Designing for a Artistic Toddler
Decorating for a toddler can be frustrating at times, because it never fails, you will put on a fresh new coat of paint and a day later, it'll have a collage of crayon art all over it. Or you put up new wallpaper and you come in a few weeks later to find that the paper has been ripped off. When it comes to decorating for with a toddler in mind it all boils down to two things. Simplicity and creativity. The two can coexist.
Simplicity will help ease the insanity that you may experience when
your toddler undoes your decorating work. If your child likes to draw
and color on the walls, make it easier on yourself. Paint the walls
plain white using an eggshell or satin latex paint finish. Preferably,
you want a paint coat that easily washes of scuffs and marks. Check
with your local home improvement store for these types. Designate one
particular side wall for your child's creative art sessions. But be
sure to draw the lines as to where he can and cannot color.
Your
child will no doubt appreciate this new freedom of drawing on the
walls. He will love the idea of no longer getting in trouble for
creating artwork on the walls. This is where the creativity comes in.
Find a few stencils of your child's favorite animal, say a dog, and
stencil a dog in the very center of the wall. After you've done this,
tell your child to draw any types of pictures that he wants on this
wall only. Make sure he knows that the other walls are off limits.
In
time, this blank wall with the lonely little dog in the middle will
become the focal point of your child's room. In time, he will have
filled this wall up (up to his height of course) with his own creative
and custom decorations. If you plan for your child to stay in this one
particular room, this is a perfect on going project. For as he grows,
so will his desire and love of art. And you will have it easy, because
you will have been spared the stress and headaches of painting over and
over and over. But of course regular maintenance of the opposite walls
will be needed in order to keep the "art wall" the focal point of the
room.
