Decorating a bedroom for a daughter or a granddaughter is never a job that can be considered easy. However, with the right sort of planning you can pull off a look that will be age appropriate and last for a few years to come. One of the trickiest things to get right is providing storage. Young girls need space for toys and play, but as they become older more and more space will be devoted to clothes.

Fit Out.

Choosing a closet that will work as good repository for both clothes and toys, in different combinations over time, is the key to a successfully designed girl’s room. Get that right and the rest of the decorating is likely to be a fun project. Remember to choose a closet that will be sympathetic with other aspects of the room’s design, such as the color theme and the layout. A recessed closet, which does not take up valuable floor space is usually advisable for most homes.

If you have a recess that you can exploit in the room you are decorating it is a good idea to use it as a walk in closet rather than purchasing a freestanding one. Fit it out with a combination of hanging space, shelves and drawers. Remember that girls’ clothes don’t need the same amount of space to hang as adult clothes so it will be possible to install more hanging space than in a regular closet. If there is any space that is unused, fit the closet out so that the space is positioned at the floor, rather than at the top. This way, you have a good place to store shoes.

Color Schemes.

Most people choose to paint closet doors in the same color as their room’s doors. This is most commonly white. However, for a child’s room painting them the same color as the walls often works just as well. If you don’t have the space for a recessed closet and need to buy a freestanding one, opt for one that complements the color scheme. Two tones will also work with most room’s color schemes. Pink and white is a classy combination for a girls’ room that is hard to beat, but others to consider and pink and gray or gray and yellow.

Bookcases.

Bookcases make great additional closet spaces for girls’ rooms. Of course, they are ideal for storing all your girl’s books. However, stowing baskets on them to use as makeshift drawers is a good way of keeping extra clothes and toys tidy, without having to stuff everything into the main closet. Indeed if you don’t have a traditional closet at all, a couple of bookcases will do the job very well.

Open Storage.

Open storage offers a trendy, more sophisticated, look. As such, it is probably best applied in a room that is for an older girl or a teenager. Suspended shelving that sits behind the bed, complemented by a hanging rail, will make you girl feel like she is grown up. For younger girls, use any space created by awkward shapes in the room’s layout to fit shelving units. Or, why not remove the doors from a regular closet altogether to get the open storage look?

Shut It Away.

If your girl is not tidy enough to handle maintaining a room which has open storage, then shutting the clutter away is likely to appeal. You don’t need regular hinged doors in order to create a closet space that you can shut away easily. Sliding frames, with a fabric stretched over them, make for a novel way of creating a visual break. And drapes are another girly alternative to simple doors.

Picture sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.