There are so many places to look for kids bedroom ideas these days — options are limitless! While you may have considered  a particular theme or character for your child’s room, have you ever considered the environment of your child’s room? Regardless of whether or not your child may have special needs, their bedroom needs to be a place that is calming, soothing, and encourages sleep. So many children have problems either going to sleep or sleeping through the night, it can be hard on the entire family.  It’s difficult to put ourselves in the minds of our kids, but sometimes we need to try in order to attempt to solve the problem. Often times there are easy solutions.

If your child is “sensory sensitive” in some way, use that information to better accommodate his/her needs for their bedroom.  A lot of times the sensitivities aren’t consistent. Out in the world it’s difficult for children with ADD, ADHD, and various other spectrum disorders to adapt to the world around them. So many situations we can’t control for them and they must adapt in some way. That’s one of the reasons I think having a bedroom that your child loves and feels comforted and happy means so much. You can’t control so much of what’s out there, but this is very manageable. One room designed just for them where they don’t have to adapt; the room was made just for their needs. Coming up with bedroom ideas for kids isn’t as difficult as it might seem.

The Basics

Color
Let’s start at some of the more general items on our list. Consider the color of your child’s room. There are countless posts and information online regardless what color palettes are calming and relaxing, I personally like blues and muted colors. If your child is old enough, get them involved. Give them a few choices and see what they like. Even if you can’t have a lot of items in your child’s room because he or she might be a little destructive, the wall color is always there no matter what, so it’s important! Do a search on Pinterest for “soothing paint colors” or something similar — there are tons to choose from, but sometimes it’s nice to get inspiration and ideas from seeing what other people have done.

Flooring
Flooring can also be a factor in your child’s comfort level in their room. Most people like carpet in their bedrooms, but if your child has a lot of allergies to things like dust and the family pet, carpet might not help with that particular issue. Maybe hardwood and an area rug might be a better choice. That being said, depending on your child’s age and level of development, you may need to consider other factors like safety. Is your child likely to get out of bed during the night? Are they a fall risk? You may want to have a nice thick carpet and padding for that reason.

Decor/Theme
What you put on the walls after the paint is also something to consider. You don’t want to overstimulate your little one, but maybe a calming underwater ocean scene would be comforting. Too many pictures can be overwhelming, but at the same time you want to have things for your child to look at as he/she is falling asleep and playing if they play in their room.

A Little Note About Lighting
Most bedrooms automatically have some kind of overhead light. Try having some kind of lamp on the nightstand or floor lamp that is secured (I’ve used bungee cords and 2″ screw eyes in classrooms before) in order to have some light that is a bit softer and more soothing.

Hope this is a good start. Next time we’ll talk about specific items you may want to try in your child’s bedroom.

For Further Reading
Ideas for Kids Bedrooms Part 2