When you’re thinking about buying or renting in Denver, one of the biggest considerations is the ability to make changes. Not just for yourself, but for your children. The vast majority of parents buy a house while thinking of a child’s bedroom perfect for them. Sure, a hot tub and a skylight would be nice, but what you really need is enough bedrooms for everyone, and a big yard with plenty of room.
Buying instead of renting gives you the freedom to customize a house into the perfect nest where your kids will grow up surrounded by joy, color, and washable walls. With only a few very small DIY projects, you can transform the home into something that can be wrecked by dogs and toddlers into a fortress of separated play areas and safe child-friendly spaces.
1) Semi-Gloss Paint All Interior Walls Is a Must for a Child’s Bedroom
Permanent marker on the wall is a renter’s worst nightmare. However, as a homeowner, you have the opportunity to prepare your entire home for the almost inevitable event in which something staining hits the wall.
From markers and finger paint to bowls of fussily thrown spaghetti, you need a layer of paint that can be scrubbed in your child’s bedroom. With an incredibly sturdy gloss or semi-gloss interior paint, you can prepare your home for all manner of murals, messes, and accidents before they happen. Best of all, it can be scrubbed with the rough side of a sponge.
2) Split Doors for Play Rooms in a Child’ Bedroom
If you’ve ever wanted to contain your children in a room and still be able to see them, most parents rely on the baby gate but eventually, kids get old enough to pull these down. An interesting and surprisingly affordable solution is to install split-doors in rooms where your children will play.
These can act as baby gates for the little ones while you can still get through. They can even serve as privacy control to keep your teens from closing themselves up during homework time or when opposite-gender friends are visiting.
3) Low Built-In Shelves, Cubbies, and Closet Bars
If you want your children to help keep things tidy, make sure there are plenty of shelves and cubbies they can reach. By buying or installing storage infrastructure down at kid-height, you can ensure that there’s always a quick and easy solution to cleaning up their rooms and the shared living area.
A second closet bar installed at your waist-height can be used to teach your younger children to hang up their nice clothes.
4) The Clock Wall
Want your children to be able to tell time from an analog clock, not just a digital read-out? This is becoming increasingly difficult for parents in the digital age, but it’s not impossible.
With a little paint and one big easy-to-read clock, you can turn one wall into a clock tower, then teach your child to tell the time by practicing things like “You can have a cookie at 8 pm. Where will the clock hands be then?”
5) Loft Beds Make More Space in a Child’s Bedroom
If your child’s room is too small for a bed and play area, there are a number of options DIY-savvy parents can try. Murphy beds fold up into the wall but may be difficult or risky for smaller children. Instead, try a loft bed that picks the bed up off the floor to create a fun play-room area below.
Be sure to install railings on the sides even for older children and a sturdy ladder.
6) Secret Cubbies
Our final tip for DIY parents looking to make their homes safer and more welcoming for small and growing children is secret spaces. Children love crawl spaces, child-sized doors, and hidden compartments to hide things in, and your house will look a lot tidier with toys behind camouflaged doors.
You can also use secret compartments in grown-up spaces to hide things from children and feel like a super-spy every time you tidy up.
Find More Ways to Upgrade Your Child’s Bedroom
The perfect home for child-rearing starts with the right home purchase, but it’s what you do with the house that will really make it the place your children remember and love forever. From indestructible paint to tiny doors and crawl spaces, with just a few DIY projects, you can make your new house a fun and easy to clean place to build years of childhood memories.
For more great homeowner tips or help to find that perfect Denver home to raise your children, contact me via phone at 1-(720)-297-0340or email or check out the #denverdyllan hashtag on Instagram. I’ll be glad to hear from you and we can talk about the family-raising and decoration potential of local Denver homes.