In the eyes of a parent, it is a basic teen bedroom – a place to sleep, do homework, text friends, and closet a wardrobe.
In the mind of a teen, the bedroom is a personal space that reflects independence, individuality, social status, dreams, and so much more. The bedroom is the one place in the universe that adolescents can call their own.
When selecting unique beds and accessories to update your teenager’s bedroom, a collaborative approach is the one most likely to lead to a successful makeover – price, design and functionality – that will allow everyone in your household to rest easy.
As you set about working with your teen, keep in mind that 13-year-olds soon become 18-year-olds and their tastes will change much faster than their shoe size. That means building flexibility into every choice, from the color of paint or paper for the walls to the size of the bed and mattress. Today, your teen daughter may still need space for her dolls and stuffed animals. In the blink of an eye, shoes, makeup, personal electronics, and photos of friends and rock stars will become her dominant companions.
There is an as-yet unnamed law of nature that directly correlates the age of your teen to the ever-expanding amount of storage space that will be required to maintain all of your son’s or daughter’s stuff. Thus, early in the planning for your teen bedroom renovation, you should give ample consideration to not only where you’ll put your teen’s current accumulation, but also where you plan to deposit the inevitable sprawl.
BEGIN WITH STORAGE
For starters, consider buying a hardwood, American-made platform bed from Stuart David Home Furnishings – with a factory showroom in Ceres just south of Modesto. These durable beds, available in a variety of woods and finishes, can accommodate as many as 12 spacious drawers without encroaching on floor space.
A blanket chest need not be used for beddings alone. Chests make for great catchalls, capable of digesting over sized sports equipment, school art projects, exercise paraphernalia, and memorabilia. When grandma and grandpa drop in unannounced and your teen’s room is a disaster zone, grab whatever is cluttering the floor or the bed and dump it in the chest. As they say, “out of sight, and no one will be any the wiser.”
To stay ahead of the inescapable storage wars that you and your teen will face, Stuart David Home Furnishings offers a selection of uppers and bridges. While those may sound like apparatuses that your orthodontist will recommend along with your teen’s braces, they are actually solid wood, handcrafted hutches and add-on furniture that are designed to frame your teen’s bed, providing ample extra storage and display space. Paired with bookcases and storage towers, all available in multiple woods and dozens of finishes, this collection of furniture for teenagers can make order from just about any teenage jumble.
Experiment moving your teen’s current bedroom furniture around and engage your son or daughter in helping to plan the new layout. Doing so makes for a memorable parent-child experience and also transmits a message of trust in your teen’s judgment.
FURNITURE FOR TEENAGERS
Beyond the bed and storage units, if the available space is large enough parents may want to consider other furniture options for their teen’s bedroom.
An obvious first choice is a desk, where your teen can focus on homework and other creative undertakings. Investing in a custom quality desk, such as those available in a wide variety of solid wood styles and sizes from Stuart David Home Furnishings, sends your teens a message of encouragement; that as they grow up and prepare for college, you entrust them to take their studies seriously. For smaller bedrooms, you may wish to add a more compact library table, available with one or two-drawers.
A bedroom loveseat or even a full sofa is optional furniture for teenagers. These provide teens a casual place to read, watch television, listen to music, and chat with their friends. Your teen can focus on style and color while you pay attention to durability and stain resistance.
Accessories can go a long way towards personalizing your teen’s bedroom. Step stools, benches, stereo cabinets, lamps, and rugs all allow your son or daughter to bring a distinctive style to the bedroom. Throw pillows are inexpensive and easily double as floor seating. Like bedding, you can swap out the pillows to give the bedroom a fresh look as your teen’s tastes mature.
DECORATIVE IDEAS
With the major components of your teen’s upgraded bedroom in place, you and your son or daughter can focus your attention on decorations. If your teen is artistic, framing hand-drawn art, paintings, or photography is always a wonderful way to show support for your teen’s creative side.
For those adolescents who excel elsewhere, think about framing and hanging awards, poetry they’ve written, or photos of them with family members and friends. A bulletin board comes in handy for posting to-do lists, a photo calendar, and cards or letters they receive from family members and out-of-state friends.
Framed posters can totally transfigure your teen’s bedroom. Younger teens may favor actors and other entertainers. But the wall space can also be a great way to introduce your teen to fine or decorative art by purchasing quality, framed reprints. One great website to visit for ideas is Art.com, which allows you and your teen to browse art prints by category, artist, and even color.
Not all families have enough rooms in their home to let their teens have their own bedroom. If that’s the case in your house or apartment, it’s no reason that each child sharing a single room can’t make the space reflect his or her individuality. The bookcases, bridges, and uppers from Stuart David Home Furnishings allow parents to specify individual shelves or cubicles that each child in the room owns and decorates. Likewise, giving each child a dedicated nightstand can save lots of squabbling over whose stuff belongs where. Even the bedroom’s walls can be ‘zoned’ for the exclusive use of each child.
Limited on space but want that bookcase look and storage space? A bookcase headboard from Stuart David can be attached to almost any of their other foot-board and rails options to give you the custom look you want without sacrificing your favorite style choice.
Murphy beds give your teens bedroom a convertible style that is both practical and able to adapt with constantly changing tastes. Stuart David offers several styles of Murphy beds (Twin-Queen) that can be made in your teens choice of wood, finish, and hardware. Accent it with companion bookcases on one or both sides, they can even attach a return desk to either side!
The usefulness of a Murphy bed doesn’t stop there however. Even after your bird has left the nest, you can continue to use the Murphy bed as a guest bed for your new office or sewing room!
If parents could peer into the future, they would see themselves some years from now when their children have moved out and they are standing at the doorway of their teen’s old bedroom, reminiscing about days gone by.
The years do pass quickly, but my how the furnishings and decorations bring back a flood of happy memories! Indeed, the time and money you invest now remaking your teen’s bedroom will frame your memories well beyond your children’s teenage years. What you are really designing is not simply a bedroom with accessories. It is a lifetime legacy – both yours and theirs.