How to let your child’s personality shine without sacrificing style by children's room designer and boutique owners Serena & Lily.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater! Keep some design elements and update others. Try keeping the paint color the same while updating the linens. Swap out the dainty flowers for an oversized floral, more appropriate for a young girl’s personality; or try a bold awning stripe rather than a pinstripe. You can also keep textile colors consistent and choose a new wall color, perhaps a richer hue to give the room a stronger, more confident appeal. If you love your nursery and have a hard time letting go, see if the crib linens manufacturer has a child’s line that makes the transition. Serena & Lily’s baby and child collections are all designed to work together, with this need in mind.

Re-engineer your floor plan to suit the needs of a toddler. While you may not need to add more furniture than the bed, you will still need to think about how to re-arrange the room to suit your growing child’s needs. Consider more toy storage, books, play spaces and hidden nooks. Get creative: place a bookshelf perpendicular to the wall to create a private child-sized play nook for a space all their own.

Reflect your child’s personality with decorative accents that can be updated easily. What are your child’s unique quirks and interests? Think about what they love and how to accommodate that in their room. Since their interests can (and will!) change over time, you’ll need to be creative, however. Opt for things that are easy and inexpensive to change, like an art collection instead of a custom-built skateboard bed.

Turn your child’s “stuff” into a showcased collection. Groupings can be a wonderful design element in any room. First think about whether the collections are displayable or best left under wraps. Display shelves are a great way to organize treasured items of any sort, but canisters, bottles and boxes of like-items can be impactful too.

Get creative with toy storage. One of the biggest transitions from baby to kid is the increase in the amount of stuff that must now be dealt with. So when it comes to storage, think out of the box, literally! We once used a grouping of bright orange rubber lawn and leaf bins for open toy storage in a kid’s room — they are deep, kid- friendly, and very easy to move around.

Create a cozy space for reading. Turn your nursing chair into a reading chair, with lamp and bookshelf nearby. Add a new blanket or pillow to update your look and make it comfy and special for you and your child to spend time together there as part of your daily ritual.

Create a rotating kids’ art gallery. Do-it-yourself frames can tidy up the disparate pieces of art that kids bring home from school. Find a classic style and buy a wall-full. Create a stunning gallery wall that showcases your child’s latest artistic talent by rotating your child’s masterpieces.

Make the changing table a dresser (again). Whether or not your child is out of diapers by the time you need a “big kid bed” you are probably ready to reclaim that space. If you bought a dresser with transition in mind, you can swap the changing pad for a table lamp or toys or books. Look for special bookends to keep it neat. Try a grouping of containers to store kids’ items that you want close at hand.

Make space to play. Kids need a soft spot to play on the floor with toy storage within easy reach. A small rug can anchor the room visually and define this play space. If you have the room, consider a mini table and chairs for tea parties and art projects.

Shop flea markets not only for decorative items but also for items the kids can actually use. An old wooden bench to seat a row of precious dolls, or apothecary jars to store matchbox cars. Try vintage baskets and French flour sacks for storage and display. Look twice at every item and think about its hidden uses. Of course, you’ll need to use common sense where safety is concerned and not place breakable items or sharp edges within a child’s reach.

Want to make over your child's room? We're giving away a $2500 gift certifcate to do just that courtesy of Serena & Lily and MOTHERHOOD the film. Click here to enter the contest - it ends on October 31 so hurry.

MOTHERHOOD opens in select theaters on Friday, October 23.

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