I featured a post on my other website before I’d created this website all about my plans for Arthur’s `’big boy bedroom”. You can read that post here. His bedroom is very nearly finished and I could not be happier with how it turned out. Especially the Teddy Storage Hack. I spent weeks going back and forth with ideas on how to keep Arthur’s many teddies neat and tidy – how a 3 year old has so many teddies I’ll never know – but I’m so happy with the result.
Arthur has been in his new bedroom for just under 6 months. He enjoys spending time in his bedroom, he’s got more floor space and toy storage and he’s starting to play upstairs when he has friends over now. Not that I encourage it but it’s nice for him and his friends to have their own space. And nice that the friends parent and I can drink our cup of tea in peace too!
Teddy Storage for a Toddler Bedroom
I Googled and found so many ideas for teddy storage in a toddlers bedroom, from Teddy Zoos, to hammocks that reminded me of my childhood bedroom and using things like laundry baskets and toy baskets but none of them were quite what I was looking for. Although the teddy zoos look great, they also take up floor space. And I didn’t like the idea of a hammock of teddies being above Arthur’s head whilst he slept either. In his old bedroom I had a couple of shelves for teddies which is when I started thinking of ways I could do this again. Just with a much bigger volume of teddies!
I had the idea of using a wall shelf for teddy storage as it seemed the best use of the space. We even had a wall that was behind a door so we couldn’t use the space for anything but a slim wall shelf. I decided in this shelf from Dunelm and couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. It fits all different sized teddies inside and he picks the few he wants to take to bed with him every night.
Toddler Bed Ideas
Arthur was still in a cot with the sides on when we moved him into his new room. He was climbing out of it as he was nearly 3 so we desperately needed to change it. It became a thing that he’d climb out and join us in bed in the morning. I spent a while looking at toddler beds, single beds and the suddenly jumped to cabin beds. I made the mistake of showing Arthur and this was all he wanted. We found a second hand Next Compton Cabin Bed on Facebook marketplace for £100. It had a den underneath and plenty of storage in the side too. It’s got higher sides to stop him from falling out of it. I love it as much as he does!
Scallop Paint in Toddler Bedroom
Sam hates me for deciding to scallop every single wall in Arthur’s bedroom. He’s very much the artistic one (with much more patience than me) – I just come up with the ideas! The colour is B&Q Antibes and Sam used a saucepan lid to draw around for the shape of the scallops. He then filled them in freehand.
Toddler Wardrobe
We didn’t go for a toddler wardrobe in here, instead went for a huge PAX wardrobe. We found it for £50 on Marketplace and jumped at it. As much as I love how much the mirror brightens the room, I didn’t think about the toddler fingerprints that would be on it daily.
Toddler Toy Storage
After the teddy storage, the toy storage is my next favourite part of Arthur’s bedroom. We went between the Kallax and the Trofast 100 times, as much as the Trofast is probably more practical. I can’t get myself to like it. I think the Kallax looks that little bit better, especially when we could get the boxes to match the walls perfectly. At the moment we have 4 boxes and 4 shelves but I can see us getting new drawers as the shelves get cluttered.
Toddler Bookcase
We went for this one from Dunelm which fits perfectly behind the door. Another space in the room that would be unusable otherwise. I try and rotate his books as much as I can but the bookcase still ends up very full. I’d like to add a little shelf on his wall for some “feature” books too. The Oak Shelf above the Kallax unit is also from Dunelm. It ended up free because it was damaged, they refunded us but let us keep the shelf and Sam glued it back together.
The little reading cushion was a gift from Arthur’s Great Grandma. He’s had it since Easter and still reads on it every night. I think it was around £20 from TKMaxx.
Toddler Bedroom Makeover on a Budget
We spent less than £350 to completely remodel this bedroom. This includes the paint, furniture, shelves, bedding, soft furnishings etc. Most bits were bought second hand – mainly from Facebook Marketplace. We also got a few bits from Dunelm returns which is always worth looking at if you have a store nearby. Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments or send me a DM on Instagram if there is anything I haven’t answered in this post.
