Renovating for Kids!

Renovating a bathroom or a kitchen is one thing. Creating a space for kids is quite another.

When you are planning an addition or renovating a floor in your home, this is probably the ideal time to come up with a special child-space. But it needs careful consideration ‒ more careful, perhaps, than choosing appliances or fixtures, or even moving walls.

Before you speak to your renovator about it, be sure to know what you want ‒ not just now, but in the future. Kids change. They change fast. Any seasoned parent or grandparent will tell you it happens in the blink of an eye.

Renovating for the children in your life means planning a lifestyle as much as anything. And this is long before you even think about decorating the new space.

Here are some things to consider:

• How practical can it be? How durable? (“Indestructible” might come to mind.)
• How can it adapt? Can future adjustments make a child’s space grow from toddler to young adult?
• Simplicity is a good thing. Simplicity means ease of cleanliness and tidiness.
• Storage is an essential thing. Good storage, easy to reach and organize, besides being helpful to parents, also provides a primary teaching moment for children of all ages: How to put your own stuff away neatly and easily.
• Will it be a good, safe, comfortable place for young friends to visit?
• Will it have room for a small table and chairs? A reading nook?
• What kind of shelving will it have? Suggestion: lots of it ‒ and very sturdy, perhaps built-in, with drawers for markers, paper, scissors, and small treasures.
• Where will it be in relation to the nearest bathroom? (Ensuite would be perfect, of course.)
• What kind of light will it have? (Hint: plenty of natural light is good for the temperament.)

A child’s space doesn’t have to mean a playroom. It can be a bedroom or just a quiet room of one’s own ‒ perfect for having tea parties, building towers, creating masterpieces, getting lost in a novel, and just…being a happy kid.

Once you know what you want, your professional renovator can give you more detailed suggestions and help you realize your dreams.

This might be the most renovating fun you’ve ever had.