We've all had times where we've wanted to transform the kid's bedroom/s, but we've just not had the funds nor time to do it, or maybe it's the children themselves who keep going on and on about a bedroom makeover, not understanding that bills need to be paid, school trips need to be funded, and another birthday is creeping up.
It leaves us as parents feeling guilty, we want nothing more than to give our darling children the makeover they so desire, but with lack of funds, or simply the lack of time, it's hard. I'm quite lucky with my own son, he doesn't like too much change, and hasn't asked for a new bedroom every year, unlike me when I was a child. If I had my own way, I could've easily had new a new bedroom set up every 3-6 months, I was always wanting a change!
What if I told you there was a way to give your children a bedroom makeover that doesn't take up much time, or money? By doing one simple thing? Buying them a new set of curtains! Believe it or not, curtains are a main part of any room, but especially the bedrooms - only they're undervalued, they are taken for granted, and just seen as something we need!
Actually, they're not only something we need, but something we want if we don't have them. You may be wondering how the costs of a new pair of curtains can be the one and only thing to give a child's bedroom a makeover, and I honestly never would've thought it would've been that easy myself until I recommended it to my friend Laura! Laura lives in a two bedroom flat, near to the capital, working all hours to play very little, how we quite don't know, isn't the motto work hard, play harder? Unfortunately for Laura, and many others that's not the way the world works, however Laura has become quite savvy, and we're always sharing our bargain buys and frugal tips with each other.
For months now, I've listened to Laura moan about not being able to do much to her privately rented flat, and how she wanted to give her children (who share a room) a more child-friendly makeover. With plain white walls, that Laura isn't allowed to decorate unfortunately, she sadly can't add colour to the room paint or wallpaper wise, however - we all know I love transforming rooms on a budget, and quite often that just means changing some accessories around.
Last weekend I went over to Laura's to help her sort out a billion toys - okay not literally that many but it felt like it, bags and bags of old clothes until we were left with just the furniture and bunk beds in the room and it was only then once all the child items was removed out of the room or put away that you could see that this could literally be a room for adults, when we think of children we think of colour, prints, characters etc, however all there was to this room was white, white beds, white furniture, white windows and white blinds.
Spud's room is painted a baby blue, with a star theme, wherever you look you can see signs of a child, but in this room, there was none of that, and I totally understand Laura is very limited on what she can do, due to her renting the flat and it not being her own, and even if that wasn't the case, there is never a lot of money to play around with.
We brainstormed at what we could do to make a child friendly plain bedroom, and we got straight onto the local free groups, we were able to get a lamp and matching light shade, a child's rug and some scatter cushions off of one lady, whilst another lady had some battery operated fairy lights she was getting rid of, and we nearly took a third lady up on her offer of some red checkered curtains, until I told Laura not too.
Years ago, whilst living in my own flat, I went months before I had curtains in my own room. Every spare penny I had went on buying the essentials and doing Spud's room up. An old duvet cover nailed down was supposed to be a temporary fix until I could afford to buy myself curtains, however that old duvet cover actually stayed there for just over a year until I could afford to by myself the curtains I wanted. I purchased my curtains before anything else in that room, before the paint, before the wallpaper, and even before the bed.
To me, curtains are a way of shutting out the world, I love nothing more than closing the curtains after a busy day at work, it's my time to hide the world out so I can relax, and that's especially the case in my bedroom when I retire to bed for a rare afternoon nap, I want good curtains that block out the light from the sun and natural daylight. To me curtains are also a way of showing off your style, there one of the most boldest pieces in our homes, yet we don't always see that - until there are no curtains in place.
Kids bedrooms shouldn't be no different. In time, opening and closing the curtains become part of our children's routine, opening them in the morning and closing them at night - unless you get character curtains of course, and the novelty doesn't wear off so the curtains are constantly getting opened and closed just for fun!
Nowadays, children's curtains come in so many forms, from character curtains to plain but bold colours! For example, you can get funky childrens curtains at very decent prices from Yorkshire Linen. From colours, characters, themes and blackout curtains, there is so many to choose from, but picking the right ones can indeed change a whole bedroom, giving it a whole new makeover just by purchasing new curtains, and nothing else alone!
I stopped Laura from getting the second-hand ones because I knew she'd be amazed at how much a good pair of curtains can make the room stand out, even if the walls were plain white. Thankfully her children are into the same characters, so she had a choice of buying character curtains such as My Little Pony or Pepper Pig, or she could've done a theme like my Spud's bedroom, stars hearts or rainbows for example.
Having a good pair of curtains can also be better for your finances, as they can keep the cold out and the warmth in, in Laura's case giving her more spare pennies at the end of every month. I told Laura to use some ribbon for curtain tie backs, which can be picked up easily and cheap, and I even mentioned how cool it would be for the kids to have bed curtains - seeing as they share a room, a little privacy from one another would do the world of good!
Until next time,
Jada x
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