In recent years, as the economy has boomed, one sector of the interior design industry has enjoyed a remarkable explosion: products for babies and kids to use when decorating children's rooms. We're here to help you figure out how to wade through all that's out there when you're decorating kid's rooms to create a place that's just right for your child or for the child's room of your client.
When it comes to decorating nurseries and children's rooms, parents love nothing more than a theme. Pink, green, yellow or blue, garden or aquatic, jungle or outer space — you name it, it has been done.
After enjoying a hearty meal at a favorite Mexican restaurant the other night, I noticed hanging above us a framed vintage poster from the Mexico Tourism Board. The poster had a true '70s aesthetic, and was printed with a vibrant abstract color block city skyline. The colors were so bright and inherently energetic; it was a perfect departure point, I thought, for decorating a kid's bedroom or play space.
With their retro graphic design, motifs, and color palettes, illustrated travel posters have long been popular for wall décor, and especially for wall calendars. However, these bright prints do not often show up in children's rooms. And why not? If the design of child's space is meant to enliven, explore, and inspire, a bright travel poster is a perfect centerpiece. Not only are they beautiful, these posters refer to significant moments in cultural and design history that enable conversation and learning. More importantly, their global aspect inspires curiosity and wanderlust at any age.
Travel posters vary widely in style and color, but as with that Mexican poster that first had me thinking, anything that incorporates rich hues and a variety of colors and shapes are probably the best option for a kid's room. Another bonus of selecting a bright piece is that one, two, or three of the colors in the poster could easily inform the palette for the rest of the room; keeping the colors of the walls, carpets, furniture, and linens simple would allow the piece to stand out and would minimize visual clutter. Posters for travel to Mexico, India, and islands in the Caribbean and Mediterranean are excellent choices, and are just a sample of what you can easily find online. If expense is a concern, do not worry: options exist from giclee, to lithography, to laser print so you don't have to break the bank to turn junior into a wannabe jetsetter.
