Monochrome kids rooms are on the up, Creatives, with parents across the country ditching brights for a more subdued colour story. But how do you nail a black and white room for little ones? I’m going to give you some tips and pointers, as well as plenty of visual inspo (and where to shop!).

A monochromatic colour scheme is nothing new in interior design. We’ve been rocking black, white and greys in our homes for years. When Scandi became popular over a decade ago, we all lost our minds a little and haven’t yet recovered. And with good reason; there’s something wonderfully crisp, calming and clean about these colours playing together.

So if you’re looking to carry that approach across into your little one’s room, here are a few ideas, tips and inspo to get it right.

How to rock a Monochrome Kids Room

Balance of Colours

Any successful room design is all about getting the proportions of colours correct, but when you’re going monochromatic it becomes even more important. If you split the colours evenly, using 50% black in the space and 50% white, it becomes quite visually chaotic.

The best approach is to split the colours more 70/30. You can choose to do either black or white in the larger part, but you want to use one as a main colour and one as an supporting player.

For a little one’s room, I’d veer toward 70% white and 30% black. I like to use white as the greater component because kids rooms should be about calm and innocence and whimsy, and black can sometimes take away from that vibe.

If you find yourself becoming unstuck here, bring in some grey tones. It’s a happy medium between the two and can tie the room together.

Introducing Accents

If you’re fearful the room might feel too contrasted with just black and white colour, feel free to bring in an accent tone. It can do wonders to elevate the look and feel of the space.

Just be careful with the colour. I find that yellows and oranges work really well. They’re quite cheery and vibrant and from a colour psychology point-of-view, they’re very positive and stimulate thought.

You need to be wary of the amount of accent you bring in though. You don’t want to take away from what makes a monochromatic kids room so interesting. That crisp, clean feeling can easily become visually cluttered if you start packing in too much of a third colour.

The image you see above is a nice example of using yellow as an accent (although it’s almost too much).

Blonde wood tones

We love the crisp and clean feeling of a monochrome kids room, but if you’re in it and things are feeling a bit cold, it’s probably because there’s a serious lack of texture. Blonde woods are a great idea here as they bring warmth and earthiness to a space, and can make it feel more grounded and less clinical.

You don’t have to opt for large pieces of furniture here if the budget won’t stretch; bring in some smaller items like shadow boxes up on the wall, toys and storage crates for under the bed. In the image above, pencils are used to great effect to bring some warmth to the space (and they’re seriously cheap!).

The more varying textures you have in a space the warmer and more inviting it becomes – and I don’t just mean soft furnishings like blankets and cushions. Keep that in mind and you can’t go wrong.

Pattern Play

Black and white in solid, block colours are going to feel pretty bland and boring on their own. Pattern is your friend in a monochrome kids space, and the beauty of it is that you don’t have to be as considered as you would in a living area or adult bedroom.

Polka dots, stripes, arrows, stars; you can combine any number of these to bring about a sense of visual interest. As long as the patterns are intricate, they won’t compete or become too chaotic.

If I had a child, the first thing I would do for my little one’s mono room is wallpaper the wall in a gorgeous pattern (as you can see above). It really makes the space feel cosier without overwhelming the eye – and it keeps the zone rather playful. You must give patterned wallpaper a go!

Image Credits: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4