From Tot to Tween: How to Decorate Your Child’s Bedroom for Their Preteen Years

As your child grows to be a preteen, they are creating their own identity, forming their own opinions, and learning who they are. This might mean they change their fashion sense and become more verbal about what they want to do in their free time.


One important detail of their life that should also change during this time is their bedroom. Here are some great tips and tricks on how to go from tot to tween when interior decorating the only space they can call their own.


Ceiling decals to add space


You don’t have to paint the entire room to give it a brand new look. Instead, a makeover can be easily achieved by applying some ceiling decals in your child’s favorite color. A cool way to make the room look bigger is to design the decals to all come from a corner of the ceiling, then scatter the pattern out as you go. To add some extra pizazz, consider even doing this on one accent wall.


Make it personal


Photo boards are a great idea, but they are often much too small to show off all the photos your tween wants. You can bypass this and create your own photo wall by simply interlocking taught ribbons in a lattice pattern and fastening them to the wall with small push pins. Not only will the pins barely make a hole in your wall, they can easily be taken out if the ribbons stretch and need to be re-tightened.


Designate a focal point


Nothing makes a room come alive more than bedding, so let your tween have fun and go crazy picking out new bedding for their room. The more colorful the better, as you won’t have to do much when it comes to decorating the rest of the room. Need some inspiration? Some trendy patterns include polka dots, cacti, llamas, florals, and even glitter — you’ll be able to find bedding and tween and kids pillows in these statement making prints in no time.


Create added dimension


A tween’s room needs to be multipurpose no matter how big it is. To make this happen, take a look at the room and section it out based on the following three categories: sleep, study, and hanging out. Try your hardest to create adequate places for these areas, even if they are cross-functional. For example, the desk can have some shelving in it, the blankets and pillows can also be used for the hangout space, and the same chair can be used for relaxing and studying. Remember, this is the area will your child will go to be alone and spend their time, so they will want to make it as functional as possible .


Let them decorate themselves


Do you have a tween that has an amazing artistic talent? If so, consider doing a focal point wall where they can decorate themselves. An easy way to do this is to pick up some chalkboard paint and have them decorate how they please. Or, if you want something a little brighter, you can paint the wall white and pick up a pack of Sharpie paint pens, which are a water-based paint that can easily be painted over. You can even get the entire family involved when it comes to painting that one wall, creating lasting memories in the paint.


With these ideas, your tweens will be on their way to the best room they have ever had.