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5 unexpectedly beautiful kids' room ideas

A children’s nook features a wallpapered detail/Photographer: Sam Frost/Taylor Jacobson of Taylor Jacobson Interior Design designed this Los Angeles home’s children’s nook.

Pale pinks and baby blues are the standard, but the kids' rooms of the future are vibrant, fun, and absolutely filled with color. Get inspired with some of our favorite kid-friendly color schemes and wallpaper patterns that are anything but boring. Plus, take away some tips from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's star—and designer-to-the-stars—Breegan Jane.

Polished doesn’t have to mean fussy—in fact, in the children’s sleeping nook in a Los Angeles home, pictured above, whimsical wallpaper by Rifle Paper Co. and an antique rattan chair make for a playful yet still-parent-approved vibe.

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Accent walls aren't just for grownups—and neither is artistic inspiration. In this children's bedroom of a San Francisco home, designers Susan Collins Weir and Chris Weir of Studio Collins Weir liaised with late artist Charley Harper’s foundation on a wallcovering project—the result, pictured below, is an accent inspired by the artist’s “Mystery of the Missing Migrants” lithograph. Get the look yourself with a wallpaper accent wall featuring a graphic print.

A wallpaper accent wall in a children’s room/Photographer: Matthew Millman/An inspired artistic accent wall for a child client by designers Susan Collins Weir and Chris Weir of Studio Collins Weir.

Think in themes: A kid's bedroom in this Phoenix home below features a custom-sized, house-shaped blackboard set against a forest motif of Cole & Son’s Woods & Stars wallpaper as a background. The mood? Magical treehouse living, indoors.

A kid’s playroom features a blackboard/Photographer: John Woodcock/A treehouse-inspired kids’ playroom designed by Britany Simon Design House.

Upend the traditional with tried-and-true hues, turned up a notch. Take a cue from this bright pink-toned children’s bedroom in a Los Angeles home. Designed by Adam Hunter, it goes big with color—and explores different depths and variations of the color pink. Make DIY even easier with our expert-curated pink palette.

A bold pink children’s room/Photographer: Trevor Tondro/A bright pink bedroom features Osborne & Little wallpaper.

Explore the colors of the rainbow, like Breegan did in this nursery project. "I loved designing the nursery archway for [Modern Family star] Jesse Tyler Ferguson," says Breegan of the painted palette. "The colors were so young and whimsical for a newborn, but the arrangement of the hues also celebrated the vibrance and spirit of the couple in a way that wasn’t so literal."

A gender-neutral nursery/Photographer: Ryan Garvin/An up-close look at the ombré rainbow archway in Jesse Tyler Ferguson's nursery.

Try it yourself—sample a range of hues within the same color family to get the colors just right. Keep in mind, sometimes a muted tone is just right, says Breegan. "The colors softened the room and allowed me to incorporate gender-neutral hues Jesse and [his husband] Justin wanted. This project is proof-positive that understated design can still be very striking."