Planning the perfect practical bedroom
We spend so long thinking about our little one's bedrooms before they arrive, and decorating a baby's nursery must be one of the most lovely things to do in life.
When babies become little children though, they need different things from their bedroom space, their eyes are more sensitive to colours and their personalities start to come through.
So let the room grow with them, and when it's time, maybe have a rethink about how the room is working, from their perspective. You might be surprised what you find, and they might start to sleep a bit better too with a few small changes.
From a child's perspective
- See what your little one sees
Try putting yourself in their eye line and lie down in their bed (ideally when they’re not there!) to have a look around and see what they can see with the lights low, a night light, in darkness or with any light that can come through from a landing or other room.
What can they see? Are there any big looming pieces of furniture that might be scary? Is there an outline of a toy that looks different at night? Do pictures on the walls or wall decals create distracting shapes? Maybe they're even a little bit scared to go to sleep because of something you didn't even notice, and a quick tweak could make bedtimes much easier.
The right setting
The bedroom environment
Bedtime is a whole sensory experience, Not just what kids see, but what they feel and hear too.
Have a think about where the bed is in relation to other things in the room? Is the outside wall of the house very cold? Is there a draught near the window? Is there any other ventilation in the room or the radiator creating a hot spot next to the bed?
Use our clever scale guide and cut outs to redesign their bedroom using some of the UK's favourite kid's furniture based on your own dimensions and plan the room with a good night's sleep in mind.
Sweet dreams
- imaginary friends
Do your little ones mention anything specific before they go to bed? Do they mention monsters or dragons? Do they tell you about their dreams when they wake up in the morning? Children’s brains are so creative and impressionable, great most of the time, but not if it's affecting their sleep.
We couldn’t work out why our daughter kept talking about tigers, and had woken up a couple of times upset about a tiger in her room. It turned out that she could see The Tiger That Came To Tea sign that we had bought at the live show, and propped up in the corner and forgotten about.
Once we moved him downstairs and left him to sit next to the books, there was no more talk about tigers!
