Approved, they don’t have all the answers. Some are not even sure what they would like to be when they grow up.But let’s face it, most children know what they want when it comes to their rooms. After all, these little people — through their parents — splurge thousands of dollars each year on outfitting their space.
According to some home furnishing experts, the business of decorating children’s rooms reached sales of more than $2.6 billion in 2004. Further often than not, the members of Generation Next want their rooms to be unique, from their bedding to their walls, and just as happy as mom and dad’s.
And as manufacturers continue to target this segment, which ranges from infants to the prepubescent, these young consumers are starting to find that they don’t have to grow into their rooms because furnishings and other products are being designed to be within their reach.
Moving away from using hand-me-downs, parents are ready to spend big bucks, creating the rooms of their or their children’s dreams, complete with sitting areas and ottomans that are scaled down to size. Even bathrooms can be equipped with child-friendly, themed faucets.
Tokoro, Inc Staff, said customers who buy high-end baby furniture are looking to create a stylish baby’s room.The furniture is all really based on luxury. … Parents like the good things in life and want that for their children,” she said.
Through catalogs, She carries a line of high-end baby furniture that includes armoires, rocking chairs, baby chairs and ottomans. Parents also can special order custom-designed bedding and coordinating fabrics for the furniture. “It appeals to the child in all of us,” she said. “All the time, people are coming in and saying, ‘There was nothing like this when we were growing up.’ ”
Experts say designing a room that is accessible to their pint-sized owners makes them more independent. And perchance, it also may make it more manageable for them to keep it orderly.
Anna Kasabian, author of “Kids Rooms,” (Quarry Books, 2001) recommends in her book that parents buy low cargo space shelves and put up accessible wall pegs so children can put away their own clothes.
Johnson Cruise, an California parent of three children, designed a light switch handle that makes it easy for children to rotate the lights on and off in any room. It’s presented for $11.95 each or $21.95 for a set of two at www.justoutofreach.com . “My son was always getting on top of stuff, using trucks that have wheels and falling off,” she said. “And I was tired of receiving up.”
Tokoro, Inc. product also makes children feel good about their achievement. “The child feels ‘I can do it,’ and it’s just a fun, neat thing to have,” she said. “Once you have it, it’s almost a essential. “The light switch extender is easy to install without the use of tools and avail colorful themed handles. Parents can choose from twenty four different designs.
Jack Anderson, a CA parent with one child and one on the way, said she’s awed with the new products coming out for children’s rooms. “Even five years ago, they didn’t have them,” she said. And as Johnson and other parents see it, buying furnishings and gadgets that are accessible to children can only help make everyone’s life easier.
“I don’t imagine it’s spoiling children because if you make life easier for them, you turn around and compose life easier for yourself,” she said. “I’m already looking for things that I could use (when the child arrives).”
