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Design Reveal: Boy’s Bedroom with Safari Inspiration

fun interior design for children's bedroom

We have been busy and are so excited to have a such a fun project to share here on the blog. Our client is a mother of three whose two boys just started sharing a room. She needed some help putting the boys bedroom together. The direction they wanted to go in was an animal theme.

The boys like elephants, rhinos and geography. Actually, they don’t just like, they LOVE anything that has to do with animals. In fact, it is hard to have a conversation without one of them somehow bringing up the honey badger. All roads lead to the honey badger? So the kids were adamant that they wanted an animal theme. And their cool parents listened! Their favorites animals are elephants and rhinos and they love the color orange. We had to promise to incorporate them all.

The funny thing is both me and Johanna have been blessed with South-African husbands so we were into this theme.  Can you say safari theme? Today we are talking interior design for children’s bedroom.

Kids bedrooms are fun! Putting together cool boy bedroom ideas and details is easy, but keeping function in mind is so important.  Let’s face it, they don’t exactly volunteer to tidy things up.  Therefore, giving them plenty of kid friendly storage is key. It is a good idea to invest in a good, decent looking storage system or furniture that will grow with the kids. While that typical colorful miniature storage might work for a while, you will eventually replace it and at that point you are paying twice for the furniture.

The family was switching around sleeping arrangements and we had to find a way to fit 2 beds into the bedroom. Because the older boy was also getting a larger bed, we needed to reconfigure the room. Here is what it looked like:

how to decorate a boy room before and after

While the room was sweet and playful, it did not have a cohesive look and the walls were a soft peach color.

The lighting was very limited with only a ceiling fan and some standing floor lamps.

We both have small children so interior design for children’s bedroom is right up our alley. We love a sophisticated kids bedroom. They grow up quickly so keeping colors and furniture a bit on the classic side will pay off in the long run. Art and accessories are cheaper and easier to replace so that is where you can add colors, style and personalize the space. That was also how we approached this project.

The walls are a soft grey, while their love of color is reflected in the bedding and accessories. Decorating a children’s safari bedroom is fun but we wanted to make sure that we kept it sophisticated and avoided to many literal animal references.

Our design process

After discussing what the family wanted for the room we provided an initial moodboard to start the design conversation. We made a few tweaks and provided the clients with a spaceplan as well as a specific furniture recommendation. First, the room got a fresh coat of paint to help brighten it up. Now walls are a soft silver grey with warm undertones. Second, we needed to tackle the lack of light in the room. We advised the client on lighting and made arrangements for recessed lighting to be installed.< Above the beds we installed reading lights. The orange string lights was a playful way to add more orange into the room. They also look like stars on the African sky, adding to the safari tent feel. We selected a new plush rung that would be a lovely spot for the kids to play. Choosing a round rug helped soften all the angles in the room. Also, it exposed more of the floors, adding to a light and airy feel in the room.

 

Once all products had arrived we installed everything, hung the art and made sure the room had the right accessories. The bed canopy was inspired by a Pinterest image, and we love the playful tent feeling it provides. It is designed so that you can either roll it up or let the fabric down to play tent.

The result is a playful kids bedroom with long lasting style

Today the room is bright, sophisticated, yet playful. The new bed placement helped to open up the room for play and the kids are enjoying their desk for crafts and activities. Having reading light have designated a time and place for reading before bedtime. Yay! Simple toy storage helps the kids stay organized.

For storage we decided on revamping their existing media unit and use in the boys bedroom. A little bit of white paint made it lighter and brighter to better fit in a kids bedroom. We added the striped baskets to give toys a designated spot. It also helps brighten up the unit and adds a touch of style.

We hope that this playful boys room will inspire lots of adventures, play and memories for this lovely family. Until you go an a real safari, may you have many in here!

All photos by Simona Solomon Photography.