We are currently living in an in-between phase with the kids – some nights Thomas braves the bottom bunk whereas other nights he wants to return to his cot bed. Obviously this is fine and any transition takes time but it has meant we’re rather short of space in the kid’s room. As a result, it’s made sense to try and be as minimalist as possible. Too much ‘stuff’ equals dust and chaos – not a vibe that is conducive to sleep! The ‘scandi’ look ties in well with this aim – balancing comfort with light and space.

As with any theme, I feel like it’s important not to go overboard. There’s so many ideas out there right now about what scandi really means and it’s tempting just to buy ALL the prints and it’s definitely too easy to spend too much money. I have incredibly opinionated kids and it may well get to the point that they will demand change, so I also think it’s important to plan a room that is adaptable but that has a strong canvas to work from. If the basic’s are good then the rest really is just window dressing.

If’m sure I’m not the only one who faces new-build space limitations so here are my 5 must-haves for a scandi Kid’s room:

White and wooden

I don’t like to be too ‘matchy-matchy’ with our furniture but IKEA really does rule the roost with kid’s furniture – they’re Stuva range is perfect for the kid’s clothes and means it’s accessible too. However, with any scandi design I feel it’s important to incorporate as much of the natural world as well. We’ve chosen a bunk bed from MADE with natural wooden legs and I’d like to add wooden legs to the Stuva furniture we have as well. Lifting things off the floor also adds the illusion of space as well – so win win.

Wall stickers

There are so many scandi prints that I adore, but equally I don’t like the combination of Thomas with any large frames. An easy – and affordable – way to make a big impact is of course using wall stickers. These are easy to switch-up as children grow or even if when we just want to change the room around.

The Vinyl Wall Store has a great collection of wall stickers for nurseries with different options but so many of them would work for a scandi room. I was really happy when they got in touch about collaborating with us as obviously we’re in the process of an update.

As with our furniture I was keen to include aspects of nature within the room and wall stickers were an obvious way to do this. In Katie’s nursery when she was a baby, we opted for a tree but switched to clouds when we swapped rooms around. Given I’m very keen to encourage the kid’s to sleep – this time round the obvious upgrade was stars! Nighttime = Sleep. If you can make sure my kid’s get that memo then that would be great!

Texture

Another thing I wanted to do for the kids was ensure that there was array of textures. I had originally bought a sheepskin for the kid’s teepee but Katie quickly moved it to their room. She evidentially likes her feet to land on comfort first thing in the morning!

As Edinburgh really can get cold, it’s also nice to have a selection of blankets available for that extra layer. Often I find the kids will throw blankets off during the night but then utilise them as capes in the morning so it’s nice to have a few as they often migrate.

A neutral wall colour

If I asked Katie what colour she would like her bedroom painted today she would say blue, yesterday it would’ve been pink and tomorrow it’ll probably be yellow. I guess it might be different if she or Thomas really felt strongly one way consistently, but I think it’s much easier to cater for whims in accessory rather than foundation.

That said, I’m not a fan of pure white for children rooms or actually any colour that shows marks easily. Obviously, the typical scandi look is white but I think there’s some great neutrals. One option is of course choosing TWO colours and using white on the top half of the room and darker neutral below.

Painting the bottom half darker than the top also adds the illusion of height to the room but obviously means there’s no sticky finger prints over the white! We just painted a darker ‘mountain’ along the bottom of the room for much the same reason!

A means to hide the clutter

Finally, it’s unrealistic to thing that the kid’s won’t have ‘stuff’. We’re lucky to have a whole host of relatives and friends who have gifted the children cuddly toys alongside the collection the kid’s have demanded on various occasions.

I really like the Play & Go Storage Bag’s for being able to hide a whole host of these behind great prints. They also double up as play mats and make clearing up really easy. We’ve got a hook on the back of the kid’s door so it can just be easily tucked away.

P.S. This is a collaborative post with the Vinyl Wall Store – check them out as they have loads of Great Wall decals for every think. Thanks to them for supporting Edinburgh with Kids and making what we do possible.