Teen bedroom ideas: How to navigate designing your teen’s bedroom with interior designer Samira Modaresifar
Thinking about doing up your teen’s bedroom this summer? Interior designer and founder of Modiarty Design, Samira Modaresifar, is an expert at creating inspiring teen bedrooms that reflect their unique personality while remaining in keeping with the rest of your home.
“A teenager needs to feel that their space is individual, but you can take small details from the other areas of the home, like a colour or pattern, and incorporate them into the room to create consistency.”
Finding the right balance can be tricky, which is why we chatted with Samira to get her top tips, from understanding your teen’s likes and dislikes to planning a futureproof layout that can adapt and change.
How do you approach designing a teen bedroom?
Designing a teen bedroom sounds more challenging than it is. The process is relatively similar to any other room; I start by understanding how they use the space, how they want to feel, and what does and doesn’t work well in the existing space.
Sometimes it’s difficult to get teenagers to open up to a stranger, so having the parents take notes of what they like and want in their room is hugely beneficial.
How can you incorporate a teen’s ideas/personality/interests into the bedroom design while ensuring it’s in keeping with the rest of the house?
Take time to understand the teenager as an individual – their mindset, likes and dislikes.
They may not be able to describe what they want from the design like an adult might, but having some questions to prompt their thinking is always helpful – for instance, their favourite type of music and TV shows, the books they read, the sports they enjoy and even their favourite clothing brands.
You can develop an understanding of who they are and what they need from their space and ensure this is truthfully reflected in the design so that it feels personal to them.
“Take time to understand the teenager as an individual – their mindset, likes and dislikes.”
A teenager needs to feel that their space is individual, and the big challenge for a designer is to deliver this individuality whilst maintaining cohesion with the home’s overall design aesthetics.
I do this by ensuring common threads run throughout the design – this might be a base colour or through repetition of a particular pattern. This means that when your eye travels from one room to the other, the design is consistent.
How can you use colour, print and pattern to bring a teen bedroom to life?
Colours and patterns are the key to any design. I use colours to highlight different zones and create focal points. Building various patterns, layers, and textures creates depth and makes the room feel three-dimensional, which helps your eye travel around the room.
Can you tell us your advice for designing a teen bedroom that has longevity and will grow with them?
Remember that their tastes change as they grow and develop. Thinking back to my teenage years, what I enjoyed at 13 years old was very different from what I liked when I was 16, so the design needs to be flexible to adapt and change with them.
With this in mind, I’d advise investing in larger furniture like beds and bespoke storage. These items provide a good foundation for a long-lasting design, whereas paint and accessories can be changed relatively cheaply to reflect evolving tastes.
Another piece of advice is to incorporate flexibility into the lighting plans. Think about how the room could be rearranged in future – installing lighting and USB ports in prime locations will make it easy to move the furniture around.
What are your top tips for layouts in teen bedrooms?
A teen bedroom is a little different in that it’s a multifunctional space. Their room is not just a bedroom – it’s a study room, TV room, a reading nook and a place to socialise. That’s a lot of functionality for one room, and to think about the layout is very important.
As a rule of thumb, I always think about four areas – sleeping and cosy corner, study area, storage, and music/hang-out space. Using colours, soft furnishing, and accessories to zone these areas will give clarity and purpose to the design. In smaller spaces, multifunctional furniture, like a high-quality sofa bed, is a good investment as it allows the zones to be used interchangeably and maximises flexibility.