Inspire - Updating A Tween to A Teen Room

Darren has a broad portfolio, having studied fine art & graphic design, originally working in advertising and owning his own graphic design company. After succumbing to his true passion, Darren now operates his own interior design studio and has been a judge on numerous seasons of The Block.

There comes a time in your kid’s life when they turn from child to tween, outgrowing their room (which you always thought was cute) with a desire to turn it into a space that reflects them and their newfound interests. These years can be amongst the most challenging to accommodate in your home, as your kids are old enough to want more grown up things, but young enough to still enjoy the fun of being young.

The golden rule for styling anything for a tween is to skew it a little bit older. Younger kids aspire to be older, given they have older role models and idols, so anything that screams young and child-like can be perceived as a little condescending. If you treat your tween spaces as a grown-up space for young adults that still have the joy of youth within them, you’ll strike just the right balance for their room.

The next phase of life happens from tween to teen. Most of the childish tastes become very passé, so as with tweens, teens will aspire to an older age group with older mentors and idols. Making your teen’s space suit them as well as your home will require collaboration with an age group more focused on asserting their personalities and preferences than accommodating your own.

One of the quickest and most dramatic ways to transform a space is with rugs. Area rugs can change dramatically, from bold and bright, fun, and childlike, to more refined with sophisticated colour palettes, materials, and shapes, befitting to the burgeoning maturity of your youngsters.

Think about updating your flat pile rugs, which are very well suited to cleaning up after young kids and tweens, to something with a more mature shag-rug texture, a refined woven wool, chunky loop, or bumpy blend. You can still have fun with colour and use whichever your teen’s bedroom, entertainment space or shared living room requires, catering specifically to their more defined personality and taste. Be sure to still place a non-slip grip pad underneath as your teens will still want to move about in a manner reflective of the energy levels of their youth. Lucky them!

Here are the top takeaways to transition rooms from ‘tween’ to ‘teen’:

Replace childish things with more adult motifs, remembering that teen spaces can still be fun, even though they’re not childish.
Updating wall colours, wallcoverings and window treatments can have an immediately maturing effect on a tween to teen room.
Bed covers and cushions can be swapped out for more adult patterns, such as tartan, houndstooth, herringbone and chevron. You’re still allowed to play with colour but work with your teen as best you can to understand and provide the palette that they feel most attuned to.
There’s still a place for important childhood memories, but maybe behind closed doors or in storage boxes to save the embarrassment of having to admit that things from “when they were little” still mean something to them.
Sleep is an important factor for any developing young mind and teens do tend to sleep in a lot. Light tight, block out blinds or drapery is an important consideration for any teen bedroom. Look at Carpet Court’s range of window treatments for block out roller and roman blinds, shutters, and curtains.
Having their own space and privacy within their home is important. Provide your teen a safe place to have time and space on their own.

Allow your tween the freedom to express themselves in their spaces. You can still have an overarching aesthetic, but for now let their personalities show through. After all, these are the years to encourage exploration and allow them to test their boundaries. Oh, and all the best of luck and patience guiding your teen through these years into adulthood. You’ll need it.