Your schoolchildren should have a room or an area where they can study, read, do homework and prepare projects. If you have a room to spare, you can use it as a study room. But if you have limited space, you can dedicate a free corner where you can rearrange stuff to make a study area.
The study area should reflect your child’s character, taste, and individuality. No matter what design or decorations you would use, it should be organized and furnished in a way that can help your child feel focused and productive. It must be a place where it’s relaxing and easy to concentrate. Here are some decorating and furnishing tips to achieve that:
1. Know what your child prefers
Before setting up a study area, ask your child first how he or she would like things placed. The layout of the room or area should be adapted to the user’s needs and study style, not the other way around. Know how much noise or distraction your child can tolerate. See if they prefer working quietly for a long period of time or if they like taking breaks. Ask how much workspace and storage they need. These factors would be critical in designing and furnishing their study area. You don’t want your efforts to be unappreciated if it turns out that they don’t like it, so it’s better to ask them first before buying or setting up anything.
2. Provide adequate lighting
If possible, always choose an area that receives enough natural light as a study area. A study room or area must have or be adjacent to windows, not only to receive light, but also provide an eye break from all the studying and working. But since it can be a distraction at times (and sometimes, the sunlight is just too much), put curtains, draperies or blinds on the window.
For the lighting fixtures, you need an overhead light that can light up the whole area. Be sure to replace dimming lights immediately to prevent blurring of the eyes. Also, invest in desk lamps and/or task lights so your child can directly control the light source for a more conducive studying. Choose statement lamps that reflect your child’s personality or favorites (color, character, shape, etc.) so that they would look forward to using it and studying by it. However, you must not overdo lights to prevent damaging your child’s eyes.
3. Keep the walls light
For a decluttered and clear space, keep the walls white. It also makes the space look brighter, larger and more often. It’s also the best color if your child is the type of person who changes décor more often than he/she changes his/her computer background.
However, if you and your child want to give the study area a little more personality with a choice of color, pick those cool and light colors like pastel shades. The key is to avoid painting the walls of a study area with dark colors since it can induce feelings of sleepiness and can even worsen eye strains.
4. Make room for storage and get organized
Get a desk with drawer units to store paper and other school supplies like pens, calculator, rulers and other stuff they usually need. They can also use it as storage for their computer accessories like chargers, blank CDs and flash drives. Putting it under the desk would be very convenient for them.
Make the most of the wall by putting up shelves with lots of storage for books, desk accessories, and decorations. Store art materials, scrapbooking items, supplies and the like on baskets and crates, which can be placed on the shelving units or stacked on the desktop. If you have the space and the budget, buy organizing drawers for that stuff.
Use canisters for storing pens and pencils. Keep only those used every day on top of the desk and keep the rest on storage to lessen clutter. You can reuse jars and cans for this and make it as an art project with your kids.
5. Choose a minimalistic design for easily distracted ones
If your child is easily distracted and is having trouble focusing for long periods of time, keep the space look cleaner and tidier. You can achieve that by embracing minimalism. Choose a smooth table (no frills) that widens the space and keeps only the most important materials on it. Place storage areas for books and other items anywhere else. Add a personal touch by picking a vibrantly-colored chair. A chair that rotates, lifts and rolls can be distracting too, so choose one that has a plain and simple design.
6. Infuse with colors
We said earlier that it’s best to keep walls white. Then, to prevent it from having a “too cozy; I want to sleep here” vibe, experiment with bright and vibrant colors. Colors also have the power to get creative juices flowing and keep the brain working. Incorporate them in chairs, lamps and decorative pieces, and even in worktop and storage. You may also hang colored wall art – just don’t overdo it to avoid distractions. Remember, the goal of a study area is to create a space where your child can enhance his or her studying performance, and if you focus on beautifying and prettifying it up, then you may be doing otherwise.
7. Use cork boards
When talking about wall décor, you must choose those that are as functional as possible. Get your child a cork board or a cork wall, since it is perfect for pinning up notes, school schedules, reminders, to-do lists, mini calendars and the like. Your child can also use it to pin up inspirations like photos of dream house or car, pictures of friends and family (and even crushes). Cork boards can also muffle sound, so your child hears less of the noise from other parts of the house. It can also protect your ears from hearing your child’s choice of music that you don’t like (in case they like to work with background music).
8. Let your walls motivate
Let your child put up personalized items like photos, posters, and signs on their wall. You may not understand, but it may help them get inspired to do their school responsibilities with those stuff at their eyes’ reach. But you must let them check whether those things are really helping or not.
It’s also great to display typographies with inspirational messages or quotes. Words can literally create a statement on a space, and it stays on the memory longer.
Another motivator is knowing the time you have left for sleep or other activities. Hang a wall clock on a spot that would be easy for your child to look at while he or she is studying or doing a project or assignment.
9. Hang a chalkboard or a whiteboard
Make a study room look like an extension of school by installing a chalkboard or a whiteboard on the wall. It will help them practice solving math problems during recitation. It can also serve as their reminder board where they can write anything they need to keep in mind. Putting up writings on the wall can help the brain to remember things better.
10. Keep your wall décor educational
If your child is still very young, you can paint the walls with educational tidbits like the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and animals. If you don’t want to paint, you can hang posters of that information. Besides helping them remember information better, these can also serve as your visual aid to guide and teach your kid at home.
If you want to go for a decoration your teenagers would love, you can opt for a world map mural on the study room wall. Maps create a beautiful design, plus it can help your child get better in geography.
11. Display plants
Plants and greeneries freshen up the ambiance of a study room. Bringing a bit of nature into the room can help your child focus and relax.
12. Add comfort
To polish the design of your child’s study room, add a little floor sofa set or a comfortable nook. Create a space for your child to relax and take a break from the desk and other work-related activities. It also creates the perfect spot to read and get engrossed in a book. This is ideally placed close to the window.