Two Toned Blue & White Painted Kid's Room

Giraffe Wall Decals in a Modern Kid's Room

Bird Wall Decals & Nature Wall Mural in a Kid's Room

If you live in a city where you tend to be short on space but long on ideas, check out this feature on Creative Kids’ Rooms in Time Out New York Kids (article by Lisa Freedman and Rory Halperin, photography by Dan Hallman). 

Time Out New York Kids highlights 5 kids’ rooms in NYC all creatively embracing their urban surroundings. We found these designs inspiring and took away our own learnings on how to decorate an urban sanctuary for your child.

Accent the Architecture

One of the great things about living in a city is that you tend to have a lot of architectural elements with which to work. This four-story brownstone in Park Slope is a prime example. What’s clever is how the family used the dormant fireplace as a visual highlight in the room. The blue wall paint provides visual accent and the mantel serves as a decorative shelf for cute nick-knacks and wall letters. The blue wall paint makes the contrasting white paint used in the rest of the child’s room pop. And, we appreciate the use of orange to bring warmth to a cool blue and white color palette. Also, check out how creatively they designed the play space with buckets hanging from the wall to store art supplies. It makes you want to be a kid again. 

Send in the Clowns

The modern décor that looks so great in the rest of your home may be a bit too cold for a child’s room.  We like how this family in the Upper West Side of Manhattan used giraffe wall decals, a hanging ceiling wall mobile, and bright-colored wooden toys to bring playfulness and fun to their boy’s modern furnished room. The white furniture and bedding maintains a modern aesthetic that can bring consistency to the rest of a modern decorated home. But, the playful design elements make the space child-friendly. We like how the giraffe wall decals are a neutral theme that can be used in a boy’s or girl’s room. Also note the use of a hanging wall shelf to add space and keep the modern feel.

Celebrate the Arts

Living in a city gives you a great excuse to be fashion forward with the artistry in your kid’s room. We love how this NYC family went all out and painted a nature themed wall mural with paint, painter’s tape, and an exacto knife to create the curvatures in the painted hills. The mural makes quite a powerful statement. We also appreciate how cleverly they designed their own 3D wall décor with child-like hanging bird houses and bird wall decals. The room goes even further to celebrate art by embracing color and mixing modern and classic motifs with the furnishings.

For more inspiring articles, see our articles on DIY 3D bird wall décor, other how-to’s such as how to make a neutral nursery pop, and modern baby bedding for your urban nursery.