How To Stage A Kids Bedroom - Foxy Home Staging

A few months back, our little family did something crazy! It was the first time I have ever felt truly stressed. We moved house. We upgraded from a cozy, three bedroom house, to a gigantic, five bedroom home, in a neighborhood two suburbs over. Not such an amazing feat? Well, we decided that the perfect time to do this was when I was 32 weeks pregnant and with an 18 month old in tow. Whilst in the haze of packing, when my toddler was not so helpfully unpacking every box I packed, I remember thinking how much harder it would be if we had decided to sell. What would we have packed from the kids rooms? What would the kids need us to leave behind? How would you keep their rooms clean? Would I have re-painted? What about the toys in the living room and backyard? Thankfully, we rented out our old place to a beautiful, young couple. But I know, there are plenty of families who want answers to the questions I had asked myself! So, today I’m going to show you how to stage a kids bedroom and help you keep your sanity, as you walk the fine line between maintaining a consistent home environment for your little ones and keeping your home irresistibly show-ready for buyers.

When preparing your home for sale, there are two schools of thought surrounding staging kids bedrooms:

Kids Bedroom, School of Thought 1: Don’t decorate exclusively to one gender. Paint the walls using neutral paint colours, like beige or gray, and infuse colour using wall decals. Steer away from patterned or brightly coloured bedding. Instead, keep it neutral and in a solid hue and add personality with an accent pillow and throw. This school of thought is generated on the idea that you’ve staged the rest of the house to appeal to the masses, so simply repeat the formula here. When the room is ready, ask yourself, “Would this function as a guest room, the way it looks now?”

Kids Bedroom, School of Thought 2: Create a theme – think coordinated colours, cartoon characters or athletic sports themed bedrooms. This school of thought promotes an emotional attachment to kid’s rooms. It works on the basis that the best compliment is to have homebuyers come through your home with children and to hear their children squeal, “This is my room!”

Personally, I think go with whichever option creates less stress on you and your little ones. Changing houses and packing up belongings is hard enough for the little tackers to digest, without painting over their favourite coloured wall, stripping off their beds or packing away their books.

Regardless of the school of thought you agree with, there are some ‘guidelines’ for staging a kids bedroom:

Keep their rooms livable and spacious. Keep only key furniture pieces such as a bed and dresser. Create a comfortable play area to make the room feel livable and fun, while still giving the illusion of space.
Declutter. Pack away trophies, family photos and excess toys. If stuffed toys are to be on display, keep it to a maximum of 3. Put remaining toys in toy boxes.
Don’t forget to stage the wardrobe. An overflowing wardrobe sends signals of storage space problems to buyers.
Contain your children’s essentials as best you can. By this, I mean no rubber ducks in the bath, no gallery of art on the fridge, and no parade of prams and scooters in the hallway. If possible, store backpacks, coats and children’s shoes in a closet.
Your outdoor play areas should be as tidy as the indoor areas. That means play equipment is kept to a minimum.
A playroom is a playroom and can be staged as one. But if your current playroom is a converted bedroom, change it back! Never give up a bedroom. Bedrooms translate as money.

Hopefully, by packing away a selection of your kids belongings the task of living in a staged home is a little easier for you and your sanity remains intact. On the same note, by choosing to keep a selection of their toys, hopefully the difficult period of moving home is a little easier on your children.

Thanks for reading!