whats your toddlers room like?

Rebekah - posted on 09/02/2012

All of my kid's rooms are VERY basic. We keep all toys in a playroom, so the only things they have in their rooms are a bed and dresser (and changing table and glider for baby). We painted the room a solid natural color and then let them pick out their own bedding and curtains. One day I'd like to add some pictures or art, but for now all three of my kids don't even have anything hanging out their walls. At our house bedrooms are really only for sleeping, so no one seems to care...

Bobbie - posted on 09/02/2012

I am a painter and believe me, painted paneling looks fabulous! If the parents won't let you paint a great trick for the walls is to use liquid starch and fabric. I am serious. You will have to first wash down the paneling using cleaning supplies to cut grease and remove dirt. You can cover a full wall with fabric. A large leaf pattern fabric would look like a jungle on one short wall, so you wouldn't have to buy more than a few dollars worth of fabric.

On another wall..... Take simple outline drawings on animals from a color book to Office supply store and ask them to blow them up for you to 200% or even bigger. I have this done all the time for under a dollar for each.

Take enlarged drawing of each animal and trace many times on fabric. Cut them out and apply them to paneling.

TO APPLY - wet fabric with spray bottle of 2 parts liquid starch and 1 part hot water. Saturate fabric. Use a dry towel to rub over the fabric once it is in place on the wall to catch drips and to smooth out bubbles.

TO REMOVE - Use a spray bottle of grease cutting cleanser and water to saturate the fabric. Allow it so sit on the fabric to work through the starch, then simply peel off and wipe wall.



If you really want to get creative you can purchase foam sheets from craft store and cut out the letters of his name. These can be pasted to the wall as well with simple tape and easily removed without harming the wall.



IF ARE ALLOWED TO PAINT - To save you the work of all the heavy duty cleaning simply vacuum the walls. Apply one coat of water based primer that hides stains, LOW ODOR is required for that job. You can apply paint immediately over primer. It doesn't need drying time. You can therefor paint a small room in just a few hours. Paint to use is whatever sheen you prefer. For paneling I like the look of Flat enamel. Yep, they make flat enamel now and it is really great! I have attached a beautiful example of painted paneling to show your parents.

http://thedecorologist.com/paint-the-pan...

Michele - posted on 08/20/2012

My boys were long awaited too so I wanted to have a nice looking nursery. I bought the border that matched their bedding, which happens to be a nautical theme, and had it put 3/4 the way up the wall and have 2 different colors. The top color is a creamy beige color and the bottom is a nice blue color, I have dark wood cribs, dark wood dressers, one is a taller dresser and one is short and wide and has the changing pad on top of it. We have 2 sail boat shelves above that, their first initial letter above their cribs, a nice star bordered rug that is beige and navy blue, a beige glider, a treasure chest toy box, a lighthouse lamp, a net toy holder hanging from the ceiling and just a touch of red as an accent color. The lighthouse lamp has red in it and the net has a big red crab in it! We love it, the boys love it and play in there often.

Nikki - posted on 08/10/2012

My two children share a room for the time being, but it's completely done in princess. Posters... garbage pail.... my toddlers bed.... everything.... You gotta make it your own. I let Grace choose the things to go in her room, helped her feel more homey.

Gina - posted on 08/09/2012

Buy decal stickers online, if you're artistic paint a mural or a few drawings yourself. Buy second hand furniture and/or decorations, you can visit a thrift shop or a neighbor's yard sale, you don't necessarily have to spend tons of money or have everything match perfectly. You can also add a table with little chairs for arts and crafts in the middle of the room, along with some of his favorite toys to spark his imagination and encourage him to play in there as well. Pillows or mats arranged around a small book shelf can be used as a reading center. A big toybox can be useful as well.

Grace - posted on 08/05/2012

My we're renting a house, so we can't pant. I needed to find a clever way to add color to my girl's room. My daughters room has a Princess Tiana theme. When you stand in front of the closed door , I've placed "peel & stick" wall art on her door that says "Once Upon a Time there was a Princess..." with strategically placed butterflies. Then you open the door and there is a short wall with Peel & Stick Tiana the frog and Prince Naveen the frog on lily pads with fireflies and flowers around them. There are additional Princess Castle wall decals on opposite walls. The smaller one floats above a shiny white lacquered shelf with Princes and the Frog figurines placed on it. The larger one float over her dresser.
A white framed picture of my daughter as a baby is hanging over her iron daybed on the wall across from the closet with 3D butterfly wall decals around it. All of her beddding matches the theme colors and she has a scepter purse, gloves, etc from her Princess Tiana costume sitting on an identical upper shelf.
The door decals I got at Dollar Treefor...$1. Everything else was what I told people they could get for her Christmas/ Birthday presents. I even gave them the challenege only getting those things on clearance.
Oh yeah and she has a Princess Tiana bistro set under her window to sit and read, have tea parties, etc.

Danielle - posted on 08/01/2012

MY daughters playroom is kinda jungle themed. We just got some wall stickers from the dollar store and put them up. Her bedroom has princess stickers and flower bed set, but my favorite part of her bedroom is the pictures of us that I've framed and hung up on the walls. To me thats what makes is homey.

Ashley - posted on 07/31/2012

I just re-did my kids room too. I don't know if I'm allowed to post a link to my blog, but the pictures are up there if you want to look - for the girls went with a vintage peach color & lots of fun old things. For the boys it's a brown with little leather chairs, sort of "old man" - chess board and everything! I think you just have to think outside the box a tad for the decor and disguise the practical stuff. My kids beds have ikea basket's underneath them for storage, they look cute, but really useful. And to save money, I bought most of the decor at thrift stores or antique shops. This probably all sounds like the rooms are really ugly, but it's adorable, I promise. ;) ...and totally unexpected for a toddlers room!

Stifler's - posted on 07/31/2012

boring. they sleep in there and play outside and in the rest of the house lol

Patricia - posted on 07/31/2012

removable wall sticker can be good to

Sherri - posted on 07/26/2012

Paint over the paneling it is inexpensive and then you can decorate it as you wish.

ElisaBeth - posted on 07/26/2012

My toddlers room is 'Pirates in the jungle' and I made the decor myself... I went and bought some twine and twisted it to hang from parts of the wall and ceiling to make 'vines' and then I found some of those Velcro on the hand monkeys to hang from the vine. I used two old mesh laundry baskets to use as a toy hammock and as a fishing net for the walls, dyed with tea to make them look old... I did paint plants and stuff on his wall, but since you can't paint you could try making plants with paper mache or felt; or look for that big leaf that ikea sells and mount a few of those above some brown shelves.

Google for more jungle room ideas, lots of inspiration out there!

Joy - posted on 07/26/2012

We live in an apartment and got permission from the landlord to paint her nursery before she was born. It still has a lot of things from her baby shower and now that we're expecting baby #2 it'll probably be left in generally the same decor.

If you're having trouble and want to save $ with the decor, why not make jungle or animal pictures or posters to hang or tape on the walls? That'd be the cheapest way I can think of. My daughter does several 'art' projects at various places (daycare, church and library) that has animals/jungles (her decor is Winnie the Pooh though.)

Janice - posted on 07/26/2012

My entire apartment is paneling and its all painted. My MIL owns the house so we are able to paint.



With my daughter we filled in the paneling with putty. It took three coats and tons of sanding, so not worth the time but she was long awaited so it seemed worth it then ;). Her room is only 8' X 9' and a chunk of that is her closet. We painted her room green and put up a flower border that matched her crib set at the top of the room. We hung her quilt on the wall and all her art was pinks, greens and white. She has pictures of me and he dad and me and her on her wall. Now she is 2.5 so I hang he own art on her walls with painters tape. Her

My son was a surprise so we just painted his room (also paneling) a light tan which my FIL gave us left over from a project. His room is tiny too 10' x 6.5'. We bought a jungle themed crib set and hung the quilt on the wall. I found a jungle themed wall decal set on clearance for 10$. They stuck to the painted paneling with zero problem and are completely moveable. My son is only 7.5 months but he seems to like it.



I would paint over the paneling if you can and then buy art work on sale or create it yourself. My dad is artsy and he painted my daughter a unicorn picture. Don't worry too much about matching because your son will love any jungle themed stuff you find if that is his thing.

Amie - posted on 07/26/2012

I recently discovered on how to make pom poms for baby nurseries, and it is very cute! thinking of doing this for future baby showers too. I'm sure some of you ladies have heard of this. Cut it out of tissue paper. I just googled it and showed me how to make it. All the responses have given me good ideas, thanks and made me feel better.

Vanessa - posted on 07/26/2012

What we did in my daughters small room we had a flower mural painted on her walls. We also had her dresser built into the wall to save space. Her bed was built on what looks like a bunk bed but the bottom half is an opened space which she can use to play in. Each of the steps to go up her bed is a drawer where she keeps toys and her shoes. We used pink,purple,green,blue!! She loves her room. We found it online and it was actually for a boy but we jus changed colors. ;)

Beth - posted on 07/26/2012

We rent a house where they will not let us paint, and our son's room is pink! We hung up a bunch of posters with scotch tape, and got him one of those rugs that looks like a little town for them to drive their little cars around on. And I got him lots of fun sheets and blankets for his bed. Honestly, I don't think kids notice or care anyway :)

Kalley - posted on 07/25/2012

We painted my daughters wall 3 colors; 2 pink walls, 1 green and 1 light brown. Just inside her fairly small room, to the right is her dresser with a changing pad on it. Above it is a wall shelf where we have a basket with diapers and wipe warmer. The shelf was inexpensive at Home Depot. In the corner next to that is the rocker with her hamper behind it and a soft toy/blanket "trunk" from Target. The adjoining wall has her toddler bed with big paper ball decorations hanging from the ceiling above it from the party store (leftovers from her first birthday party). That wall also has a decal with her name, Eisley, that I ordered online for fairly cheap. Decals might be a good idea...you can pick them up at Target, Kohls, even Home Depot but they can be removed. The adjoining wall right now has a cot for those late nights that I have to sleep in there. She has been having separation anxiety and night terrors. That wall has a window and a canvas print of the ABCs. The adjoining wall has a hand me down bookshelf with a lamp and a few stuffed animals and all of her books. Above it on the wall are framed pictures of her and family and a really cool "E" that my mom made by wrapping a foam letter from a craft store with ribbon horizontally. Very inexpensive. That wall also has her closet, which we painted the doors with chalkboard paint to make it a little art area and we have a cheap pencil holder screwed into the wall (out of her reach) with chalk and an eraser for art time. I try to keep most of her toys in her closet to avoid her being overwhelmed with all of them and to try to cut down on the mess. I have a couple different storage boxes I've acquired over time for her and I try to keep the toys separated in groups so I can just pull out one box and she can have a complete playtime with it. I also have hanging fabric organizers with shelves on the lower portion for extra storage. Her larger toys and puzzle go in the cubbys. Since I put most of her toys away in her closet, her room has stayed so much cleaner and we still pull the toys out to play with, just in moderation not all at once. In her old room, I also had a close line attached from one end of the wall to the other with closepins to hang her artwork, cards she received, pictures and so on. This is super cheap and can be switched out over and over again. Good luck!!

Michelle - posted on 07/25/2012

Well we painted murals on my daughters wall she has fairies all over her room, Since you can't paint the paneling you could paint on canvas and make pictures to hang in his room,you could also get those peel and stick wall stickers for his room they are not that expensive.

Gabrielle - posted on 07/25/2012

i have given up on my son's room. its a mess. we just painted it a very light yellow cuz when we moved into the house we are at now we didn't know the sex of our 1st child so the room was painted a neutral color. My children always take all the toys out of the toy box so i don't see the point in putting everything back in when its just going to get dumpt right back out.

Amie - posted on 07/25/2012

Thanks I got a great idea now, I decided to create a little book and sit area, since he scatters all his books all over the house i think keeping them all in one room, his bedroom, is best. And the printing and cutting out pictures is a great idea. I have drawn his name across the wall over his crib. Thanks again. I hope to hear about more bedroom decors for toddlers.

Brittney - posted on 07/25/2012

Ruby's room is very small you walk in and see her potty right in front of you (3 feet from the door), to the left you see the backdoor with the rocking chair in front of it and next to the potty and the chair is her dresser. Across the room is her small bookcase and next to that is her toddler bed. The walls are paneling and have pieces of paper I printed off taped to the wall and on the other side I have all her baby pictures and pictures of babies she knows. My mom made the curtains and the only other decorative thing in her room is her bedspread. Ruby's room is only 10ft X 5ft.

I googled what I wanted on her walls, she has a rainy day duck, a patched giraffe, a fuzzy teddy bear, and feathers. I just cut them out put tape on the other side and stuck them on the walls in a pattern. I used baby photos and put them in a bunch of picture frames and set them up against her wall on a ledge. You could find zoo animals and print them out and color them tape them in places throughout the room and make a blanket that goes with the theme, curtains are really easy to make too.