I am beyond thrilled to kick off a new series today called Decorating With Kids. The operative word is with! Decorating shouldn’t be something we do to our kids, it should be something we do with our kids. My recent experience at a Kindergarten career day convinced me I need to bring this series to life. Kids are interested in design. The look and feel of their home is important to them, too.
There are many great series and posts elsewhere about decorating for kids, or kid-friendly design. Those are all well and good, but I want to take it much further. This series will go beyond creating a kid-friendly home to creating a kid-inclusive home. I think kids should be part of the decorating process in their home.
Up until now my kids have appeared here infrequently. They mostly make appearances on Facebook and Instagram. But, obviously they are a huge part of my life. And, probably a bigger part of my decorating life than I have ever let on here. We have done a few projects together (painting, making ornaments, making art, and decor), but I want more. This series is one part inspiring you to decorate with your kids, and two parts kicking myself in the behind to decorate more with my kids :)
I know many of you have kids, too. They have probably played a significant role in your decorating habits, whether you recognize it or not. You have probably used them as an excuse not to do DIY projects or to decorate with pretty things. Don’t feel bad…believe me we have all done it. But, I’d like to make a change. Instead of allowing our kids to limit what decorating we do, let’s use them to inspire what decorating we do.
No more excuses. I have certainly made my fair share of child-related excuses when it comes to decorating my home. They might break it…they might get finger prints on it…they will definitely scratch it…but none of those are a good excuse for living in an undecorated space. We just have to decorate smarter, and embrace the imperfections and mishaps that will surely follow as learning opportunities for us and our kids. It starts with including your kids in the decorating process!
Some of my favorite bloggers and inspiring mothers already have this secret figured out, and we can learn from them. I have invited them to share their insights throughout this series. They will share their opinions about decorating with kids and what has worked for them.
So Many Ways to Decorate With Kids
This 12-week series (one post per week for the next couple months) will cover some of my favorite ways to include kids in the decorating process. Each post will include practical tips on how to have a successful decorating experience with your kids. Topics will include:
- Choosing Paint Colors
- Planning a Furniture Layout
- Choosing a Theme without Making a Theme Room
- Playing with Color
- Helping Kids Make Decorating Choices
- Shopping Scavenger Hunt
…and more!
During the series we will be working on three spaces in our home, including the playroom, the nursery (becoming a big boy room), and the other big boy room. Although I believe kids can, and should, help decorate the entire house, it is natural to begin with rooms that mean the most to them. Once they are engaged in the process, you can have them help with other spaces.
I am far from an expert on this subject. I have shied away from having my kids help with a project more than I have let them help. But as they grow, I am trying to include them more and more. I have started carefully planning projects to allow them to take part. It is very rewarding for them and me. I hope with this series I will inspire you to start decorating with your kids.
The Craziest Thing
To kick off the fun, I have asked some of the mothers and bloggers I admire most to answer this fun question:
What is the craziest thing your kid(s) asked to put in their room? How did you respond?
Sherry, from Young House Love, said:
“Clara has asked if she can have a “real life fire-breathing dragon” and keep him in her room. Gotta love that imagination. One of her favorite books is about dragons (Dragons Love Tacos) so we threw her a third birthday party with a little dragon theme. She had the best time.”
Mari, from Small for Big, said:
“A rainbow! But actually, I’m thinking I might find a way to work with it – I’m considering a really modern, minimal, racing stripe rainbow down one wall of her room. You’d be amazed how creatively you can interpret a kids’ request. Like when she asked for a princess dress – it turned out all she needed was a classic sundress with a full skirt, not the over-the-top glitterfest I was scared of.”
Melissa, from I Still Love You, said:
“Penelope hasn’t had any crazy requests beyond constantly asking for animals to live with us (snake, turtle, dog, cat, lizard, fish, goat). We’re not ready to take on a zoo just yet.”
Jenna, from SAS Interiors, said:
“Pallets. I’m crazy about pallets and when I wanted to forgo the typical shelf and instead create a bookcase with pallets, my son (and husband) thought I was crazy. In the end the result was “super cool”. Somehow every project that we tackle in our home starts and ends the same way – at the beginning I appear to be “off my rocker” and at the end, the result is awesome.”
Jen, from I Heart Organizing, said:
My boys really wanted a giant airplane in their room. I was lucky that it was their craziest request, as it was simple enough to find an oversized wire model plane to hang from their ceiling. Although, I know they wanted the real thing, they were really excited about the alternative {as seen here}.
Dragons, rainbows, a zoo, pallets, and a plane, oh my! The craziest thing my boys have asked for is a pirate ship with a real working cannon. We are going to pass on the ship, but have channeled their idea into a pirate-themed playroom, that we plan to complete during this series. I adore how Sherry redirected Clara’s love of dragons into a fabulous birthday party and Jen opted for a model plane instead of a real one. Mari also has great perspective on creatively interpreting Birdie’s request to fit her aesthetic. Melissa’s kids have a beautiful shared bedroom that showcases their personalities, even though it is animal-free. And, Jenna proves sometimes we even have to push our kids to think more crazy, I mean creatively :) By including our kids in the decorating process we can learn more about them, their likes and dislikes, and make a space they will love!
By the way, this series will be so much more fun, if we can hear from you, too. Please take advantage of the comments section and share your decorating with kids experiences. I read and cherish every comment, so I can’t wait to see your responses to this:
When making over my son’s room, I interviewed him to see what he liked. He wanted sharks and leprechauns – um, how do you work with that?
Crystal, Haha. Kids say the darndest things :) Maybe you need to dig a little further to see what he likes about each of those. Maybe he just wants a little green in the room, not a leprechaun. Hopefully the tips in this series will help!
Great post Jackie and of course, thank you for sharing my thoughts on decorating with kids! xo Jenna
When we built our new house (2.5 years ago) we let our kids design their rooms (mostly). The oldest boy wanted a Star Wars space room – ended up with navy blue walls and ceilings and a huge (6 ft wide) vinyl decal of the Millenium Falcon. The oldest girl picked bright yellowish-green walls (way brighter than I would have EVER picked), purple blinds and purple lamp. It ended up working for her.
The younger boy wanted an orange room. This is the only room that I didn’t allow him to completely design himself – I figured that all orange would be too much – we agreed on dark grey lower walls, light grey upper walls and ceiling with a 2 inch orange stripe around the middle with orange linens and orange accents.
The younger 2 girls share a room and wanted fish in their room. They decided on a beach/ocean room – we painted 1/2 the room sand color and 1/2 the room blue, with the colors meeting on the ceiling in a wave pattern. We used vinyl stickers to fill the blue side with fish and hung beach towels next to the blinds for curtains. We have lots of fish & beach accents.
Love how you let each of your kids have their own personality in their rooms! Hopefully this series will give some pointers you can use when it comes time to redecorate.
What a fun series Jackie. I have a five year old boy who likes traditional girly things. He would like a violet, pink and aqua bedroom. No superheroes, fireman, or true blue for him. I’ve had to think outside the box when decorating for this boy. :)
Lisa, sounds fun to me. My boys are all about superheros and I haven’t found a way to sneak in any pink yet (although, isn’t that superman’s favorite color?).
My son requested a slide from his room in the 2nd floor, straight to our backyard… Needless to say the idea is on hold (despite his father’s enthusiasm to build this…)
Shira, We have had the same request for a slide from our second story deck. We got a normal playset instead.
Ahhh….my youngest closed her eyes tight at nap time ( not even three) and prayed, Dear Jesus. Help Mommy to paint my room pink. “. Boy, I did for who can stand in the way of answered prayer?! Then at eleven, when the sponge paint was in, she wanted her walls to have a white and blue mix but the color to be swirled/smeared on the white. It was rather unique. Her idea! Crisp white accents she said. Cat bedspread and cat accessories. Well it was all in style so she got it all tastefully done. At 13, I moved and once again her decorating strong ideas came through. She wanted navy crackle paint over the white, with a lighthouse border. Again that was the rage so her switch plate cover, a couple accessories and even a real, antique captains wheel went over the bed. At about 19, she was gone to college but before she left at Christmas break, she scraped on her border and instructed me on her color choices. It was fun to surprise her when she came home at spring break!! Now she’s married and they bought their first home. It’s huge but 25 years old so updating is in store. She was afraid and claimed she didn’t know how to decorate. I reminded her of her VERY strong will when it came to decorating–the girls decorated their bathroom, picked out the couches for the great room…and my reminders have empowered her. Now if she’d just be more decisive about her shade of gray for her rooms!!!
Gwen, Isn’t it amazing how uninhibited we can be as children? That is definitely why starting young is so important. So great she has you to remind her of her fearless decorating as a child, although hopefully she doesn’t turn to sponge painting again :)
Oh! PS. Our outing last Thursday? To SW. And laughing over my samples and me having her paint patches all over and then combining equal parts of the two colors in a dish and she paints and says Mom this is it!!! The color! So yes, starting young helps. But final say in main living is me!!! For I have a vision!!! Haha
What a great idea for a series! My daughter really wanted a PINK room. She picked a really bold pink off the swatch, so I convinced her to use that on one focal wall and a much lighter shade for the others. It’s still more pink than I personally would like, but I’m really happy with the room. I have to reign my type A personality in and remind myself that this is her room (not mine) and she absolutely loves her girly pink space!
http://www.houseforfive.com/2012/08/our-little-girl-bedroom-reveal.html
Can’t wait to see more of this series in the coming weeks!
This is such a great idea for a series. I can’t wait to read your tips for shopping scavenger hunts. Shopping with my kiddos can be very challenging as I like to mull over choices and they like to run all over. In terms of decorating requests, I think the most interesting request I’ve had is for a fish tank or turtle.
I am working on my oldest son’s room right now and while he hasn’t had too many over the top requests, it is really cute to see him give his opinion so freely about his ideas (he is 5). I have been taking him garage saleing and he has picked up a few, shall we say, “interesting” items with his $3 allotment. One was a 70’s brown mottled horse head book end that turned out gorgeous spray painted white!! By working with him through this process of doing his bedroom I hope that we come up with a design he loves and that suits him and his interests and personality without being too over the top themey.