The Block NZ judge shares top tips for designing kids' rooms

Interior designer, judge on The Block NZ and mama to two boys, Shelley Ferguson knows a thing or two about kids' rooms. Here’s her advice for how to make the most of this space at yours.

Use any opportunity to stay young at heart, including decorating your home! Designing kids’ rooms is a fun opportunity to be brave and push your creativity, and a great bonding project to involve your little one in. Be sure to start by setting some boundaries, or you’ll end up with a design that’s a marriage of Marvel and Disney!

Find common ground

If your child was left in total charge of their room design, chances are you would run into trouble. Cartoons covering every wall may seem genius to kids, but colour affects their moods and minds, so too much can trigger crazy time. Just as in all relationships, compromise is the key. If you want a room that’s cohesive with the rest of the house, ensure that the basics such as flooring and paint tie back to your interior style, and choose a sophisticated overall colour palette. Then let your child pick a theme and some accent colours that can be layered on top and will be easy to change as they grow.

Zone in

Kids’ bedrooms are more than just places to sleep. What does your little one like to do in their room, and in what ways can you create zones for each activity? If you have space, a table and chairs for drawing and art is handy, complete with a pull-out paper roll mounted on the wall. A study zone can help keep school supplies in one area, and shelves are great for making use of vertical space and grouping related items. Floor cushions create comfy reading spots, and a round rug can encourage sit-down play in a circular formation.

Create mystery and magic

Kids love nooks that create a special feeling of secrecy, surprise and intrigue. Can you make a secret passage, add a tepee, install a ladder to a little mezzanine, or set up a hidden zone in an unused cupboard or closet? Feature beds add a sense of adventure and create a room that kids are keen to hang out in. Glowing lights build on the magical feeling, as do interesting objects borrowed from nature, such as jars filled with treasures collected outdoors.

Add a layer of love

Displaying items your kids have created, such as amateur artwork or misshapen Fimo sculptures shows them you’re proud of them and creates a feeling of safety and love. Use shelves or pinboards to pull these together into a visually attractive arrangement.

DESIGN TIP

Freestanding cubby units can be screwed horizontally onto the wall above a desk to create a bookshelf. Just ensure you have the unit installed by a professional who knows how to secure it properly to the wall studs for safety.

Modular shelving units allow for lots of clever placement options — you can install just one shelf, or you can combine several shelves to create a wall feature. They also come in lots of different colours so you can coordinate them with the room. Mount a felt backing board in the space between the desktop and the underside of the shelf above, then use it as a handy pinboard.

Build it in, baby!

If budget allows, built-in zones for different activities such as reading or playing can be cleverly designed to double as storage. Here are some of my favourite ideas:

❧ A built-in bunk, bed and storage wall

❧ A bed platform with handy storage drawers underneath

❧ A shelving wall

❧ A desk nook built into a wall recess

❧ A single-wall side-by-side bed setup

❧ A window seat with storage underneath

❧ A full-height storage wall

❧ Built-in bunks

❧ Loft beds with a play zone underneath

Add drama with doors

Keeping the door in the same style as the rest of the home but painting it in an accent colour of your child's choice is a fun and friendly option for your little one's room.

Encourage learning

You don’t want your child to feel like they’re taking a test, but their room should be a natural learning environment too. Books, maps, globes, wall charts or musical instruments look great on display, and can also be educational tools (without the kids even realising it!). If you have the space, set up a desk or station for creative play.

Encourage bedtime

Simple, yet oh-so important! Many people invest in their own bed linen, but buy cheaper imitations for their kids. The snugglier and more comfortable you can make your kid’s bed, the more likely they are to doze off in a cloud of comfort. Update the look with some fun printed pillowcases. If you have a little more to spend, let your child help choose some new linen — get creative and team printed sheets with a coloured duvet cover or vice versa. Buy soft, natural, breathable fibres such as cotton, organics, bamboo or flannelette. Up the cuddle factor with a throw for the end of the bed, a couple of scatter cushions and your child’s favourite soft toys. Teamed with block-out curtains or blinds and soft lamp light the scene is set for a cosy night's sleep. (Disclaimer: none of this will guarantee your kid will actually sleep.)

DESIGN TIP

Reconfiguring existing wardrobes and kitting them out with cubbies, shelving and double hanging rails for kids can result in far more storage than you thought possible.

Project funway

Children’s bedrooms are a great opportunity to be brave with colour and creative with design, and to get DIY cred with the family. Use your room makeover as a bonding exercise, and complete a couple of décor projects with your child that can be shown off in the space. Paint and frame artwork, give pre-loved furniture a paint job, and create vignettes of cool-looking collections on surfaces and shelves.

Make room to rough-house

Sometimes kids just want to rumble, roll around, build huts or lie on the floor and daydream. Whatever their age, try to achieve a room layout that allows this type of important play. If that means the bed gets pushed into the corner, so be it.

Pinboard it

Pinboards are a great way to make vertical space more interesting and add a personal touch. Make your kids feel at home by putting up some photos of their friends, family and favourite times, plus certificates they’ve received or pictures they’ve drawn. Felt pinboards can be bought or made in a colour that matches the room and complements the design. If you have a desk area with shelving above it, try filling the space with a custom pinboard!

Shelve it

Adding a shelving area in a kids' room creates not only a practical storage solution, but also a styling opportunity! You can buy individual units from retail stores, modular systems from hardware stores, or you can upcycle your own.

Using a cabinetmaker to custom-make shelving and in-built furniture such as a desk means the new pieces fit the space perfectly, you get more creative freedom with the design, and you can add your own bespoke finishing touches.

Clear plastic look-see bookshelves are a clever option for nurseries and toddlers rooms, as the child can see the entire cover and point at the book they want to read. They’re also very slimline, making them ideal for small spaces.

Work it out

If you have space for a freestanding desk, chances are you have space for a built-in desk. The benefit of built-in is that you’ll have more desk length, you can fill any space no matter what the shape, and you can create a look that goes perfectly with any existing storage or cabinetry in the room. If there’s room above, leave at least 1.2 m headspace, then add shelves for showcasing special items such as the kids’ favourite Lego creations.

Move up in space

It’s always worth playing detective to see if there’s any space in the ceiling cavity to create a play area or even a mezzanine bed with ladder access. Check out the building plans to see if you have any space, or wriggle your way up into a manhole to see what framing you have – you may be able to GIB around it to create a whole new area. The same goes with a wide wall cavity – perfect for recessing shelves into.

Play with wallpaper

Wall murals are the perfect choice for theming kids’ rooms — they can have fun discovering little details, and the design often inspires a colour scheme for the rest of the room. High ceilings can also benefit from wall murals, with detail at the top to fill the void of white space and add a sense of wonder to a little one looking up.

Luxe metallic wallpaper amps up the neutral palette, and the modern abstract design will evolve with your kids’ style for years to come. Illustrated wallpaper designs featuring sketched lines and realistic drawings can add an educational element, while setting the theme for an entire room.

Light it up

If you only have downlights in the kids’ rooms, consider hiring an electrician to add pendant light wiring. Pendant lights play a double-duty role in kids’ rooms — not only do they provide a lovely ambient light, but they can also be grouped together or clustered to create imaginative formations. You could also get dimmers put on them to create a cool cosmic look at night!

Have fun with furniture

Look for furniture designs that aren’t necessarily made for kids but have playful features. For example, a spacious bedside with drawers for storage that also features a cute arch design, contributing a youthful vibe to the room. 

Extracted from Live Luxe by Shelley Ferguson.
Photography by Helen Bankers. Allen & Unwin NZ RRP $45.