Ideas for Children's Rooms

Creating a colour scheme that’ll last them from toddler to teen might seem like the impossible dream, but it may not be as far off as you think. While you can’t anticipate every whim that’ll befall your little one as they grow, learn their tastes, and find new interests, there are ways to add longevity to any child’s room that don’t entail stripping the whole thing out and starting from scratch.

If you spot a colour you’d like to try out at home while you’re scrolling through, simply tap on the circular swatch to add a sample pot to your basket – all of our sample pots have free delivery, giving you the freedom to test as many of our 132 colours as you like.

Toddlers and Young Children

When decorating around rambunctious toddlers, pared-back neutrals might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but they make a great foundation for any young child’s room. Light, bright, fresh and clean, a soft off-white taken across walls and ceilings creates a soothing backdrop for sleep, and a golden opportunity for accessorising with pops of colour. For a touch of personality, keep the walls neutral but try a fun shade of scuff-proof Modern Eggshell on trim.

If you’re looking to foster flow between your little one’s stomping ground and the rest of your home, a great rule of thumb is to keep the colour intensity similar while still feeling free to play around with different hues. If your hallways and living spaces are painted in soft, pale shades, carrying this through to the bedroom or nursery can create a calming and cohesive feel, while adding bright colour in the form of painted furniture or toys is a great way to mark out the space as truly theirs.

On the other hand, creating a room for an imaginative little one can be a brilliant excuse to let your own creativity run wild. Painting murals, patterns and blocks of colour in tough, scrubbable Modern Emulsion ensures the look is functional as well as fun. If you’re unsure of your freehand painting skills, try a geometric design like this delightful circus-themed nursery, using masking tape to get the crispest edges.

Older Children & Teens

Remixing grown-up colours in fun configurations is a great method for seeing an older child’s room through those tricky in-between stages. Bold swathes of moody Inchyra Blue paired with popping stripes of Red Earth and Lulworth Blue strike a masterful balance between playful and polished, while keeping furniture clean and modern in shades of white offers a little more longevity.

As they get a bit older, they’ll likely have their own ideas on how they want their space to look, but there are a few tried-and-tested tips for creating teenager-friendly spaces that won’t look out of sorts with the rest of your home.

If they want black, but you’re not so sure, why not meet them in the middle with Down Pipe? Our deep, dark grey creates the perfect conditions for reading, gaming or chatting late into the night, while still being serious enough for study and sleep, and elegant enough to fit with your home’s wider aesthetic. For a touch more colour but just as much cosy factor, try earthy green Bancha taken over the walls and ceiling for the ultimate hideaway.

Wallpaper for Children’s Rooms

If you’re looking to spruce up a child’s room with colour and pattern, there’s no need to restrict yourself to children’s wallpaper. Many of our papers – like Gable, whose sweet pastoral scenes and soft colourways make it a wonderful nursery wallpaper – have a playfulness that works just as well in a kid’s room as it does in a grown-up living space. But with a little imagination, any of our papers can be a great candidate for bringing a little one’s room to life, or giving a teen’s space a cool eclectic appeal.

It certainly helps that even the prettiest patterns are tougher than they look. Applying a final layer of glaze to each roll of wallpaper before it leaves our Dorset factory ensures that scuffs and scratches don’t mar the paper underneath, and all manner of mysterious smudges can simply be wiped away.