility. Designing a kid’s room involves money and time, and if it’s important to you, you’re not a bad parent for calling the shots.
Greta’s room has always been built around what she does in it: reading, drawing, playing music and making things.
It didn’t start out moody. We painted it a peachy pink (Romance by Sherwin-Williams) and let it come together slowly, adding pieces whenever something reminded us of her: tapestry curtains before they moved to Faye’s room, blue nightstands to match, a spindle bed, a horse painting and glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling (you’re only a kid once). It was playful but grown-up enough for a preteen, and it showed us what she’d need next: a real desk and room to create.
Rug | Bed | Comforter | Pillows | Nightstands | Horse Art
This fall, we moved the chair from our primary bedroom into her room, and it’s become her spot for playing guitar or reading. She got new poufs and a new desk, and the open bookcases moved down to the bonus room to give her more breathing room.
Greta’s Room Sources
It’s the moodiest of the three rooms — deep burgundy floral wallpaper, crimson velvet curtains and teal-blue trim — and it feels right for a teenager. Dusty rose pillows and a soft blue coverlet keep it cozy instead of heavy, and the guitars on the wall say more about her than any decor could.
Greta’s Room Sources
What makes the look:
Shop Greta’s Cottage Bedroom
Her bedroom in Idaho doubled as a sleepover room for sisters and cousins. Functionally, it was exactly what she wanted it to be.
And If You’re Designing for a Boy
We get asked about boys’ rooms just as often, so we put the same approach into a mood board for a traditional boy’s bedroom full of pattern. The idea is the same as in our girls’ rooms: make room for his interests without turning the room into a theme.
Source: Mood Board: A Traditional Boy’s Bedroom Full of Pattern
So animals show up on a duck-print knit blanket and a vintage-style framed horse print. Sports show up as our CLJ x Pottery Barn Kids basketball hoop instead of team logos. Wood and brass stand in for plastic, so the room looks polished now and still works when his favorites change.
The pattern does the rest. A brick-red gingham duvet, plaid pinch-pleat curtains, and our CLJ x Loloi Calvin rug mix geometric patterns at different scales, so they don’t compete. Rounded shapes — a red scallop-shade lamp, a leather bean bag and our turned wood pinboard — soften all those straight lines. If pattern makes you nervous, start with curtains and bedding. They’re the easiest things to swap.
What makes the look:
A Word on Character Bedding
Now for the other tricky subject. Character bedding tends to cost more, it’s often made of cheaper material, and it doesn’t last long. You know what else doesn’t last long? Your kid’s current obsession with Frozen. (Don’t get us wrong, we love Frozen.)
You can capture the essence of a character without putting it on every surface. A favorite stuffed animal, a framed print or a pillow does the job and is easy to swap when the next favorite comes along — the same way a basketball hoop or a horse print nods to an interest in the rooms above. That said, if character sheets make you and your kid happy, we fully support it.
However you get there, the goal is the same: a room that feels like your kid, that they love walking into, and that you love too.
We did a final video of our girls’ bedrooms before we moved from our last house, and in it, I talk through the design decisions. I think it really beautifully portrays my whole philosophy of designing with your child’s interests and personality in mind.
