Sophia’s room has stayed pretty-much exactly the same from when she was born – she’s now two years old and has seemed to outgrow a lot of the features in there. For her second birthday, we decided to update her room so it was more suitable for her age and make it a place for her to relax and play. We didn’t want to completely re-decorate as the plan is for her to move into a larger room, the current guest bedroom, when she’s three. So here’s what we did…
Bye-Bye Rocking Chair
When you have a newborn, a chair in the nursery is a must-have. Somewhere to feel comfortable when doing the night feeds and a great place to read stories when they’re sat on your knee. I was quite emotional to say bye to our rocking chair – especially when I think back to all those newborn cuddles on there. We bought it from a seller on eBay and it lasted so well but was rarely getting used and took up quite a bit of space. We’ve stored away for now – it will probably need a re-paint if we use again.
More Space Please
With an active toddler, we decided we needed more floor space for her to play with her toys. We strategically moved the furniture around to create a good sized area for her to play. The room isn’t the biggest of rooms, but it’s also not a box room – this meant that some of the furniture had to overlap the curtains in the room, but this wasn’t so much of a big deal to us. With moving the furniture around, we found we had new areas that could come in use such as we put a little sticky hook on the side of the wardrobe to hang Sophia’s ‘next day’ outfits.
Hello Teepee
We decided to buy a teepee from Great Little Trading Company for her birthday and decided to introduce this in her bedroom. We knew Sophia loved to read, so we wanted the teepee to be a comfortable, cosy space for us to read together but also for her to read and play in there on her own. Encouraging imaginative play was a big reason why we chose to purchase – it would be her own space where she can be with or without us if she wanted.
Sophia’s had the teepee in her room for over a month now and I must say it was a fantastic choice. She really has enjoyed being in there, and story-time before bed is even more magical than it was before. The teepee actually folds away easily and nicely, but we’ve not found that we’ve wanted to do that yet as she loves it out all of the time.
Dressing Area
I wanted to introduce a small dressing table or something like that for Sophia, but to be honest, we ran out of space. We decided to get this lovely cloud mirror to pop on the wall at the right height for her. It’s really come in handy when I do her hair as she watches in there and has started to enjoy it. I’m still on the look out for a small table or shelf to go in that area – somewhere for her brushes and bobbles to go. I was really impressed with all of H&M’s kid room range – I got a few things from there to add to the room. The rocking horse was from Amazon a few years back.
Calming Features
I’ve mentioned before that Sophia is quite active – so I think a lot of the features in the room are to try and relax her as we wind down for bedtime. Including:
- A diffuser – I was a bit nervous with diffusing lavender or other essential oils when she was a baby even though I know it’s fine to do so. I felt like now was a good time to start diffusing in her room, plus her diffuser comes with a calming night light and you can set a timer on it.
- Twinkly Lights – We decorated the teepee with twinkly lights from Asda and a star garland from H&M. I ensure to get ‘warm’ lights as it just makes it so cosy before bed.
- Fluffly rugs and cosy cushions – We filled the teepee with cushions from H&M, a cosy rug from IKEA and blankets to make the space comfortable for her.
We chickened out of the ‘big girl’s bed’
The original plan was to turn her cot into a cot-bed… but with lots of advice from friends and family, we decided to hold off on making the change as it’s working so well at the moment. I think we’ll look into doing this after Christmas, in preparation for her big-girls room that year. We’ve also thought about introducing the Gro Clock so she starts to understand day and night time and to slowly make the transition to the big-girl’s bed.
In summary, Sophia is really enjoying her updated room and we find she plays more in there and for longer amounts of time as she can really entertain herself. Playing ‘house’ with her dolls and teddies, reading books on her own and amusing herself on her rocking horse are just some of the activities we find her doing in there. She’s becoming more independent and I like to think that we’ve encouraged that with choosing these features for her updated room.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog – drop a comment below if you have or you’ve done something similar before. I look forward to hearing your toddler room ideas too.
Thanks
Sarah 🙂 xoxox
Cosy Home Living 