As your kids move beyond the baby stage, life starts zooming by even quicker than before. I mean it feels like one minute they’re learning their ABC’s and the next they’re reading to you! That phrase – ‘they grow up too quick’ – that only parents understand, has never meant more to me than now. Knowing this, I’ve realised when decorating your kids room, you have to keep in mind that they grow so quickly. Keeping this reality at the back of your mind will save you money, angst and the headache of re-decorating every year or two. A while ago I shared some ideas on how to design a room your kids won’t outgrow and today I wanted to share this great shelving system that has so, so many possibilities. As far as changeable, practical and adjustable wall shelves go, I don’t think I’ve seen better.
If your home is anything like mine, tidying up is always a battle. Anya is very good at getting everything out when she wants to play. If she’s playing dress up, she doesn’t get one outfit out but her entire dress up box contents get strewn all over the living room. Then she moves on to the next thing without putting away the dress up stuff of course. By the end of the day, every sofa, every table top and every bit of floor in my living room is covered with stuff. When it comes to putting all this stuff away, she’s suddenly too tired or too hungry or too something!
At the end of each day do you despair at the sight of your living room? Is it full of toys, craft materials, dressing up clothes, bits of lego and everything else that comes hand and hand with kids? If your home is like mine, then the answer is probably a big, fat yes (please tell me I’m not the only one). Kids love to play near their parents and this is true even for older kids. Even if they have the coolest playroom in the world, they will bring their belongings and play right where you are. And if you’re anywhere near the living room, then chances are each day your living room turns in to a bomb site!
Shelves are such a practical way of storing stuff and you can’t ever have enough of them. You really don’t need to spend a packet on them either – there are plenty of very cheap and basic shelves out there. But just because they’re basic doesn’t mean they have to be boring. With a little imagination even the most basic of shelves can become features in any room but I especially love getting creative with shelves in a kids room. So here are five cool shelf ideas for a kids room that you can re-create using shelves bought from ikea. Each of these shelf spaces is unique and can be customised to your needs and tastes:
This is such a cool shelf space for a kids room. It makes a simple but striking feature wall while still providing good storage. You can create similar using the ikea forhoja kitchen storage units. All you need is a few of these storage boxes and a large piece of ply. I like the natural wood look but you could also customise as much as you want using paint, wall stickers or wallpaper.
Backless shelves on a wallpapered wall look so stylish. You can easily get this look with ikea’s ever popular billy bookcase by simply leaving out the back – I did this in my last home and it worked really well. Add some colourful toys and artwork around the shelves and you’ve got a completely unique looking bookcase or shelf.
In this shared boys room, those box shelves in various sizes and shades of green look great on the wall. Instead of being boring boxes, they’ve been turned in to a feature because of the unusual layout, the colours and also using a mix of open and closed shelves. You can get the same look using ikea’s valje wall cabinets. Paint them in any colour, combine a mix of square and rectangular and a mix of open and closed. They’ll end up looking custom made.
How pretty are these shelves? I love the touch of pastel blue that has really made them look special. Using ikea’s bekvan spice rack, you can create a similar look. You don’t have to stick to the idea above, you could paint the whole shelf or you could go for two colours – whatever works for your kids room. And for more storage, create a floor to ceiling wall of these gorgeous shelves.
All shelves don’t have to be made of straight lines like this picture above shows us. What a creative way of storing soft toys. It adds so much charm to the room. You can do similar with these ikea sinnerlig baskets. I’ve got one of these baskets which I love so I’m planning to get more and do this in Anya’s new room. It’s a great way of making a feature of her soft toys while having a place to store them too. And of course it saves floor space too especially useful in a small room.
How do you keep your kids room tidy? Whenever I tidy up Anya’s room, it’s a complete mess a few hours later. It really makes me lose the will to tidy. I’ll admit that before we moved house I had reached the stage where I just closed her room door so I couldn’t see the mess and i would leave it like that for days and sometimes even weeks. Now that we’re renovating our new home and Anya will have an all new room, I want to make sure that it remains tidy and not like the mess in the picture below (I can’t believe I’m sharing this pic but this shows how bad things got!)
Apart from looking at the mess which troubles me, a messy room means that we often spend hours looking for stuff – especially things like little toys, game counters and lego pieces. With our fresh start I want to ensure that her room is neat most of the time and I also want to make sure that she is the one who tidies it. The best way to do this is to have a specific place for everything and so I’ve been seeking out fun but useful toy storage solutions. Anya’s new room is quite small so I also want toy storage ideas that work for small spaces. I’m not a fan of plastic boxes or anything modular and also I thinks toys should be tidy but visible because they add fun and colour to a room so I’ve had to dig a bit deeper to find some quirky and fun storage ideas. Here are 5 that I’m loving:
This is such a fun way to store those soft toys. Wire baskets cost pennies so you can have as many as you need and they also make really quirky wall decorations. I love these circular ones but you could get bigger rectangular ones which will store even more soft toys. So much more practical then lining up the toys on the bed which is what Anya used to do and then each night they were thrown all over the room!
You know all those teeny tiny toys that always get under your foot and seem to make their way in to every single room in the house? Yes, those annoying little toys can be housed in a shelf like this. A shelf with lots of little shelves and you can even wallpaper the backs to make it pretty like they’ve done here.
Nothing beats toy storage sacks and storage baskets. You can get such cute ones which look great in a kids room and the best part is that they allow you to tidy up in a hurry. Also they are great for all those toys that you can’t find any other home for. I will definitely be getting at least a couple of these for Anya’s room and I’ll be getting them from here.
Coat hooks aren’t just for coats – you can hang so much stuff on them. In a small room, instead of having a dressing up box that takes up floor space, coat hooks are a great alternative. They can hold a lot of stuff and the stuff is all very easy to get to. And I love the idea of having the cute dressing up stuff on display.
Using an outgrown or unwanted piece of furniture like an old cot is another fun idea for storage in a kids room. Even a moses basket that is no longer in use would make a great storage solution. You can use it to keep so many things like soft toys, games or books. And it looks so much cooler than boring chests of draws or plastic storage boxes. Even if you don’t have one you could find a vintage crib in a junk shop which will look even better than a modern piece.
With all these fun and creative toy storage ideas, I am really hoping the days of mess will be behind us. I’m especially loving the coat hook idea and the wire baskets for Anya’s room. They save space leaving more floor space to play and they add colour and character to the room.Do you have any ideas for keeping your kids room tidy? Do let me know in the comments.
With Anya’s birthday in December and then Christmas, the build-up of toys, games and gifts is endless in this house. We gather more stuff in December than the rest of the year combined! So I’m always looking for ways to store all her junk new belongings. I am partial to toy storage sacks as not only do they look stylish but it’s oh so easy to tidy up – just throw all the toys and mess in to them and you’ve tidied up in minutes. Here are a few toy storage sacks I’m loving at the moment and having a hard time choosing between. Many of them come in different designs and colours so just check out the links to see more. And any of them would be great to store all the new Christmas goodies:
These have got to be the cutest toy storage sacks ever! Even though they’re made of paper they’re durable and the little faces and hearts are all hand painted on. We are hoping to move house soon and if all goes to plan, I’m definitely getting a couple of these for Anya’s room and maybe even a black heart one as a laundry bag for me. Such a simple and sweet idea… too cute!
I recently came across a new nursery furniture range from Spain and I loved the modern lines and colourful accents. The range consists of cribs like the ones pictured above, chests of draws in a range of sizes, striped teepees and more. The nursery furniture has a contemporary vibe with unexpected little details like the angled legs and of course the cool colour accents. I chose my two favourite colours to share but there are many more including a beautiful wood and white one. This furniture is the the creation of one of my favourite Barcelona based shops for kids – if you are ever in Barcelona, do check out Nobodinoz but otherwise they are online too.
Rather than just show you the furniture, I thought it would be fun to create a baby nursery mood board and for a change I decided to go for a shared baby boy and girl nursery space – maybe for boy and girl twins. Here’s where you’ll find all the stuff:
I think if I ever move to another career it would have to be something to do with decorating babies and kids rooms. I love putting together inspiration and ideas for how to create a beautiful nursery space or a kiddy space. My favourite style is Scandinavian and right now I’m really partial to black and white rooms especially with a subtle hint of another colour. For this mood board I’ve added a dash of pink to brighten up the black and white. Here’s where you’ll find the picks:
A long while ago I brought you these adorable space-saving desks perfect for adults or kids. Those desks were by Torafu Architects, a Japanese design house, who have 2 new designs that I’m loving and think you will too. The first is this colourful toy storage trolley and the second is that cute folding table. Both are practical, space-saving and beautiful.
Torafu Architects are great at transforming everyday furniture in to something special. I am very much a believer that everyday stuff should also look beautiful because it is so much a part of your daily life.
Ebabee Likes is a style guide for babies, kids, teens and their mamas. It’s all about inspiration, ideas and indulging yourself and your brood. It’s written by me ~ Nomita ~ a style loving girl from Mumbai who now live’s in London. Read More...
