Choosing colour for kids’ rooms

Perhaps you are guided by colour psychology or the latest trends? There’s many ways to go about it. Rather than try and cover them all, I’m going to share my approach with you.

The first thing I’ll take into account when designing a new room, is the floor covering. Why? The floor is literally the base of your design and it’s is visually dominant because of its size. If it’s carpet (which is often the case in the UK, where I’m based), I aim for walls that tone with the carpet. This minimises the contrast and keeps things looking calm. If it’s wood or concrete, the options are wide open, but I still make sure that the wall colours play nicely with the undertone of the floor.

The second thing I check is the room’s position: is it north, east, south or west facing? This gives me a clue about the quality of light that the room receives. If the natural light conditions are cool and the room doesn’t receive much natural light, do I want to emphasise that or try modulate it? If you’re not sure how light influences colour perception, most paint manufacturers have a section on their website with guidance on what colours might suit your specific conditions (for example Farrow & Ball). There’s plenty of advice when you google it too.

Thirdly, I look at the view from the room. To me, the view is like a large painting on the wall,
framed by a window. I note what the colours are and how dominant the view is. If there are red brick buildings with terracotta roofs across your narrow street, there’s no way of ignoring this (apart from blocking out the view, which is another a way of dealing with it). As I’m into harmonious schemes for children’s bedrooms, I’ll take the view into account when choosing colours.

Next, I’ll look at the colours that are used throughout the house.
Of course there can be different colours in children’s rooms, but I do take into consideration how colour is used elsewhere and I aim for some sort of continuity. After all, as an interior designer, I want to create flow.

Finally! I’m now ready to return to my client’s brief and work out what colours I would use in the light of all of the above. More often than not, I use neutral colours on the larger surfaces, and keep stronger colours to a feature wall, a piece of furniture, bedding or accessories. This also makes it easier to change things up when children go through different phases.

So there you have it, my approach to choosing colours for kids’ rooms. Whichever way you decide on what colours to use, have fun. And remember: it’s only paint, you can always change it!

All images: Room to Bloom