If you’re lucky enough to have some free space in your home, there are a whole host of ways you can put it to good use. Those who work from home, for example, might turn their spare room into an office, while those who often have family or friends to stay can design the guest bedroom of their dreams. But for those with children, it’s a great idea to use the free space to create a playroom.
Playrooms have a number of advantages: from giving the children somewhere to go while you get on with work, to ensuring that there’s a dedicated place to store their toys and clutter, so it’s definitely worth thinking about designing one. And from choosing sensible window coverings to opting for decor with educational value, there are lots of relatively simple design tricks you can use to get your playroom looking and feeling top notch.
Robust materials
Rule number one when designing a playroom has to be this: don’t put anything in there that you don’t want to be damaged. A playroom should do what it says on the tin, and that means there should be scope for the occasional water fight, juice spillage or other natural over-excitement from the rough and tumble of children’s play. If you stock the playroom with expensive things, you’ll just spend your time worrying – and neither you nor the children will be able to properly relax when the room is in use.
You might, for example, want to choose a paint type that can be easily topped up or painted over, and you should also steer clear of expensive wallpaper. If you decide to put some technology in there, perhaps don’t buy anything new or valuable: second-hand televisions or old sound systems which have previously served other rooms of the home are ideal. Always think about safety when deciding what is suitable for children to have access to.
Natural light
Playrooms need to be filled with light for a whole host of reasons. For a start, your children should look forward to spending time in the playroom rather than dread going in there – and if it’s a little dingy, that might be the case. It’s also important for their health: children need the Vitamin D provision that sunlight can give them, so flooding rooms with natural light is a good start.
However, as with any room it’s also important that you have the ability to control the amount of light entering the space. That is especially important for rooms that children spend a lot of time in: on a hot summer’s day, for example, keeping the room cool is important. For that reason, bay window shutters are a good choice because they provide a convenient way of controlling the amount of light that enters a room while guaranteeing privacy.
Educational value
Playrooms aren’t just about having fun. If you’ve got kids at home who are toddlers or older, it’s also worth incorporating some level of educational value into the room’s design. One corner, perhaps, could be given over to a bookshelf, while you could also look into more permanent educational decor choices. Some ceiling wallpapers come with the planets of the solar system embossed on them, for example, while others focus on the animals of the wild.
Because a playroom gives you the flexibility to make some more permanent changes to design and decor, you can also create a personalised education experience in them. Why not consider, for example, a roving height chart for the walls? With this, you draw a several metre-high chart on to the wall in pencil or even permanent marker – and then every so often you can measure your children and mark their growth progress. Not only is this a fun way for your kids to be introduced to mathematics and the concept of measurement, it’s a nice keepsake – and is a way to make happy memories.
If you’ve got the extra space in your home, a playroom is a great idea to consider. Once you’ve kitted it out in everything from educational wallpapers to fun toys and books, your kids will love it – and it’ll mean that your reception rooms will be free from toys and mess! But a playroom also has other advantages. It means that there’ll be a place in the home which you and your children can personalise and re-invent on a regular basis. By following these top tips for light-filled, robust playroom design, you’ll be able to send them to play without worrying that they’re going to cause damage to the home or themselves.
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