So you’ve blinked, and your child is suddenly a teenager. Adolesence is a whirlwind of growth and change, but one change your teen may actually welcome is a bedroom makeover that reflects their personality and interests.
“Teenagers really have their own strong ideas on what they want their rooms to look like. It’s generally the same as getting a brief from an adult!” says Lynda MacDonald, interior designer and founder of The Design Chaperone.
If you’re stumped for teenage bedroom ideas that your child will a) actually like and b) continue to like for years to come, these teen bedroom ideas from Lynda as well as Lana, co-founder of Three Birds Renovations will help you collaborate with your kids as you navigate the design process together.
Teen bedroom ideas
1. Create a mood board
“Your child is far more likely to get excited about their new room if they’re part of the process. It can be very exciting for them to change their room and show their friends their own personal space,” says Lynda.
A practical way to get your child involved and find common ground between ‘trendy teenage room decor’ (what they want) and ‘classy teenage room decor’ (what you want), is to create a mood board together.
It’s a strategy Three Birds Renovations swear by. “In the same way we teach our Three Birds Reno School students to create vision boards for each room of the home, we encourage children or teens who want to be involved in their bedroom design to create a vision board of their own,” says Lana.
One place you can search for inspiration with your teen and create a vision board is Pinterest. According to Sprout Social, there are 23 million Gen Z users on the site – which means there’s bound to be something on there they’ll like.
Create a shared board together and start pinning images you both like. Once you’ve pinned a bunch of images, hopefully recurring themes and ideas will become apparent and you can use this information as the foundation for your design.
2. Settle on storage solutions
Teenagers accumulate a lot of stuff, so its no surprise one of the top requests from parents designing teen rooms is to maximise storage. Three Birds’ go-to storage hacks for teen rooms include:
- Baskets and wall hooks – “Quick and easy ways for teens to clean up their belongings.”
- Multi-purpose furniture – “Bench seats with storage inside, beds with drawers in the base and shelves instead of bedside tables are all excellent ways of maximising storage while minimising clutter.”
3. Start with a neutral base
So how do you let your teen feel in control of their space while keeping the room in line with the existing style of your home? Make a neutral base colour a non-negotiable. Warm whites are always a safe bet, otherwise soft, pastel colours and earthy tones such as brown and beige won’t clash with colourful teen room decor.
“We try to guide teens in the direction of using neutrals as their core selection,” says Lynda. “Then we incorporate their ideas into pieces that are removable and easily replaced.”
Keeping the room’s underlying colour palette neutral will set the scene for a space they can grow into, rather than out of. It’s also an economical decision that will prevent you from having to renovate again just a few years down the track.
On the flipside, when the Three Birds were designing the teen bedrooms for House 15, they based their design decisions and colour palette on the vision for the home overall, which was ‘Modern Mallorca’. “Each room of the house needed to work with this holistic vision,” says Lana.
4. Focus on easy-to-update accessories
With design boundaries established, give your teen (almost) carte blanche over easy-to-replace styling decisions, says Lana. “Perhaps some fairy lights and cushions that are less expensive to replace when they get bored of them. Curtains, carpet and paint are less simple to update regularly,” she says.
She also recommends parents invest in two sets of bed linen. “Two sets of linen or a double-sided doona allows them to mix up the styling of their bed each time the linen is washed for a fresh new look.”
Some of Three Birds’ favourite places to shop for teen bedroom accessories include: Adairs, Freedom (for rugs), Kip and Co and Bonnie and Neil (for cushions).
Teen bed linen
5. Thoughtful bedroom furniture
Aside from colours and accessories, the furniture you select can also have an impact on how ‘grown up’ the room feels. A larger bed and a desk for studying might be the first furniture upgrades that come to mind, but if your budget allows, consider purchasing furniture that fosters relaxation, self-expression and an opportunity for your child to sit and chat with friends.
Some ideas include:
- A hanging chair for reading books or listening to music
- Floor cushions or a day bed to sit and chat with friends
- A bookshelf for books and to display art and objects
- A dressing table with light-up mirror
- A bedside table with a lamp for a screen-free evening wind down
“Generally, boys still want a bit more colour and places to hang their music equipment, where as girls want a dressing table and chair, an ottoman at the end of the bed for when friends come over to sit and chat in private,” says Lynda.
6. How to make wallpaper work
If your teen has their heart set on wallpaper, Lynda says there are two ways to make it work: think long term and emphasise texture.
“A lot of our selections are based around adding texture and patterns that are indistinct, rather than using a theme such as sailing or animals which are usually kept for kids’ bedrooms.” She also says stripes or small repeated patterns are safe choices that won’t date quickly.
7. Updating a teen room on a budget
If you’re on a budget, Lynda recommends focussing on these five cost-effective updates that can quickly transform a child’s room into a teen’s dream retreat.
- Paint or add wallpaper for instant wow factor
- Add a colourful rug
- Install an upholstered bed head
- Add new table lamps
- Update bedding, cushions and throws
