MOOKS - kid rooms

[simpsongal]

I'm already planning j's next room (the nursery is gender nursery and will be used for our next).  As I choose fun finishes and items for the room, I want to make sure I'm addressing the needs of a growing young boy.

What do you need/prefer in a kid's room?  Storage?  Hamper(s)?  How much/what kind of clothing storage?  Places for stuff?  Shelves?  Etc.

Any other recommendations?  Things to avoid?  Pitfalls?

FWIW, we have a queen bed in there and plan to just keep it.

[anna7602]

We had what I like to call a "great toy migration" in which all the crap that was out in our living room got moved to DD's room when she was about 3-ish. This was when she was able to play independently unsupervised, but will vary by kid. The only thing we have in our living room now is her IKEA art table, where she generally sits to do her homework.

So, having lots and lots of shelving and storage in her room is key for us. We have a full wall of built-in shelves where I keep books and toys on lower shelves and sentimental stuff (baby albums, framed photos, etc.) on higher shelves. I also plan to have most of the baby's books in there for now. At some point, I'll purge books as the kids outgrow them.

DD's room didn't have a closet, so we just bought her 2 IKEA ones now that we're turning the guest room into baby #2's room (I was previously hanging DD's clothes in the guest room closet).

We keep her hamper in the hallway. She'll share it with the baby.

[Deleted]

Storage! We're continually fighting a war against toys, books, and especially LEGOS, as you can see. We've finally started putting the Legos in their closet. There are shelves on one wall with their projects that are already put together.

[karinothing]

We are doing this now! I need some kind of shelving idea, but his room is pretty small so I am not sure what we are going to do. I do want to move some toys into there so he can play in there instead of taking up both the downstairs and upstairs liivng room/family room.

I think we are building trundle storage under his bed and his closet isn't huge (like deep) but it takes like one whole wall. So It hink we could put those IKEA shelves in there.

[Deleted]

We do a bunch of those flat boxes for toy storage under their train table and bed.

[cjeanette]

Shelving for books. Bins for toys. My kids both have a desk. Make sure you have plenty of storage for clothes that they can easily get to.

DD has a captains bed with drawers that I like as she can toss a lot of her toys and blankets in there.

Mainly keep whatever organizational items you buy simple so they can pick up on their own. Big bins and such for tossing toys in. A large shelf so books fit easily.

[turtlegirl]

When DS1 had his own "big boy" room he had his bed and a small nightstand in there. And the rest was pretty much filled with toys. We had some forward facing bookshelves that DH built on the wall. And he had a big toy box (was mine as a kid, we just repainted. He had a walk-in closet, so the shirts, jackets, etc were hung up and there was room for a small dresser in the closet that had his pants, shorts, socks, etc. in it.

[anna7602]

@lcap- how do you feel about that book thing you have mounted on the wall? I was thinking of getting something similar for the baby's room, but maybe just having a small bin with books I rotate would be enough. There's no room in there for an actual bookcase at the moment (until we get rid of other furniture).

[teeah22]

We don't really keep toys in DS1's room since we have a dedicated playroom so I'm not sure how helpful this will be. He has a full size bed, tall chest of drawers, dresser with hutch, a small bookcase, and a nightstand. He has two closets but we really only use one right now. Flame worthy: he has a small tv in there and a blu-ray player, we let him watch movies in his room. Other than that it's pretty much just for sleeping.

[Deleted]

Jul 30, 2014 11:03:02 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

@lcap- how do you feel about that book thing you have mounted on the wall? I was thinking of getting something similar for the baby's room, but maybe just having a small bin with books I rotate would be enough. There's no room in there for an actual bookcase at the moment (until we get rid of other furniture).

It's ok. It works for our purposes because it's actually covering a hole in the wall that you use to get to the plumbing for the shower in the next room, lol.

The thing is, it's actually a magazine rack (which I somehow missed when ordering it) so it only holds short/thin books. Perfect for board books, Golden books, Mercy Mayer type books, etc. but we have a lot of tall hard cover books that I thought I'd be able to put in there and can't so we keep those in the playroom.

[Willis Jackson]

My kids (5.5 and almost 3) share a room. They have:

-A bunk bed
underneath are large trucks and 3 canvas bins with more trucks, blocks, and random smaller toys
-bedside table for water
-wall mounted lights for reading in bed
-bookcase for books, playmobil doctor's office, and DS's rock and shell collections
-dresser
they share one dresser. PJs, sweaters, and dresses are in the closet
-child-size rocking chair
-shallow basket for stuffed animals
-dollhouse

[spanikopita]

Lots and lots of space for books.

[deo]

In DS1's big kid room, he has a dresser, a toy box and some shelves on the wall. We keep his books in a basket beside his chair in his room. It's easy for him to clean his room because he can just dump the toys back in the toy box and the books just get piled in the basket.

This is what his room looks like: (ignore the ugly carpet)

[bunch]

We have a low dresser that dd can use herself, a twin bed, a chair to read in, a bunch of her books (the non board books we don't want the baby playing with), her doll bed and a mirror for her dress up clothes. It's still pretty baby proof because dd2 plays in there alone a lot.

We plan to build this for Christmas and will eventually have a bed for dd2 underneath (perpendicular)

[whitepicketfence]

My two older girls are sharing a room at the moment so there isn't a ton of extra room. We don't keep any toys in their room; toys used to be stored in the family too but will be moving to a playroom once construction is completed. The only exception is that DD1 has two bins under her night stand where she can keep some of her favorite toys. This is so that she feels like she has a place that is solely "hers" in the room. We have a dresser/bookshelf combo unit to store some clothes, nicer/hardcover books (all others will be in the playroom), photo albums, baby books, etc. When DD2 moves to her own room, we'll get DD1 a desk. They have a large closet so clothes storage hasn't been an issue. We do have a hamper in their room.

We temporarily still have the diaper pail and wipe warmer in their room since the construction on DD3's room isn't yet finished. These will be moving to her room at that time.

ETA: Yikes! Sorry so huge!

Please excuse the hideous carpet. It is being replaced shortly!

[rootbeerfloat]

Book storage
Toy storage
Desk (eventually)

DD also has a comfy chair for reading/snuggling.