When I first became a parent I wish someone had told me that their interests today would quickly change tomorrow, and to therefore use our (at the time) double income bank account and excess time and enthusiasm to invest in room choices that the kids would love for more than a year or two!
My twins have just turned 8, and a recent trip to Pillow Talk showed me that we can actually makeover a kids room without spending a fortune and without having my husband spend a whole weekend re-patching and painting walls.
My kids recently decided that their bedrooms were for babies. Sigh. Not this again.
I sheepishly spoke to my husband “I know I originally said that the transport theme would last until Tom was in high school, and I know when I bought all of those Batman accessories last year I said that these things would be enough to make it less babyish… but now I’ve wrecked the walls. I’m sorry. Can you patch them? Please?
I got a look, followed by a sigh, followed by a “can’t you just go spend a few hundred dollars and fix it? Seriously, I’d have to re-paint the whole room, the paint has faded”. So I google pictures, they always look so nice and coordinated… maybe I can do this…
This time the ‘ makeover a kids room ‘ has been done properly and we managed to do it on a budget, all of the items were purchased from Pillow Talk. Watch our video below to see the before and after photos, and read our top 5 tips on how to makeover a kids room on a budget.
1. Make sure the theme will grow with your child
So far we’ve had: Winnie-the-Pooh, transportation, Aeroplanes, Transformers, and Batman. None of these interests have lasted more than a couple of years and each theme has had remnants of the last “stuck” on the walls.
Before the makeover….
(Note – that rather large car sticker ripped all of the paint off the walls!)
Pillow Talk has a fantastic new kids range that has a bunch of mix and match options, all of them are designed to be quite age neutral i.e. they will look great in a toddler’s room and also last them into the double digits. This is the easiest way to makeover a kids room – trust me!
2. A reversible doona cover is exciting for kids
It sounds like such a small thing, but a reversible doona is a quick way to freshen up the look of the room when you wash the sheets. If you own a couple of sheet sets for the kids, buy two different styles, that compliment both sides of the reversible doona.
3. Don’t change the walls / if your walls are wrecked already … be creative
Please, PLEASE… DON’T CHANGE YOUR WALLS! I mean, go ahead and do it, if you’re prepared to renovate regularly as your child gets older. Instead, buy some complimentary, budget friendly artwork that can be hung with removeable 3M tape.
If it’s too late and you’ve already gone down the path of not so removeable stickers and you’re not ready for a re-paint, then get creative with rugs to hide the damage that has already been done.
After the makeover…
Cost of Karen’s make-over (aka – get that kid out of my bed-over!)
- Rug – $89
- Doona set – $99.95
- Life-ring cushion – $29.95
- Lamp – $20
TOTAL – $238.90
If you become a Pillow Talk Member you will get 15% off all full priced stock & 5% off all reduced, sale, clearance or marked down stock. (So Twin #1’s bedroom would be $203.06)
On your birthday, Pillow Talk offer 20% off all full priced stock & 5% off all reduced, sale, clearance or marked down stock. (So Twin #1’s bedroom would be $191.12)
4. Complimenting accessories make the room
I’m far from an expert on room decorating, so I’m not sure how this works, but somehow, adding a lamp a few throw pillows and soft furnishing accessories in with a new doona cover changes EVERYTHING (without spending a fortune).
If you’re a little challenged when it comes to co-coordinating and accessorising a room, be thankful that you live in modern times which contain “look books”, made by people who have an eye for such things (in summary, look books will help show you how to bring together all the components of a room to look like it’s been professionally designed!)
Accessorise with colours that blend in and are quite neutral, then if you buy a second doona cover, everything will mix and match.
5. Use the room makeover as positive reinforcement
One night 3 months ago, one of my twins had a nightmare. From that night, he somehow moved into our room. The very next night his twin brother decided that it wasn’t fair that he couldn’t sleep with Mummy too! Family slumber parties are really fun occasionally, but for me, the novelty started to wear off when I realised that I couldn’t even lure them back to their own bedrooms if I tried. So we had a discussion “I’m not going to spend money turning your bedroom into a big boys room if you’re not going to use it”. Whilst I was only planning on decorating one of their rooms at a time, I hit the jackpot. “Can we BOTH sleep in my room Mum? This room is so cool!”.
I also found that this was the perfect chance to downsize on the toys and “stuff” that they’d accumulated over the years (my kids are hoarders). “Darling, if you’re going to keep that toy for little kids, why don’t we just keep your little kid room? They match!”
So the stuff went too, without a fight *happy sigh*.
In Summary
I was so proud of my efforts that I showed off the room to my close friend, her comment “WOW, where did you get it? Paddy would love this!” Paddy is 14 years old. So I did it, I decorated on a budget, Tom loves his new room and I’ve had confirmation that this style is going to last me into the teenage years.
Watch our video to see the before and after shots and check out the new kids range at Pillow Talk.
This article was published in Issue 26 of our print magazine, February/March 2018.
