With a brand new school year comes a renewed enthusiasm for study – or so every parent hopes. Encourage little ones to get their heads down this September with design-led furnishings that are as fun as they are educational.
Mini modern
There’s nothing like the promise of a smart new desk to encourage homework. And if that desk happens to be a design-led furniture piece that mimics mum or dad’s workstation, then all the better. Oliver Furniture’s junior wood desk (left) is contemporary, slimline and multi-use – and it would be the envy of any grown-up office space. Scandi-influenced, its contrast in pale oak and white wood, and its soft leather handles make it a bona fide designer desk in miniature. In fact, it can easily adapt to your growing teen with the addition of adult desk legs. Angle the top like a drawing board to suit future engineers and architects.
£536 (nubie.co.uk)
Sleep and study
Invariably, kids’ bedrooms double up as study spaces and so a multi-purpose room requires multi-functional furniture. Whether it’s needed as a space-saving piece or not, children love a high sleeper bed. Incorporate a clean-lined and contemporary desk underneath and you have the perfect set-up for homework. Battistella’s Camelot soft loft bed (main image) is a wholly versatile furniture piece that comes in a variety of configurations suiting tweens to teens. It’s cleverly designed so the wide desk faces outwards – your little student won’t feel penned in – while its pale natural wood and muted colourway creates a perfectly calming environment, ideal for creative thinking.
From £1,650 (gomodern.co.uk)
Written on the wall
Incorporating educational resources into kids’ homeware is a shrewd move for parents wishing to give their little ones a helping
hand with their school work – without them noticing the learning. Look to your child’s bedroom walls for inspiration. Just as the presence of an analogue clock will get them telling the time in no time at all, educational wallpaper or murals can achieve results quicker than conventional means, whilst keeping learning fun. MuralsWallpaper is a brand that specialises in creative papers, their children’s collection including world maps, scenes from space, and our favourite, Reaction, which depicts the Periodic Table of Elements in pretty pastels. No excuses, then.
£37 per sq m (muralswallpaper.com)
An open book
A designated reading space will, with luck, instil in your child a love of books. Create a reading nook complete with beanbags and a floaty canopy, or furnish a wide window seat with a fitted cushion designed for lengthy reading sessions. Of course, they’ll need stylish storage to accommodate their growing library. We love Oeuf’s tall bookcase in white and birch – perfect for any bookworm’s collection and for those important knick-knacks, too.
£559 (cuckooland.com)
The old school
Smart storage is key to any functional study space – a calm and clutter-free working environment can do wonders for our concentration levels, and so, in multi-purpose kids’ rooms – complete with toys, books and clothes – ample storage is paramount. Bursting with retro charm, Mustard’s metal lockers recall the kind you see in ’80s high school movies, only these are beautifully finished in a range of nature-inspired colours from Olive to Ocean. At 110cm high the Midi, with its adjustable shelves and lockable doors, is perfect for busy kids’ rooms, keeping everything within easy reach.
£299 (mustardmade.co.uk)