Creating the perfect toddler room on a budget

Creating a toddler room can be so much fun, you can really let your imagination run wild – there’s definitely something magical about creating a little space for the kids to play in. Whether you’re decorating for a boy, a girl or both there are so many options to consider. It’s so easy to get carried away and see the bank balance dropping, but it doesn’t have to be an expensive job.

We’re currently in the planning stages of doing the kid’s rooms and I will be sharing more about this as well as our home in a new series ‘Corners of our home‘. There I will be sharing some of our tips and tricks on how we’ve done our home up on a budget, items that we’ve splurged on and some before and after photos for rooms that we are working on. Kids bedroom being next on the list!
Here are a few quick fixes you can do to create the perfect toddler bedroom on a budget. 

Have a plan

The first thing to do is to have a plan on what you want to achieve, don’t go into this on a whim as that’s when budgets spiral out of control. Trust me I know! Write down your ideas of how you visual the finished room to look – work out what you want and whether you want a theme. By theme, this could be as simple as a colour scheme or characters from their favourite TV show or films. Remember though, if you do a character room, kids can quickly grow out of ‘a favourite’. 

Know your budget

The next decision is the budget and it’s best to have a clear idea of this before you begin the project, that way you can stick to your guidelines and avoid any over spend. It also means it’s easier to walk past all of the tempting home bits in Next or M&S, knowing that little knick-knack you think is so cute, is not on the list!

Make the most of the space you have

Whether you have a big room or a small room to makeover, make the most of what you have. Careful room planning can create perfect spaces for your children to play. Is it important that they have a dedicated quiet area for them to read? Do you need storage boxes/units? Are they having toys in the room or will they stay downstairs int he play space? Another thing to look in to is creating your own unique piece of furniture; perhaps you’ve got a bay window and you want to make a seating area out of it, you might struggle to find an ‘out of the box’ solution – so making something yourself is a nice idea. All you need is a carpenter can bring your vision to life, foam from companies like www.efoam.co.uk and then set to work on upholstering it using material to match your bedroom theme. 

Does anything need replacing?

When things start to change in a room, it becomes obvious that certain things need replacing. For a toddler room, this could be a new bed, or it may just be as simple as adding more storage, which for us is often a quick dash to the dreaded Ikea, but it’s definitely worth looking into when the sales will start in the shops – you can grab some real bargains and save some money for those little knick knacks that you don’t have to walk by in M&S and Next!

What can you upcycle to give a new purpose?

If you didn’t fancy creating a new bit of furniture from scratch, you could always use something you already have and spruce it up.  Some furniture may appear done with, but they could have a new lease of life when a little imagination is applied – I find the best thing is to paint cupboards or drawers to fit in with the room colour scheme, or maybe even upcycle a piece of furniture from another room in the house. 

Wall decoration can be a huge feature

Decorating a full room can be quite costly, perhaps the walls itself are fine but you just want to change the room up a bit? I’m so like that with my hair – I don’t know what I want but I know I don’t just want a trim, I like it to look different – and I feel the same about our house after a while! What I have found though is keeping the walls neutral in colour means we can add different artwork, personalised prints, family photographs or even just change the books in the book display. 

Hunt out bargains in charity shops or pound shops

Charity shops and second-hand aren’t really my thing – my parents absolutely love them, they can often be found rummaging about for vintage bits for a dress up festival somewhere. There are bargains to be had in charity shops if you look hard enough – it may be a little bookshelf or cabinet that you can look at upcycling, or maybe the odd ornament or lampshade – and these are at a fraction of the price that you’d pay for new. I like selling my baby bits at nearly new baby sales and I tend to do a couple a year when I need a big clearout of the kids bits. There’s always little nursery pictures, money boxes, ornaments and books in abundance – perfect for a toddler room!

The key is in the styling

Sometimes just the way you style a room can make a huge difference, at minimal cost. Sometimes when I actually get round to tidying their rooms, I find that a quick whizz round with the hoover, changing the bedsheets and moving different toys into different corners of the rooms can make a huge difference – and I haven’t had to find any money to do it. 

Storage is your friend

My one bit of advice when looking at changing their room – try to fit as many storage options in as possible, it not only avoids their room getting messy – but also all the other rooms where toys would usually be dropped and left! It’s a great way of encouraging tidy up time and knowing that everything has its place,  Pinterest has some great ideas on how to declutter and minimise. 

Have you got any ideas on creating the perfect toddler room on a budget? What have you done to change your little one’s rooms?

 
*This is a collaborative post.