Our Toddler Room Makeover + 7 Budget Tips for Decorating Kids Spaces

This post is sponsored by White Knight Paints.

Thanks to White Knight Paints our toddler room makeover is complete. Through the process I have learnt that I am certainly not a natural interior decorator! However armed with a palette of pinks, yellow and mint green to play with (as shared in our ‘before’ post) I am really happy with how everything has come together.

There is no doubting that painting the wicker chair, as suggested by a number of readers, would have created a real impact in the room however the chair is actually on loan from my Mum so hitting it with the spray can was not an option! Instead I dressed the corner to add a little more colour and interest…

On the wall to the left you can see the gorgeous New York cityscape print by Lauramiss on Etsy. I purchased it back when I still had the rainbow colour scheme in mind before AJ was born. I spied the cute yellow and mint green heart cushion at Target and just knew it would be perfect for the space. To the white side table I added a freshly painted photo frame and basket (more details below) and some of AJ’s toys and books.

The wall still looked a little bland and as we no longer really needed the rainbow mobiles above the nappy change mat (see photo below – we don’t use the change mat on the dressing table anymore), I decided to re-purpose the vellum pieces into a 3D garland using the coloured pieces that best matched our new colour scheme.

Budget Kids Room Decorating Tip #1: Garlands or buntings come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They are so easy to make and can easily brighten a shelf, window corner or a whole wall.

The long, blank wall really needed to be broken up with a big piece of artwork (especially once the mobile was removed) but with our tiny makeover budget my only real option was to do-it-myself. When I went to the art shop to buy a canvas for my artwork I found a fabulous, big round one and straight away I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

I used White Knight Splashes water based craft paint in Sun Yellow to create an artwork representing some of the words of a well-known song I have sung to both my girls since they were babies. The Splashes paints are available 19 colours, in both 100ml and 250ml tins which makes them just right for smaller projects.

Budget Kids Room Decorating Tip #2: Don’t be afraid to create an artwork of your own, it’s one of the cheapest ways to add colour to a large space.

With the nappy change mat removed, the top of the chest of drawers became a great place to add some fun jars of hair clips and kid friendly jewelry. I felt the corner needed something else but didn’t want to hang anything that would compete with the sunshine canvas. Thankfully, one of our favourite book characters saved the day! The Olivia and the Fairy Princess (Ian Falconer, 2013) loose dust cover was the perfect solution and fitted perfectly into an Ikea Virserum frame.

Budget Kids Room Decorating Tip #3: Loose dust jackets or pages recycled from a damaged or secondhand copy of your favourite kids books make a great, instant artwork for any kids space.

The area in front of the large window now functions as a small play space, just right for a toddler.

The previously dull and uninspiring wicker toy basket was given a facelift with White Knight Squirts enamel spray paints in Pink and Fuschia (see before photo below). We used the Squirts paints on a number of items and they really are fabulous – providing wonderful, even coverage with no drips.

To achieve the two-tone effect on the toy basket I sprayed the bottom half of the basket in Fuschia first and once it was dried, I blocked out the area that I wanted to remain Fuschia with a large sheet of newspaper and then sprayed the top half pink.

Budget Kids Room Decorating Tip #4: A simple coat of paint can bring pre-loved items back to life.

I really wanted to add a small table and chairs to the room as AJ loves to sit and do puzzles. The Ikea Latt table and chairs set was just the right size. We undercoated the pine table (excluding the table top insert) and chairs with White Knight Rust Guard All Purpose Primer and then painted the table with White Knight Splashes paint in Sun Yellow. The chairs were finished in White Knight Strokes Semi Gloss White with a little paint-dipped effect using the Sun Yellow on the bottom of the chair legs.

The final side of the room went from this to…

…this.

AJ’s absolute favourite part of the makeover has to be the little wall gallery we created for her.  I spray painted a range of frames, again using the White Knight Squirts spray paints in Pink and Fuschia, and added some family photos and a fabric painted artwork Immy made for AJ’s room. These are hung at the perfect height for AJ to look at and she loves to point to the family photos and tell us who each of the people are.

Budget Kids Room Decorating Tip #5: Be careful not to hang everything at adult height. Create child friendly displays that your child can enjoy and interact with, right down at their level.

The small white shelves were repurposed from the playroom to provide a little, child height toy storage and display area. Previously painted red, they were given the same treatment as the pine chairs – the white providing a perfect backdrop for AJ’s brightly coloured toys. I also spray painted a couple of pre-loved wicker baskets for toy storage (you can see one above and another in the second post image). Painting baskets really is a quick and easy way to add a small pop of your chosen colour to a room.

A small bean bag chair is perfect for a toddler room as it provides somewhere comfy to sit and is light enough for them to move around themselves. The Lelby chair (in Spring Posies fabric) was a gift to AJ from my Mum and Dad.

I didn’t make many changes to the high shelves in the room, just adding a few additional trinkets and another garland – this one of mini crochet hearts.

Budget Kids Room Decorating Tip #6: Commission artwork from your children to display in bedrooms or playrooms. The embroidery project shown above was made by Immy when she was four years old. We have many other child-made artworks displayed in our home, including this big canvas artwork and this lovely rainbow drip painting.

A few keepsake toys complete the shelving display – the little mouse is from an Alimrose set of small, fabric animal shakers that both my girls adored as babies and Ophelia the hen was one of AJ’s favourite baby toys.

Budget Kids Room Decorating Tip #7: Displaying toys that your child has outgrown is a no-cost way of adding instant colour and interest to a shelf, bookcase or cabinet top.

AJ loves her ‘new’ room. She points to each new item and tells us who made it or hung it on the wall for her. I will often find her quietly pottering around playing with her toys or sitting in her comfy bean bag chair reading a book – it really is so special to see her enjoying the space her whole family had a hand in creating.

What are your tips for decorating kids bedrooms and play spaces on a budget?