Kid-Friendly Eco-Décor Ideas

If you are wanting to give your child's bedroom a new look, or if you just want to decorate using kid-friendly décor, you don't have to head to your local retailer and spend a lot of money on mass-produced items. You can go the eco-friendly route and use recyclable materials, used items, and other things to create a kid-friendly atmosphere - and also teach them the value of reusing and recycling. Here are some fun and green ideas.

English: A tie dyed shirt. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Old T-Shirts

Do you have an old tie-dyed t-shirt? Maybe you or your child has a t-shirt that can't be worn anymore but you really don't want to part with it. Why not make a pillow case from an old t-shirt? It's very close to the right shape as it is, and most t-shirts are the right size for a bed pillow. You could also use old t-shirts to make throw pillows. Neither of these projects requires extensive sewing skills.

If you are feeling a bit more ambitious, consider cutting t-shirts into squares and making a quilt or throw blanket for your child's bed. 

Curtains

All sorts of used cloth items can be turned into curtains. Tablecloths are a good option - they often come in lovely designs. Older kids often like an unusual, custom look to their bedrooms, and using tablecloths to make curtains will fit that agenda nicely.

Old sheets make good curtains, too. You can sew a simple edging onto them, like eyelet or lace, or make the sheets colorful with art techniques such as batique or tie-dye.

Pictures

Get together your kids' photographs and frame them. Homemade frames can be made from interesting branches or twigs. Make a multi-opening mat from cardboard and paste the pictures behind the openings. Collages of photos also look nice and can be very artful. You can use these around the house, too, not just in your child's bedroom.

English: Collage Example (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Remember your kids' art work, too. Rather than sticking paintings and drawings haphazardly all over the refrigerator (where they often get stained and wet), frame them. It's amazing what a frame can do to make a child's picture look like décor-worthy artwork. Kids' artwork can also be arranged in a collage.

Display Collections

Most kids have collections of some sort, often to the frustration of their parents. Collections can be messy, cluttered, and dusty. But displayed properly, collections can lend a kid-friendly yet tasteful air to a room.

Hang objects like toy airplanes from the ceiling. Make an attractive "train table" for cars and trains. Put up simple shelves and arrange collectibles in vertical rows on the wall. Pieces of scrap wood and boards can be used to make these shelves. You need only buy simple shelf brackets to hold them up.