How old is too old for a slide? Asking for a friend.
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There's nothing quite like the magic of childhood to totally change your entire design ethos. While the rest of your home may be comprised of subtle textiles and neutral hues, the best kids' room ideas call for whimsy, playful patterns, and lots of color. As your child outgrows their sweet nursery, the time comes to design a room for them that caters to their growing needs and growing sense of self. Whether they're dreaming of a wilderness-inspired escape (complete with a tented reading nook), unicorn wall decals, or a tribute to their favorite sports team, it's important to incorporate your child's wishes into the design scheme so they feel heard and considered—who knows, you may even have a budding designer on your hands!
While it's a huge task to design a dreamy kids' room, balancing a space that is happy, aesthetic, and functional is possible. It might be too much to build them an actual castle with a billowing canopy, but you can keep their room in a theme or vibe that makes counting sheep just as sweet. After all, designing a room for kids is a lot like raising them: fun, collaborative, and just a bit chaotic.
To help you create the room of your kid's dreams, we rounded up 66 stunning spaces that will ignite imagination and cultivate comfort for the tiny humans in your household. A slide for getting out of bed? Yes, please! A stage for the budding performer? They'll thank you for being their biggest fan. The designer kids' room ideas below will help you think big for your little one.
Your kids won't be able to resist naptime in this warm and cozy room. Becca Casey of Becca Interiors designed custom elements for this Connecticut home, opting to keep the kids' spaces playful but refined. Instead of going for an alphabet carpet, she added texture to the room with a cushioned rug, bean bags, and fluffy throw pillows.
Kids' bedrooms are a great place to go bold with color and pattern, welcoming a more-is-more ethos. Here, designer Meta Coleman dreamed up a magical bedroom centered on nature (and race cars) using St. Jude's Squirrel and Sunflower wallpaper. "Sometimes you have to lean into a home's quirk," says Coleman. "Wallpapering the whole room makes the angles feel less pronounced."
When searching for a jumping-off point for your child's bedroom, sometimes the answer is right in their sketch book. Artist Kiki Slaughter designed a collection of textiles and wallcoverings featuring her little ones' own doodles, covering the walls in their Richmond, Virginia home with patterns they created. "Seeing their eyes light up being surrounded by something they made makes my heart happy," she says.
While a bed that's low to the ground might not grow with your child, it can certainly make for an easy big-kid-bed transition. The bed in designer Chauncy Boothby's son's room has been passed down through her husband’s family for four generations. She paired the classic brown wooden furniture with fun nautical wallpaper that's perfect for a kid's room.
Your kids will sing your praises if you give them a setup that invites their friends to sleep over. To ensure a family's two sons had a big open area to play and room for their friends to spend the night, designer Andrew Howard arranged a pair of bunk beds in the corner of the room. Built-in storage beneath each bunk is a space-saving solution that makes cleanup a breeze.
Limited on space? No problem. Harp Design Co. created a custom triple-decker bunk bed for a family's small bonus room to make it a multifunctional spot for sleeping, playing games, and watching television. It can actually sleep up to four: There's a trundle bed below the bottom bunk for when their little cousin sleeps over.
Tea time just got chicer with a pretty clothing rack in the playroom to keep dress-up costumes and props organized and on display. We love how designer April Tomlin added little house structures to this playful space to make activities like practicing dance even more immersive—it's basically a Barbie dreamhouse waiting to happen!
Your child will cherish the memories (and TikToks) made in their epic playroom. This curtained stage designed by Phillip Sides adds drama to everything from guitar practice to spontaneous productions. If your kids love music, consider setting up a similar space that can double as a rehearsal and performance arena (you'll appreciate how those curtains and the wall-to-wall carpeting help absorb noise). You can cheer them on from the front row.
Encourage your children to get lost in a good book by crafting a space dedicated to reading in their playroom or bedroom. In this space by Indigo Ochre Design, a Kalon Studios daybed is framed by a custom built-in bookshelf for an ideal place to curl up and read.
Lucy Harris Studio chose a bubble-themed wallcovering by Chasing Paper and a ceiling painted in Benjamin More Blue Jean to make the bunks in this epic home feel as if they're floating.
Once brimming with the client's books, this wood-paneled library was converted into a playroom by designer Bruce Shostak, who added hot pink, turquoise, and raspberry accents to appease its new inhabitants.
Kid-friendly and cheerful yet sophisticated and versatile, the floral watercolor wallcovering by Flat Vernacular and vintage butterfly mirror will grow with this room's inhabitant. "She can change the bed and keep everything else," says designer Colleen Bashaw of Brown Hall Design.
Let's face it: Where kids go, mess follows. When it came to designing her daughter's playroom in her own home, Ariel Okin chose Farrow & Ball paints Green Ground and Citron in a wipeable modern emulsion finish to relieve the stress of discovering art on the walls.
Whether it's a bedroom corner turned workspace or an entire room, a dedicated area to focus on schoolwork is a must. This study zone by designer Eric Olsen features custom pendants for ample lighting over an elongated desk that seats multiple children.
To frame the antique Dutch windows, E&A Interiors created matching green lacquered canopy beds. "It's grown-up enough for two friends and equally magical for children," says designer Chlöe Elkerton. Whether you have twins or not, a matchy-matchy look always wins in the world of interiors.
Amy Berry incorporated a chaise and rocking chair into this bedroom for reading and brought the space to life with a classic toile wallpaper and framed botanical prints. Keeping most of the decor on the walls leaves more useable floor space so there's ample room to play.
In this bedroom designed by Heidi Callier, the blush pink curtains lighten the mood and allow for a sectioned off play zone under the top bunks. The wood creates a warm foundation, and though each piece feels kid-friendly, they also blend right in with the style of the home as a whole.
The design duo at Arent & Pyke opted for modern, sculptural pieces here to strike that very careful balance between playful and grown-up. From vibrant linen bedding to blush pink walls, this kid's room is both youthful and timeless. The Kelly Wearstler–upholstered headboard is a sophisticated and wild finishing touch that makes lounging more comfortable too.
Stylish multipurpose furniture is always a good investment, but it's especially smart when it comes to children who seem to grow up in the blink of an eye. In Marie Flanigan's newborn daughter's room, the designer opted to include a versatile daybed alongside a traditional crib. Right now, the piece is "a cozy spot for late-night feedings, but one day it'll be her big-girl bed with a trundle for sleepovers," the Houston designer says.
We all know that children love places where their creativity can run wild, so design their room with that ethos in mind. Here, interior designer Amy Berry wrapped this boy's room in a mural of the Virginia countryside, prompting imaginary play and big dreams.
Hadley Mendelsohn is the co-host and executive producer of the podcast Dark House. When she's not busy writing about interiors, you can find her scouring vintage stores, reading, researching ghost stories, or stumbling about because she probably lost her glasses again. Along with interior design, she writes about everything from travel to entertainment, beauty, social issues, relationships, fashion, food, and on very special occasions, witches, ghosts, and other Halloween haunts. Her work has also been published in MyDomaine, Who What Wear, Man Repeller, Matches Fashion, Byrdie, and more.
Medgina Saint-Elien covers everything your home needs. She writes about exciting new product launches, hands-on reviews, and the "lightbulb" moments in every maker's story. In overseeing key HB editorial franchises, including the Live Better Awards, Saint-Elien champions the work of BIPOC entrepreneurs in the design and beauty industries. In addition to House Beautiful, her work has been published in Byrdie, Snapchat, and more. Outside of work, the writer and poet can be found documenting her travels on social media and saving memes for future use.
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