I can remember redecorating my room and rearranging the furniture at least twice a year as a kid. Obviously, I started early in the home decorating world. I even managed to convince my parents to let me paint my room a couple of times (yes… a couple. Not just once). Of course, there was no Pinterest at that point, so my inspiration came from places I visited, things I loved and my grandmother’s Southern Living Magazine. Since then, my style has changed and evolved and, of course, it’s matured as well. But when I was decorating my daughter’s nursery in preparation for her arrival a couple of years ago, I realized how much fun there was in using your imagination to create an inspiring space for little ones, and it reminded me of how much I loved to create those kinds of spaces as a kid.
Today, I look at Ash growing like a weed {way too fast for my taste} complete with changing tastes and preferences, and I am having a blast creating inspiring, fun spaces in her bedroom to keep up with her interests.
I’ll have some of our own DIYs coming up this summer to help you do the same for your kids’ rooms, but in the meantime wanted to share some of the best tutorials and inspirational DIYs we’ve found from our fellow bloggers.
5 Inspiring Kids Room DIYs
After Ashlyn was first born, I kept seeing these oversized rulers everywhere {for way more money than I cared to spend}. Thankfully, there was no shortage of inspiration in the blogosphere for making my own! I’ll be sure to share my own tutorial soon along with some tips for what worked best for me, but in the meantime, check out Simply Kierste’s tutorial. We think her beautifully stained growth chart is completely swoon-worthy!
For my daughter’s first birthday, I really wanted to get her a magnetic chalkboard because she loved the “chalkboard” we made out of the side of our refrigerator for her {tutorial to come on that one}. All I could find in stores that was semi-reasonably priced, though, were the freestanding easels, and I just didn’t feel like there was enough room to add a freestanding object to her already crowded bedroom. Again, there were seemingly unlimited options out there for ways to create your own, and I stumbled upon Fawn Over Baby’s tutorial using a Walmart oil drip pan from the automotive department. I’ll be sharing my tutorial later this summer, but be sure you head over to Fawn Over Baby to see how she made hers and even painted the magnets themselves!
This is one that I haven’t tried yet, but am excited to try after reading this post by Yellow Bliss Road! My fellow S&L Founder, Amanda, has plans to add something similar in her kids’ room, so we’ll be sure to post a tutorial. For now, check out what a great use of space these shelves are! They’re made out of trim, using the lip on the back side of the trim as a ledge to hold books in place. It’s a brilliant idea, and a great way to keep clutter at bay.
Crib bedding is ex.pen.sive. Way too expensive, in my humble opinion, for a crib that your little one is going to grow out of anyway. When I was planning Ashlyn’s nursery, I knew I wanted a cute chevron crib skirt in coral and, of course, couldn’t find one even remotely within my price range that matched the color of coral I was going for. So, thank you again, Pinterest, because I stumbled on this tutorial from The Lil House That Could, and it turned out perfectly! The best part? It was completely no-sew; what a time-saver! Now that Ashlyn is in a toddler bed, I’m excited to try a ruffled skirt which will attach in a similar fashion to this. Of course, there will be a tutorial up on the blog later this summer to show you how it turned out!
For Ashlyn’s first birthday, I really wanted to get her one of these. There were cute ones all over the place, again, for more money than our small budget would allow. I looked at a lot of tutorials, and this was the first one that really caught my attention. It is just beautiful and such a bright and happy place for a little one to crawl into to read or play with toys or stuffed animals. I actually ended up making one a little bit differently using a dropcloth which has since had an “accident” and been covered in red lipstick, so I’m on to a new design with some really cute fabric I found on sale at Hobby Lobby. Our tutorial will be up later this summer, but in the meantime, I would encourage you to check out Thrifty & Chic’s tutorial here! We are just blown away at how stunning it is!
There you have it! Our top five kids room DIYs. We’d love to see what you’ve done to transform your kids’ rooms, so comment below or tag us in a photo using the hashtag #saltandlifekids! Happy crafting!
