Top Tips on how to design your Child's Dream Bedroom using an Inspiration Board
No idea how to decorate your little one’s room? Struggling to find any inspiration?
Well, you’ve come to the right place. If your youngster’s room is due a makeover, I’ve got plenty of tips to help you create their dream bedroom – and it all starts with an inspiration board.
Read on to see how an inspiration board works, and how you and your kids can get started…
Wait, what is an inspiration board?
An inspiration board – or “mood board” – is a mish-mash of images that display a style you like. Interior designers often piece together a mood board before they design a room, as it helps them explore a particular look.
You don’t have to create just one inspiration board. In fact, it’s better to make multiple boards at once, so you can explore different ideas and see which ones you prefer. Each board can focus on a particular style (like Scandi style), colour scheme, or theme – like woodland or vintage.
Bloomingville Water Hyacinth Bear Basket
So, how can I create an inspo board?
Inspiration boards can be physical or online. Either way, you’ll have a great time searching bedroom styles and indulging your inner interior design guru.
Pinterest is designed for setting up different boards, and has plenty of ideas to scroll through and add to your saved collections. You can separate your boards however you like, and there’s no limit to the amount of boards you can create.
Aside from Pinterest, you can also make your own mood with design software like Adobe or Canva. Simply cut and paste ideas you’ve found online and arrange the images in a way that gives you a feel for the style.
Or if you’d rather stick to the old-fashioned method, you can cut out images from your mags – or print off images from online – and stick them onto a physical board.
Start with what your kids love
To design a bedroom your kids really love, get them involved with your inspiration board. It could be that they’re an animal lover or a wannabe astronaut. Or maybe they just love the colour yellow…
Whatever your kids are into, make sure your inspiration board incorporates their style. After all, your kids are the ones spending the most time in their room!
But don’t worry. Just because your little one is dinosaur mad, you don’t have to go overboard and get everything dino-related. But having a few fun accessories and soft furnishings will give the bedroom a splash of personality, and it’s a great way to start planning your inspiration board.
For example, if your youngster is into safari animals, a green colour palette would work well. Here’s some fun accessories to give you an idea…
For the dinosaur lover
Lifetime Dino Teepee Play Tent
For the safari explorer
Safari Box Kids Mini Animal Wall Heads
For the little rockstar
Kids Concept Wooden Toy Guitar
For the wannabe astronaut
Bloomingville Seagrass Rocket Basket with Lid
Find a colour scheme that works
When it comes to inspiration boards, it’s good to explore a few different colour schemes. First, pick a base colour that defines the overall mood of the bedroom. The base will be the main colour – and it can seriously change the feel of any room.
For example, a grey base can be soothing and calm, whereas bright yellow would be energetic and lively. Here’s a few popular bedroom colour schemes to start exploring for your inspiration board:
Monochrome
Monochrome bedrooms are fun. With contrasting black and white tones, you can create a striking but sophisticated look – perfect for kids on the brink of their teenage years.
Thuka HIT 8 High Sleeper Bed with Desk and Sofa Bed in Black
Vox Concept 2 Door Wardrobe in Grey & Black
Top tip: with a monochrome bedroom, a bright accent colour works really well. This means adding fun ‘pops’ of colour to stand out, like the Cotton Ball Lights Pacific LED String Lights (below). Available in lots of other colour combinations, there’s a set of handmade fairy lights for every kid!
Cotton Ball Lights Pacific LED String Lights
Bright and bold
Go bold and opt for bright and lively colours. For colours that work with each other, a colour wheel can help you find complementary hues.
Remember, if the colours you choose are contrasting, remember to pick one dominant colour and use the other tones as accents throughout the room. If the colours sit next to each other on the wheel, you can afford to be more flexible.
Vox Tuli Kids Stackable Desk in Yellow & Green
Stackable Desk Available in White & Pink
Pastel colours
A pastel colour scheme is another great bedroom idea to explore on an inspiration board. With soft but fun tones, it’s perfect for youngsters and it’s really easy to create the look – just pair pastel with white or wood furniture and you can’t go far wrong.
Casami Beach House Bookcase
Vox Vintage Chest of Drawers in a Choice of Oak or 5 Pastel Colours
Grey tones
Voted the colour of the year by Pantone, Ultimate Grey is another stunning colour scheme to explore. With calming and neutral properties, you can afford to get bright and colorful when it comes to picking out bedroom accessories.
Vox Concept Chest of Drawers in Grey & Black
Once you’ve found the main colour, remember to add contrasting or accent colours to your inspiration board. This helps you see which colours work well together, and which don’t. The possibilities are endless, but here’s a few of my favourite colour schemes for kids bedrooms:
- Monochrome and mint
- Deep grey and yellow
- Sage green and pink
- Blue and white
- Navy and teal
- Baby pink and light grey
Search for a bedroom trend
So now you’ve found a colour scheme, it’s good to look up and search different interior trends, themes, and styles. This will give you plenty of inspiration for how you’d like the bedroom to look and feel.
An interior bedroom style could be like a trend, like:
- Scandi
- Industrial
- Minimalist
- Maximalist
- Traditional
- Vintage
- Boho
Or, you could look up themes that work well in a kids bedroom, like:
- Jungle safari theme
- Beach or nautical theme
- Woodland theme
- Space theme
Woodland theme
Mathy by Bols Louane Tree Bookcase
Woodland accessories
Bloomingville Seagrass Mushroom Basket with Lid
Beach theme
Lifetime Children’s Beach House Single Bed
Beach accessories
Bloomingville Ice Cream Coat Rack
The tough bit…
So now you’ve got a collection of inspiration boards with different colour schemes or styles, you can compare and contrast. See which boards take your fancy and explore them in more detail. Remember, these boards are just a starting point – you can use these boards to dive off and create your very own look.
Ready to create an inspiration board of your own?
If you’re looking for a little more inspiration, head over to our Instagram page. We feature plenty of fun and fresh bedroom ideas to get you started and give you food for thought.
Got a question you’d like to ask? Feel free to contact our friendly team on +44 (0) 1305 231231 or send us an email.
