How to Decorate a Child's Room in a London Property
Practical advice on painting a child's bedroom in a London home — safe low-VOC paints, durable finishes, colour choices that work now and as the child grows.
Decorating a Child's Room: Priorities in the Right Order
The most common mistake when decorating a child's bedroom is choosing the colour first and the product second. In reality, the order should be reversed. The paint you put on the walls of a room where a child sleeps and plays needs to meet specific criteria around safety, durability, and performance — and those criteria should determine the shortlist before any colour decisions are made.
Product Safety: Low-VOC and Zero-VOC Formulations
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the chemicals that give paint its distinctive smell and that off-gas from the dried film over weeks and months after application. Standard vinyl emulsions contain VOC levels that, while compliant with EU and UK regulations, are not ideal in a room used by young children whose respiratory systems are still developing.
For children's rooms, we specify only low-VOC or zero-VOC water-based emulsions. The most reliable options in current trade supply are:
- Farrow & Ball Estate Emulsion — full water-based formulation, very low VOC, available in all their colours
- Little Greene Intelligent Matt — zero-VOC formulation, excellent opacity, trade-available
- Earthborn Claypaint — natural clay-based paint, genuinely zero-VOC, good for children's rooms and those with sensitivities
- Auro Organic Paint — plant-based chemistry, widely used in nurseries and schools, minimal off-gassing
After applying any paint, we recommend ventilating the room for a minimum of 48 hours before the child sleeps in it, even with zero-VOC products. New plaster or plasterboard also off-gases independently during cure, so where a room has been freshly plastered, allow the full cure period before moving the child back in.
Durable Finishes: Where the Standard Approach Falls Short
A standard flat emulsion will not survive two years of use in a child's room. Fingermarks, crayon scuffs, adhesive residue from stickers, and the general impact loading that children apply to walls all require a finish that can be wiped down without the colour coming off with the cloth.
The correct solution is a washable flat or soft-sheen emulsion — products specifically formulated to offer the flat appearance of a matt emulsion with the durability of an eggshell. Dulux Trade Diamond Matt is the most widely used trade product in this category: it is a genuinely matt finish when viewed from the correct angle but has a hard resin binder that resists scrubbing. Little Greene Intelligent Matt performs similarly. Both can be cleaned with a damp cloth and mild detergent without damage.
For areas of highest impact — around light switches, behind door handles, below windowsills — we sometimes apply two coats of a soft-sheen in the same colour over the matt base coat. This creates a panel of higher durability at the most vulnerable points without changing the visual character of the room.
Colour Choices That Grow With the Child
Clients often want to theme a child's room intensely when the child is young: rocket ships, woodland animals, princess schemes. There is nothing wrong with this, but the practical consequence is that the room needs redecorating completely when the theme is outgrown — often after just three or four years.
A more considered approach is to use colour without theming. A well-chosen mid-tone wall colour — a soft sage green, a dusty blue, a warm terracotta — is appropriate from infancy through to adolescence. The themed elements (murals, stencils, decals) can be applied over or alongside the base colour and removed or repainted independently when the child moves on.
If a client is set on a more decorated approach, we recommend using a single feature wall for the themed content and keeping the remaining three walls in a neutral or complementary tone. This limits the redecoration scope to a single surface when the theme is outgrown.
Ceiling and Floor Considerations
Ceilings in children's rooms need to be durable as well. We use ceiling white with a slight warm undertone rather than a blue-white, which reads cold in rooms with smaller windows or north-facing orientations. Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 as a primer coat under a quality ceiling emulsion provides excellent adhesion and stain resistance for any marks that have migrated upward.
Where timber floors or skirtings are being painted in a child's room, choose a water-based floor paint or eggshell with good abrasion resistance. Ronseal Diamond Hard Floor Paint or Dulux Trade Eggshell are both suitable options.
Practical Sequencing
In our experience, the most efficient way to decorate a child's room during an occupied period is to work in sections — moving furniture to one half of the room, decorating the other, then switching — to avoid the child being displaced for more than a day at a time. Full room clearance is always preferable for quality of finish, but we understand the practical constraints of family homes in London.
To discuss decorating a child's bedroom, contact us here or request a free quote.