Designing Bedrooms for Teens, Children, and Guests

Upcycling Furniture & Home Decor For Dummies

With any interior design project, you need to focus in on how a room will be used. Bedroom needs vary depending on who will be using the room. Teenagers usually know what they want in a bedroom, whereas a child’s bedroom needs to be planned with the future in mind. Setting aside a room for guests makes their stay more comfortable for them and for you.

Designing for teens

Teens need storage for their books, music, and collections of just about anything you can name. They also have firm ideas about style and colors, so ask! And when your son or daughter requests a wild color, do your best to persuade him or her to use it as an accent. Choose neutral furnishings that can adapt to a new color scheme just in case your teen’s tastes change overnight.

More and more activities, from surfing the Internet to entertaining, take place in a teen’s room. Extra seating and small tables provide space for visitors. Keep furnishings practical and easy to care for.

Designing children’s bedrooms

As always, keep safety in mind:

Choose chests and cabinets that can’t be tipped over (even when drawers are opened and a child crawls up and into them). This may call for fastening them to the wall for security.
Double-check that cribs and bunk beds meet federal safety standards. Check to see that mattresses fit snugly against the crib’s sides. Slats, spindles, rods, and corner posts should be no more than 2 3/8 inches apart from each other. Make sure a child can’t release the drop side of a crib.
Eliminate any small throw rugs on slippery floors. Little ones can trip over these hazards.
Equip all electrical outlets with plastic safeguard plugs. Young children love to stick their fingers where they don’t belong.
Find hardware that’s rounded, sanded, and has no sharp edges. The smoother the hardware, the less the chance of cuts.
Keep cribs away from windows and window blind cords.
Make sure all flooring is skidproof.
Select bunk beds with sturdy ladders, handrails, and safety rails.

Make sure you have a guest bed for sleepovers. A trundle bed, which stores a second bed beneath a regular one, is ideal for children’s rooms.

Designing guestrooms

Furnish the guestroom with a marvelous bed and all the necessary furnishings. Check out the following suggestions for ways to make your guestroom comfortable:

Buy a handsome, space-saving daybed or sofa bed that fits smartly against the wall and out of the way. The versatility of these beds makes them a delightful option in a home office or other double-duty room. A Murphy bed that hides away in a closet is another option.
Consider fitting your guestroom with a telephone, a TV, a connection for getting online, and a mini-fridge filled with water, juices, and snacks.
Dedicate two sets of sheets, a comforter, a duvet cover, and pillows and pillow shams to your guestroom. Store them in the guest closet or guest bathroom in case your guests need anything during the night.
Make sure that your guest has plenty of closet space for hanging and drawer space for putting away personal items. Place sachets in drawers and padded hangers in the closet for a posh touch.
Use a queen bed. Couples will appreciate the comfort. If you have two guestrooms, fit the second one with twin beds.

About This Article

About the book author:

Katharine Kaye McMillan, former senior editor of a New York City-based national magazine, is a writer whose work appears regularly in magazines and newspapers. She is a contributing writer to internationally circulated Florida Design Magazine. She is the co-author of several books on decorating and design, including Sun Country Style, which is the basis for licensed signature collections of furniture and accessories by three leading American manufacturers and importers. A graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, she holds a masters degree in psychology and is a doctoral student in psychology at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.

Patricia Hart McMillan is a nationally known interior designer, whose interior design work for private clients, designer showcases, and corporations has appeared in publications worldwide, including the New York Times and USA Today. Known as a trend spotter and for clearly articulated views on design, she is quoted frequently and extensively in both trade and consumer publications. She a ppears on TV and talk radio. A prolific writer, she is coauthor and author of seven books on interior design and decoration, with Sun Country Style signature collections of furniture based on two books. She has taught decorating courses at several colleges and conducted numerous seminars across the U.S. She is decorating editor for Christian Woman Magazine and reports on design trends for The Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune newspaper based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She has been editor-in-chief of two publications and was head of a New York City-based public relations firm representing some of the most prestigious names in home furnishing and building products. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a minor in art history (with an emphasis in architecture), from the State University of New York (New Paltz). She was awarded a certificate from The New York School of Interior Design.