Bedroom design ideas for your toddler are great fun – you can transform an uninviting toddler bedroom into a cozy retreat for your toddler where he will safe and secure for a good night’s sleep. Here we have lots of kids bedroom ideas and specifically toddler bedroom ideas to help you create a lovely space for your child.
There is so many great ways to make your toddler’s bedroom lovely from choosing the right furniture and storage solutions to decorating so we’ve divided this section as follows:
Designing your toddler’s bedroom will be a great project for you and your toddler to get stuck into. By the end of this project, your toddler will have a welcoming zone just for him and you’ll have more space around your home.
You need to consider what type of space you want to create. Ideas you might want to consider are:
- The atmosphere you want to create – ideas could be welcoming, safe, secure, attractive, organized and personal
- How to match your toddler’s taste – does your toddler have a favorite color? Does he like any particular character such as Thomas the Tank Engine, or theme, such as airplanes?
- Storage and organization – toddlers love order and routine as well as independence so you might want to consider storage which is in his reach and storage that makes tidying up easy for everyone
Bedroom Design Ideas: The Drawing Board
You’ll need to design your child’s bedroom carefully with accurate measurements. Use squared paper to easily measure the true dimensions and also take dimensions of the furniture that is to go in the bedroom so that you know exactly what will fit where – preparation is the key.
Here’s our Ultimate Guide to the Best Mattresses for Toddlers!
Bedroom Design Ideas: Themes
You may want to incorporate a theme into your toddler’s bedroom. The theme could be the focus of the whole bedroom, or the bedding or toddler bed. Or the theme could be more subtle with just splashes of the theme on the walls and odd cushion or curtains. Examples of themes are:
- jungle
- boats
- animals
- pirates
- dinosaurs
- airplanes
- trains
- fairies
- butterflies
- flowers
- cartoon or film characters
Ways to include a theme are to use theme-based rugs, cushions, beddings, wall murals, wall decorations, colors and pictures. You may opt to keep the theme subtle as your toddler’s preferences could change quite quickly.
Bedroom Design Ideas: Furniture
You will need to choose sturdy furniture which your toddler won’t be able to climb. A bookshelf is great to have in a bedroom but if your toddler is a climber then bookshelves could be dangerous.
You may then need to store books in open storage boxes that your toddler can then easily flick through to find his special story. For taller units you could screw the shelfs to the wall so that there is no risk of them toppling over.
Furniture also ideally needs to be both practical and attractive. There is a huge range to choose from wooden antiques to modern plastics. Choose the style that suits both your home and your toddler.
Bedroom Design Ideas: Style
Your toddler’s bedroom needs to match the rest of your house and any style can be used to make a lovely bedroom for your toddler. You could have a modern contemporary interior, plain and simple which would make a great backdrop for brightly colored toys and paintings. Or you could have a soft antique look with old-fashioned motifs and decor.
You can also very successfully mix the two with subtle additions from different eras.
Also, family treasures such as rocking horses, or an old armchair can immediately add a cozy personality to your toddler’s bedroom.
Bedrooms are great places to have personalized items such as cushions, bedding, chairs, rugs or a painted canvas. Personalized items add a sense of importance to your toddler and his room and he’ll be proud to show them off.
Bedroom Design Ideas: Organization
Toddlers generally play with the toys that they can see, so ensure that the toys that you know they like can be seen and aren’t at the bottom of a basket. Also, if you have small display baskets be careful not to add too much in them otherwise things will get muddled.
You could also alternate which toys you have out. These days, children often have so many toys and gifts and some can sadly be left unplayed-with simply because your child has so many and inevitably some lovely toys will be left untouched at the bottom of the basket. Instead you could store some forgotten toys away and every month or so rotate some of the toys and your toddler will love playing with them again. It will give your toddler variety and give you and him enough space for his toys.
Bedroom Design Ideas: Personality
Adding your toddler’s unique taste and personality can easily be done by choosing his toddler bed sheets and bedding to match his tastes. There is such a huge choice available. Alternatively you could keep the bed and bedding simple and decorate a wall with a design that has your toddler’s favorite interests – such as cowboys, trains, airplanes, butterflies, fairies, etc.
It’s lovely to have a cozy blanket for your toddler to snuggle into. A cozy, fleece blanket is very comforting either for sleeping or taking a nap or just to wrap up in when looking at a story book.
Finally, don’t forget to have enough pillows needed for building fun fortresses and soft pillow fights when your toddler has his or her friends over.
Kids bedroom ideas: Flooring
Toddlers will spend a lot of time on the floor playing and crawling too so the flooring needs to be practical and soft. A wool carpet is softer and easier to clean than sisal or coir, which can be too hard on the knees. A short pile will provide a flat surface to stand toys on and is not slippery under the feet. If you choose a plain color the furniture and accessories can add a splash of color.
Also if you have a wooden floor, either painted or varnished, then you can break up the color with a colorful rug which will be soft for your toddler to play on.
Finally, if you do have a rug it may need to have the non-slip backing attached otherwise it could be trip hazard to a toddling toddler.
Your toddler will appreciate as much floor space as possible to play on. It’s great if the toddler bed can be against a wall and in a corner: it’s cozy, safe, and gives maximum floor space.
Kids bedroom ideas: A Play Zone
If your child’s bedroom is big enough then consider having a play zone in one corner. Keeping the play zone separate to the sleeping zone helps your toddler to know that when he is going to bed it’s sleeping time.
A play zone just for your toddler can be great particularly if you have more than one child as then one child can have his own space somewhere to do his own thing. However, if your toddler’s bedroom is small, then no worries, he doesn’t need a separate play zone as toddlers will love to play in the family space downstairs.
Bedroom Design Ideas: Lighting
- A dimmer switch is great as it’s safe and within your control
- A pretty lamp (with no trailing wires)
- A wall lamp with a switch (Ikea have some lovely wall lamps)
- String lights in all sorts of styles to suit boys and girls – trains, flowers, butterflies. They make the room magical!
- A nightlight for comfort
Bedroom Design Ideas: Key furniture
- a toddler sized bed
- drawers for clothes
- Shelving for books and toys which your toddler can reach
- toy storage box
- wardrobe (particularly for girls, less so for boys)
- small chair
- cushions or bean bag
- bedside table with beaker and lamp
Adding mini toddler-sized furniture is a lovely way to personalize a play area or to cosy a corner in your kids bedroom. You can find lovely toddler table and chair sets, beanbags as well as mini armchairs and rocking chairs – very cute! The styles vary considerably from vintage styles to colorful plastic or wooden sets decorated with characters or animals.
Getting the best mattress in a box is also a great idea for your toddler to sleep on, play on and make dens with. You can coordinate the colors of them to match the room’s colour scheme.
Toddler Bedroom Safety
Your toddler’s bedroom needs to be safe. You should refer to the official site for Recalls on toys at least once a month.
Here is a checklist for safety:
- no trailing wires
- plastic socket covers
- window locks
- stair gate at top of the stairs (plus bottom of the stairs)
- night light monitor
- no bags or belts near his bed
- blind cords need to be kept out of reach
A bedroom is an oasis and a part of the house that is just for your toddler. Spending time over different bedroom design ideas and kids bedroom ideas will mean that you choose the right design to make your toddler’s bedroom a special place just for him.
