It’s sometimes hard to know what to get for your daughter’s birthday. No matter what age she is, kids’ interests are always changing and it’s difficult to know what to get. Why not try out a brand new room decoration for her next gift? Here are some tips on how to do it…

Talk To Her First

Make sure that you communicate clearly with her about what she’d like from her new bedroom. Think about what exactly she uses her bedroom for – if she likes drawing and writing stories, then make sure she has a well-lit desk area. If your family pet sleeps in her room, make sure there’s space for its bed. Talk to her about what exactly she wants to make sure that’s what she gets.

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Use It As A Bonding Experience

If you’re planning her room together, you can use it as a bonding experience. Take her out so you can choose paint colours and look at wallpaper samples together, and make a day of it by going out to lunch or dinner afterwards. If you’re planning on decorating it together, show her how to paint walls and let her play her favourite music while she helps out. Remember not to get irritated if she gets bored with decorating and wanders off – this is a gift for her, after all!

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Get Some Unique Pieces

Make the room into a really special place by investing in some unique pieces. Check out girls’ cabin beds and consider creating a canopy with pretty, floaty material. Look around antiques stores to find some pieces that are a little different from the norm and that are made out of good quality, durable materials. These are the things that she’ll end up keeping for the rest of her life and that she’ll transfer to her own apartment one day in the future – which may seem like a million years away, but which will come around more quickly than you think.

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Make Sure It’s Practical As Well As Pretty

It’s important to make sure that the room is as useful as it is pretty. Make sure there’s plenty of storage for clothes, toys and books – and that there’s some spare space for the new belongings that she’s bound to pick up over the next few years. Remember that kids are ever changing and that they grow up a lot more quickly than you’re expecting they will, so make sure that nothing is too permanent. She may have wanted a huge Frozen mural on the wall when she was four but she might not like it as much a few years later!

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Create A Grand Unveiling

Even if your daughter’s helped with some of the decoration and given you pointers about what exactly she wants, make sure that the final unveiling of what her new room looks like is a surprise. Treat her to a really special experience – put a ribbon on the door to demonstrate that it’s a gift and try to make sure it’s ready on her actual birthday. Arrange her things in a similar way to how they were in her old room and make sure that her favourite possessions are on display.

Designing the interior of your own home isn’t easy, and there are a number of things that can go wrong while you’re in the planning stages. Paying an interior designer can be an exorbitant cost that many families simply cannot justify. The do-it-yourself approach can save thousands of dollars, and really allows you to give the place a very personal touch. It pays to be vigilant, particularly when concerning your kid’s bedroom, after all, an important part of their early lives will be spent in the room that you create for them. To avoid disaster, here are 5 common mistakes that are made when designing a kid’s bedroom.

Poor Paint Choice

This is the first and often the most difficult step when designing a bedroom for your kids. It is far easier to match furniture, bedding and decorations to your paint colour than it is to try and do the reverse. When selecting colours, be sure to consider the effect that it will have on the room. While white is clean and bright, it can look clinical and unfriendly. Darker colours will make a room feel smaller, and can be claustrophobic. Picking something in between will allow the room to look spacious without feeling empty, and will add to the ambiance of the room.

[Image from home-designing.com]

Lacklustre Lighting

Once you have everything painted, you can focus on choosing the lighting that will best complement your colour scheme. Lighting can make or break the ambiance of your room, so try and choose globes that will provide a feeling of cosiness and comfort, while still being bright enough to read by. Consider additional bedside lamps to save energy and be more accessible for the kids at night time.

Disposable Decoration

While Dora the Explorer or Thomas the Tank may be your child’s favourite theme at the moment, next year might bring something completely different. Instead of decorating with specific characters, try and find things that your kids will love for a longer period of time. Once you have all decided on furniture and bedding, a great way to keep the kids happy is to use wall stickers. These look amazing, come in a variety of designs, and can be easily removed without damaging the paint. This will allow you to keep up with your kids ever-changing tastes, while keeping the fundamental (and expensive!) aspects of the room the same.

Be Cautious of Clutter

Kids need room to play. Make sure you keep this in mind when designing the room, and give them an area of floor space which is not hindered by furniture or storage boxes. It is also important to keep high traffic areas clear, such as near the cupboard and all around the bed so it is easy to make every day. A well set-out room that is free of clutter is inviting and comfortable for children of all ages.

A Family Affair

If your kids are old enough to help out, make sure you involve them in the process. If you don’t take on their opinions, you may end up with a room that they won’t want to spend any time in. While it may not be practical to follow all of their suggestions, having them help you out will ensure that the end result is something you will all love. If they have had a hand in choosing furniture and decorating the place, chances are they will look after everything better as well.Now you know what to watch out for: choose your paint first, focus on quality ambient lighting, decorate with the long-term in mind, keep clutter to a minimum and get the kids involved in every step of the design process. With these important aspects in mind, you can go ahead and start designing a room that your kids will love for years to come.