DIY Ideas for Painting Children’s Bedroom Furniture

Childhood is an explosion of color, both figuratively and literally. It’s a lively, exciting time, but childhood is also when we’re learning what colors are. Everything from classrooms to toys is full of them, so why would we resign our kids to dull, colorless bedroom furniture?

While you can always purchase beautiful, vibrant furniture for a personal (and often more cost-effective) touch, you might also consider rolling your sleeves up to paint your kids’ pieces yourself. These DIY ideas for painting children’s bedroom furniture will give you a place to start.

Playing With Color

As we said, childhood is characterized by vibrant colors. And often, simply using color to your advantage is enough to make unique and eye-catching furniture designs.

Single-Color Designs

Painting a piece with a single color tends to be the default when it comes to furniture. But just because a design concept is basic, that doesn’t make it boring.

Simply choosing bright or vibrant colors is enough to make the piece stand out. You can also take a furniture set and paint each piece a different color from the others. For instance, you can have a playroom table with red, yellow, blue, and green chairs.

Multi-Color Designs

You can also paint an individual piece with multiple colors. There are several ways you can go about this. A popular option is to paint different parts of the piece various colors. For example, consider painting every drawer of your kids’ dresser a different color or alternating colors on the rungs of a bunk bed ladder.

You can also get the kids involved by taking a cue from Jackson Pollock. Start by painting your furniture with a base color like white, yellow, or black. Then, give your kids a few paintbrushes, and flick multiple paint colors at the piece. You’ll have a vivid and artistic piece your kids will be proud of.

Pro Tip: Color Order

Even if you aren’t painting a mural or pattern, you can still tell a story using the order of the colors. For example, use the same principles you would for painting an ombre wall.

For instance, you might paint a vertical dresser from bottom to top with yellow, orange, and red paints to call to mind a sunrise. Or you can paint it with a sky blue at the top followed by teal and green to imitate a sunny meadow.

Playing With Pattern

The artistic world defines patterns as the repetition of shapes, colors, forms, or motifs. While human beings are naturally inclined to find patterns in their environments, kids especially gravitate toward them. This makes them a good choice for furniture design. Here are a few popular options.

Stripes

Striped furniture has a way of calling to mind several different themes and motifs, so they’re a good choice for themed bedrooms. Red-and-white-striped furniture makes a great addition to a circus-themed room, while blue and white stripes remind us of a beach or the open sea.

Even if you aren’t trying to pull off a themed bedroom, striped furniture provides an easy way to incorporate multiple colors in an elegant and appealing way. Choose two contrasting colors, or add an entire spectrum of them.

Polka Dots

Perhaps because they’ve been a staple of Minnie Mouse’s wardrobe since the thirties, many have long considered polka dots a whimsical pattern we associate with childhood. Their simplicity makes them easy to pull off and adapt, depending on the room’s color scheme. A few popular color choices for polka dots include:

• Red and black
• Red and White
• Black and White
• Two shades of the same color (for example, dark pink and light pink)
• Rainbow dots on a white background

Another fun way to mix up the polka dots when you’re painting your furniture is to use different-sized polka dots or make the dots different distances from each other.

Pro Tip: Polka What?

You don’t have to stick to dots when you’re trying to create a polka-dot-style pattern. You can also do polka squares, diamonds, stars, or hearts.

Checkerboard

A checkerboard pattern can call to mind London’s mod fashion of the ’60s, but it can also remind us of an actual checkers or chess game, making it a fun accent choice for a kids’ room. You can either create a classic black and white pattern or mix it up with different color combinations, like the signature red and white of a picnic blanket.

Themes and Murals

Creating themed furniture is one of the most ambitious DIY ideas for painting children’s bedroom furniture. However, for those looking for an elaborate statement piece, the extra effort is well worth it.

Nature Theme

From childhood to adulthood, nature always inspires a sense of awe and wonder. There are as many ways to incorporate nature into furniture as there are ways to incorporate it into artwork. Here are some whimsical ways to add natural elements to your kids’ furniture:

• Garden Tea Party: Paint floral patterns inspired by fancy teacups.
• Look to the Sky: Paint clouds or constellations.
• Animal Kingdom: Paint one or more animal prints like zebra stripes, leopard spots, or giraffe patterns.
• Take to wing: Paint one or more birds or butterflies.

Literary Adventure

A storybook theme is a perfect choice for the young fairy-tale fans or bookworms in your life.

• A Trip to the Library: Paint furniture to look like the spines of books on a shelf.
• Enchanted Castle: Paint the furniture to look like the side of a caste. (Bonus, add a princess or knight peeking out of the windows.)
• Comic Book Collection: Paint furniture in a pop-art style with action speech bubbles along the edges and Ben-Day dots.
• Reader’s Choice: When in doubt, pick your child’s favorite book, and paint the characters on the furniture piece. Just keep in mind that your child may eventually grow out of that story.

An Open Window

Shelves, cabinets, and wardrobes all have a rectangular shape in common. With a little creativity, you can turn those rectangles into little windows into your children’s imagination.

This may incorporate the other themes we’ve addressed already. For example, you can paint the insides of a set of shelves with paintings of a beach or a garden. Or you can paint the inside of your wardrobe to look like the entrance to a fantastical world.

Putting Them All Together

A single furniture piece may incorporate one or more of these ideas. Imagine an ocean-themed dresser that incorporates blue and white stripes throughout and ocean scenes painted on the drawers. Or a jungle-themed wardrobe with doors painted different shades of green and animal print inside.

Whether your kids’ furniture is simple or elaborate, we at ECOS Paints want you to have the tools you need to make your artistic vision come to life. That’s why our non-toxic* furniture paint comes in countless colors.

*Non-toxic - Conforms to ASTM-D4236, specifically concerning oral toxicity, skin irritation and respiratory effects.