Photographs: Brian Patrick Flynn, Adam Rose,
Claire Paquin, Rebecca Zajac, Joanne Palmisano,
Kim Cornelison, Land of nod,
John Woodcock, Onal Kothari
Every parent dreams of gifting their kid a place within the home to stretch their imagination. A playroom within home is one of the dedicated spaces to have fun while learning. Architect Onal Kothari shares few tips to get you started with your home playroom designing.
1 Understand bucket list
Start with your kid wish list, whatever they like the most. It could be a mini green carpet for indoor cricket playground or a pin board to hang their personal art and crafts. It is important to understand your kid’s likes and dislikes so that they can identify with the room. Remember playroom is a area where ‘function meets fun’.
2Different zones
Kid’s interest change from time to time. At one point they would love playing chess or cricket or enjoy playing with barbies and G.I.Joes. Sometimes they will stay calm in front of books or may be the boss of their fake business or school assemblies. Or they can have all at once. In short, design the room the way you would design other home interiors. Know their requirements, understand the scale, match the wall and use effective colour palettes.
3 Toy storage
Kids and toys are inseparable. Multicoloured soft toys rule the room when you enter your kid’s play area. It is your responsibility to provide ample storage for these toys. Code and colour systems to different storage buckets and tins would be a plus.
4Blackboard magic
A set of blackboard and chalk in kids’ room will make an interesting corner where they can express themselves. You can either purchase or paint one of the walls in chalkboard paint where they can do some interesting drawing.
5Recycle old furniture
You can upcycle Coco Cola crate into a desk, turn an old cabinet into kids’ mini-kitchen, old frames into chalkboard calendar or a small fridge or an old swing machine into kids’ closet. Reuse your old furniture from the store room for kids’ playroom in accordance with their interests.
6Speaking walls
Make the room interesting for kids’. A space view with moons, stars and spaceship, an animal land or big Disney castle are the perfect selection for wall murals. Create magic land for your child with the wall of his/her choice.
7Colours shines
Colours and kids lighten up homes. You might get stuck with single colour palette for your entire home, but for the kids you can use rainbow colours. The reason many designers recommend multi-colour room for kids is because their taste change spontaneously with time.
8Homework corner
To make learning fun for kids’, you can create a fun study table. Let the kid select his/her own study table that can become their favourite place to study on.
9Involvement
Get kid’s involved in the design process. Divide work depending on their age and let them play and act like an interior designer.