In order to play and learn, children need proper lighting.
While your child's bedroom should help stimulate his or her imagination, it should also feel restful enough to encourage a peaceful night's sleep. Because of this, the lighting scheme needs to be multifunctional and appropriate for everything from doing homework to socializing to reading and falling asleep. However, children grow and change so quickly that spending money on expensive specialty lighting can be wasteful. Instead, embrace inexpensive lighting solutions that easily can be changed to accommodate your child's tastes and needs.
Paper Lanterns
Paper lanterns are a fun, inexpensive way to upgrade your child's lighting.
Paper lanterns offer a thrifty way to attractively light your child's bedroom. Cover existing ceiling lights with colorful lanterns, or purchase plain white lanterns and allow your child to decorate them with paint, beads or crayons. Using a balloon, your child can make papier mache globe lanterns from strips of tissue paper. Strings of paper lanterns provide indirect lighting for your child's bedroom. These can be decorated in a similar manner to globe lanterns, or they can be twisted to form illuminated mobiles.
Chandeliers
Chandeliers needn't be formal--they can also be quirky and casual.
Chandeliers give bedrooms central lighting. While many styles are not appropriate for children's bedrooms, old chandeliers can be found at thrift stores or garage sales and adapted to suit your purpose. Spray paint metal chandeliers with bright colors, such as neon green or electric blue. Replace chandelier shades with tiny paper lanterns, or glue-gun chandeliers with wooden beads, shells, pine cones or tiny figurines. Once mounted, your child's redecorated chandelier should lend his or her room brightness and cheer.
Lamps
This lamp has been painted with a dainty floral motif.
Bedside lamps, desk lamps and floor lamps can be combined to flexibly light your child's entire bedroom. In addition to providing strong sources of illumination, lamps also can aesthetically enhance your child's bedroom. Children can paint lamp shades with their favorite motifs, or recover them in fantastical fabrics. Photos can be clipped onto lamp shades with paperclips, or favorite photos could be printed onto lamp shades directly. Ribbons or pompoms can be sewn onto lamp shade rims, or patterns could be stenciled onto both lamp bases and shades.
Clip-on Lamps
Adjustable clip-on lamps can be bent to fit your child's needs.
Every child should have a reading lamp positioned next to his or her bed. These help your child to read safely at night, as well as help parents of younger children to read bedtime stories. Use adjustable clip-on lamps for your child's bedside table, as these can be moved around as needed. Such lights can be moved and adjusted to facilitate other activities, such as craft projects, homework sessions or games.
Christmas Lights
To keep Christmas lights appropriate for every day of the year, choose light colors that don't specifically evoke the holidays.
Strings of Christmas lights make for warm, dim indirect lighting. Use these to supplement overhead lighting or lamp lighting. These can also be left on to act as nightlights. Use Christmas lights to outline objects in your child's bedroom, such as his or her headboard or bookcase, or string them over window valances. This will give your child's bedroom a fanciful, cozy atmosphere.
Tap Lights
LED tap lights work well with decor schemes that embrace science fiction elements.
Tap lights are ideal for location-specific lighting. Use these to illuminate closets, or place a bank of them above a child's desk. Aesthetically, these can be used to light key objects in your child's bedroom, such as a favorite piece of art or a pet goldfish's bowl.
Tags: your child, child bedroom, your child bedroom, Christmas lights, lamp shades, onto lamp