Inside: Girl’s bedroom decor can be difficult because let’s face it, kids change quickly. Today I’m walking you through the steps we took to makeover our almost tween girl’s room and giving you tips on updating your girl’s bedroom decor so it will last.
I have to admit that when my little girl’s room was a nursery it was adorable. I remember painting the purple on purple stripes and hanging photos on the wall. But when it transitioned into a little girl’s room, it became a bit of a mess.
It felt haphazard in the color scheme and layout and it definitely lacked storage for all the little things that little girls tend to collect. — I definitely forgot about that very long phase.
Here’s what it looked like before the room makeover…
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This room had me a bit stumped and took a little longer to complete than usual for a few reasons…
- My daughter is changing. She’ll be 10 in a few months and I wanted to make sure that the decisions we made for her bedroom makeover would last. I’m fine with tweaks and changes as she gets older and her tastes and interests change, but I wanted to make sure that the big decisions, i.e. the bigger ticket items, would last well into her teen years –hopefully until she’s on her own.
- The layout of this room is funky. There’s not a lot of wall space, so we had to get creative with the furniture.
- She loves color, so I wanted to include a lot of it, but do it in a timeless way.
From Little Girl Bedroom To Big Girl Bedroom
To figure out a design for her room, I essentially walked her through the exact framework I teach inside my course, Style Your Way Home, in order to…
- figure out her style
- create a go-to-list of elements and colors that would show up in this space, and
- create a layout that included a space for all the things she likes to do in her room.
Having this plan in place made it easy to make decisions knowing that the items we were investing in would have longevity in the space.
Today I want to share this beautiful transformation with you, but more importantly, I want to share a few smart decisions for transitioning a girls bedroom decor so you can make the best of your budget and not have to start from scratch as they grow. (Related: Free Printable Room Design Guide)
We’re going to cover…
- Choosing Colors
- Wall Art That Can Easily Be Changed As She Grows
- Finding A Bedroom Layout That Makes Sense Now And In The Future
- Product Resources in case something specific caught your eye
Smart Girl’s Bedroom Decor That Will Last
Choosing Colors For Your Girl’s Bedroom
Choosing colors for a kid’s bedroom can be a lot of fun because you can go well outside the color palette of the rest of your home.
But a common mistake people make when choosing colors for a kid’s bedroom is they go way too bold or a bit too crazy with the color scheme. — This makes it difficult to change things up as your child gets older and really pigeon-holes you into a theme that’s difficult to change.
So instead of going really bold, choose colors she loves and use the bold shade of those colors sparingly. Then use really light shades of those colors on the things that take up more visual space like walls, bedding, furniture, etc.
Solution: Use different shades of her favorite colors
My daughter loves bright colors like pinks, turquoise, purple, and yellow. So we used a large scale removable floral wallpaper with all those colors as the focal point behind her bed.
>>Want to learn how to create a color palette you love, even if there are colors in your home you can’t change? Click here to learn about my course, Color Made Clear
Then we pulled different shades of the colors from the wallpaper throughout her room.
We kept the walls and trim white, but painted her ceiling a really light shade of pink. This allowed us to add a ton of color without going overboard.
We added a pop of turquoise on her bedding and the frame of her cork board wall, and chose a really light shade of turquoise for her closet door to bring some color to that side of the room.
These same colors are repeated in different shades throughout the space in her accessories, wall art, and pom-pom curtains.
Wall Art That Can Easily Change As She Grows
The things you put on her walls is one of the main ways you can showcase your daughter’s personality and interests. Since those interests will change quickly, the wall art you select needs to be easily changed (and not break the bank).
Just before we did this room makeover my daughter started taping things to her walls. — I suddenly heard myself repeating the words of my dad… “don’t tape things to the walls, it ruins the wall!”
But she loves to display her art, which is a main interest of her’s right now, and I’d like to give her the freedom to display posters of Joey McIntyre of New Kids On The Block like I did. — Ok, fine, her posters will probably be Harry Styles or The Jonas Brothers, but you get the point.
Solution: A Huge Cork Board Wall
We created a huge DIY cork board wall so she can pin up whatever she wants. It’s such a great way for her to showcase her personality, display her accomplishments, and give a huge shot of color and fun to this area of her room.
Solution: Poster hangers instead of frames
I’m the worst at updating anything framed. — Did you notice the empty photo frame hanging on the wall in the before photo of this room?
It’s just one of those things that I never seem to get to so instead of having frames on the walls, I found these poster hangers. I then purchased inexpensive prints to download and have printed at Costco which avoided shipping costs.
They’re magnetic and super light weight so they’ll be super easy to change as her tastes change.
I got these poster hangers in two sizes: Eleven inch and nineteen inch.
product sources: YAY print, Pastel Lines Print , Ice Cream print
Solution: Timeless Wall Decor
The wall next to her desk needed something but we’d already used regular wall art on the other walls . Here I wanted to change things up and add an organic element to her space.
These hanging wall planters that we filled with faux succulents were the perfect solution. They tied in the little bits of gold you see around her room, gave us the opportunity to add plants higher up without needing shelves of any kind, and they add a bit of character to her room.
And plants never go out of style, so these will last a long time in here.
Finding A Bedroom Layout That Makes Sense
When kids are young they play on the floor A LOT so floor space is a must. But as they get older they don’t spend as much time down on the floor, they spend more time in a comfy chair, on their bed, or at their desk.
My daughter’s room is rectangular with her bedroom door being right in the middle of one long edge and a lower than normal window on one side of the other long edge. This makes it difficult to place furniture because she doesn’t have a lot of wall space.
Her big request was to have a nice big place to do her artwork, and eventually her homework, but with her current furniture setup that just wasn’t going to work.
I knew that in order to have room for a desk, I had to get rid of her dresser.
Any good room layout starts with creating zones for different activities that you do in a space. In here we needed a sleeping zone, a reading/ relaxing zone, a play zone, and a homework/art zone. –-Then we had to get creative with how we fit all that in.
Solution: Built In Bed With Storage Underneath
I decided that using the entire left side of her bedroom to create a built in bed would allow me to place drawers underneath for her clothes and some toy storage. (Tutorial coming soon!)
It also gave me the opportunity to give her a comfy reading and hang out spot. And you know me… I love any excuse to add another fun fabric print to the mix, which is just when I added a light pink fabric with white triangles on the bench seat cushion I made her.
The shelves are a perfect space for all her little knickknacks, photos, and books and I loved that they reduced the cluttered up look that her dresser seemed to accumulate.
On the other side of her bedroom, I now had enough wall space to create the giant cork board wall and an oversize desk so she can spread out all her art supplies and get creative.
This set up also freed up a ton of floor space which her and her little bro use all the time. I could see adding a comfy chair near the window in her teen years when her friends and her hang out in her bedroom a lot, but love that the bed set up and the desk set up will last.
Bonus Solution: Storage Galore!
Putting drawers under this bed that I built (tutorial coming soon) gave her so much more drawer storage than a regular dresser would’ve. She literally has wall to wall drawers and had enough space to use two of the big ones for toy storage.
With a little bit of empty floor space we added a big basket (from Home Goods) for more toys and stuffed animals. The basket makes clean up really easy and adds texture and interest to that side of the room.
She stores most of her schoolwork and archives her art in a container in her closet, but she now has drawers and a system for all of her art supplies. –Her art stuff used to be everywhere, but now they’re easy to get in and out when she’s working with the drawers down the side of her art table.
Yes, this room took months to complete. We worked on it a little bit at a time and I’m so glad we took our time. It allowed us to make really good decisions and got her involved in the process.
She is so happy with how it turned out. It’s a beautiful space that showcases her fun and easy-going personality really well. — I’ve even taken my computer in there to work at her desk when she’s at school to get a change of scenery… it’s that awesome!
Thanks for stopping by! All the resources in this room are listed below, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you have a question or to let me know what you think!
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