Best Paint for a Child’s Bedroom or Nursery

Posted Feb 3, 2025 | Product Advice | 0 comments

Choosing the right paint for a child’s bedroom is a big decision.  Parents who I speak to in my role as a professional decorator spend a lot of time thinking about it, particularly the psychology of different colours.

But there’s a lot more to consider than just the colour.  Aesthetics are important, but safety and durability are also crucial in choosing the best paint for a child’s bedroom or nursery.  In this blog I’ll take you through the factors you should consider, and make some suggestions for specific brands of paint which I have used in children’s rooms and nurseries.

 

Paint for Children’s Rooms vs Nurseries

 

Just to clarify, this blog focuses on children’s bedrooms and/or playrooms in a domestic setting, i.e. someone’s home. However, I do have experience of working in professional childcare settings, both for child minders and in day care nurseries.

The main difference that I have found is that professional settings tend to put a greater emphasis on the durability of the paint.  There are multiple children using the room every day, creating a lot of wear and tear, and the management want to keep their maintenance bills down.

Homeowners, on the other hand, are more concerned about safety issues and aesthetics, understandably.

 

What to Consider When Choosing Paint for Children’s Rooms

 

There are three main considerations when choosing paint for children’s rooms, which I have alluded to already:

 

Health & Safety

Children are more sensitive to harmful chemicals than adults are. Look for paints which are non-toxic and low (or no) VOC. As a general rule, water-based paints are much safer in this regard than oil- or solvent-based paints, and additionally are lower odour and faster drying (so you can move the children back into the room much sooner).

 

Durability

If you have children, your paint is inevitably going to come in for some wear and tear – hand prints on the wall, scuff marks on the door frame… Choosing a paint for your child’s room that is scuff-resistant, stain resistant and easy to wipe down, keeps the room looking better for longer.

 

Aesthetics

As well as the all-important question of colour, think about the sheen level you want on your child’s ceiling, walls and woodwork.  Matt is the most popular choice for ceilings and walls these days, and there are plenty of hard-wearing scrubbable matt options available.  Another option though might be a hard-wearing acrylic eggshell; this will be slightly more shiny, but extremely easy to wipe down.  When I’ve worked in day care nurseries this is always a popular choice.

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Best Paint for a Child’s Bedroom Ceiling

Any emulsion is going to be low VOC and water-based, meaning it’ll be low odour and fast-drying.  Matt is the most popular finish for ceilings these days, partly just down to fashion, but also because being less reflective it’s better at hiding any imperfections in the surface.

Durability isn’t usually an issue with ceilings as they don’t generally suffer much wear and tear, so for most ceilings an ordinary vinyl matt is fine.  If you have a particularly large ceiling to paint, or one with critical lighting, I’d recommend a ceiling-specific paint such as Tikkurila Anti-Reflex 2, which is designed to be ultra-low sheen, making imperfections less visible.

Tikkurila anti reflex is one of the best white ceiling paints on the market.

Best Paint for the Walls in a Child’s Bedroom or Nursery

 

Again, most regular emulsions will be relatively low in VOC’s and low odour.  Matt is the most popular finish, as explained above.  An acrylic durable eggshell will also be hard-wearing and extremely easy to wipe clean, but have a slightly higher sheen level.

You will need to choose the finish (and colour) you want, and then decide how important each of the other factors (durability and health/safety) are to you.  Fortunately, these days there is so much choice available, that it is possible to tick all the boxes if you shop around.  Here are some of my favourite paints to use on walls in children’s rooms:

The Optiva range are Tikkurila’s hard-wearing emulsions.  They’re very durable (Class 1 Scrub Rating), low (or even no) VOCs and available in a variety of different sheen levels.  Tikkurila have a wide range of their own colours, but are also experts at matching other paint brands’ colours (so if you find a colour you like from another manufacturer, Tikkurila probably already have a match to it set up on their system).

The product I use most often from the range is Optiva 5. It’s a quick-drying, highly scrubbable and stain-resistant matt paint, with zero VOCs.  It’s lovely to use and gives a great finish – my first choice for a child’s bedroom.

If the safety and environmental factors are more important to you, then Optiva Nature 5 is the product for you.  It has the same durable matt finish and zero VOCs, but is more plant-based and very child friendly; it is approved by the Allergy & Asthma Federation, and has both Nordic Swan and EU Ecolabel status.

If you are looking for a slightly higher sheen level (more of an eggshell finish), you could try Optiva 7 (only slightly less matt) or Optiva 20 (at the shinier end of eggshell), or Optiva Nature 7.

Optiva 5 is the best paint for the walls in a nursery

Best Paint for the Woodwork in a Child’s Bedroom or Nursery

 

By woodwork, I mean the skirting, doors and windowsills etc, but actually the same principles apply if you were painting furniture.

When choosing paint for woodwork in a child’s room, I’d always recommend water-based paint; oil-based is higher in VOCs, slower to dry, much stronger odour, and if you’re painting the woodwork white, it will gradually turn yellow with time.  So definitely water-based.

Then you need to choose between matt, eggshell, satin or gloss finish.  It’s down to personal taste in many respects; the higher sheen paints are easier to wipe clean, but the lower sheen ones are more in vogue now.  That probably explains why satin (somewhere in the middle) is the most popular choice with nearly all of my customers.

My favourite paint for woodwork in a child’s room is the Tikkurila Helmi range.  It’s available in the same huge choice of colours as the rest of Tikkurila’s products, in Helmi 10 (eggshell), 30 (satin) or 80 (gloss).  They also recently launched a clear satin varnish in the range, if you want to keep a natural look for your wood.  All the Helmi products meet the strictest environmental and safety standards, including the Toy Safety Standards (which means that even if your child starts chewing the door frame, the paint won’t harm them!).

Like many water-based paints for woodwork, you need to work quite quickly as it’s fast-drying, and if you put too much on it’s also prone to drips, but once you get used to working with it you can achieve a great finish.  My favourite is the Helmi 10, but Helmi 30 is probably the most popular with my customers. Click here to see online prices.

If your children are of the age (or temperament!) where a hard-wearing paint is more important to you than the environmental or safety angles, then maybe try the Tikkurila Everal Aqua range – it’s still water-based, low VOC and available in a range of colours and finishes, but I find it slightly more resistant to wear and tear than the Helmi. Click here for product details.

Tikkurila satinwood

Choosing Paint Colours for Children’s Rooms

 

There are no right or wrong answers here, it really is down to personal preference.  Some people like the more “traditional” approach of pink for a girl, blue for a boy.  Others prefer more gender-neutral colour schemes, such as yellow, which is always bright and cheery.

Greens are popular now, and if you choose the right shade can be both calming and inspiring at the same time.  Other people let their children decide (and I could share horror stories of some of the resultant colour schemes I’ve had to paint, but this isn’t the time or the place!).

 

Final Thoughts

 

Yes, colour is of course a very important decision for a child’s room, but other factors such as environmental issues, health and safety, and durability, should also be given careful consideration when choosing paint for a child’s room or a nursery.  Your colour scheme can still be just as much fun, but you can feel that you have made a more informed choice, and selected a safer option which will look good for longer.

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FAQs

 

What type of paint is best for kids’ bedrooms?

Durability and low-VOC are key when painting a child’s bedroom. Durable matt emulsion is the best paint for the walls and a water-based satinwood is best for the woodwork.

 

Is matt or eggshell better for a kid’s bedroom?

Matt looks better than eggshell on walls, but you should also consider durability. Eggshell may not be as desirable to look at, but it’s more durable than matt. Durable matt emulsion is the best of both worlds.

 

How long should I wait after painting before letting my child sleep in the room?

Even water-based paint gives off a smell, and the room can get quite humid as the paint dries and cures. We recommend leaving everything to dry overnight with plenty of ventilation before letting your child sleep in the room.

 

Can I use chalkboard or magnetic paint in a child’s room?

Chalkboard, whiteboard, and magnetic paints are a fantastic feature for a child’s bedroom.

Posted Feb 3, 2025 | 0 comments

About the Author

About the Author

With years of decorating experience, Robin set up his own business – Wokingham Decorating Services – in 2007, carrying out mainly domestic work. He enjoys trying out new products and learning as much as he can about the decorating industry

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