Heirs to the throne: George Home exposes the real cost of a child's bedroom

Parents will spend up to £8,000 on their child’s bedroom alone over a lifetime
A child’s bedroom runs through a cycle of at least 5 changes
71% of parents sacrifice their own needs to provide for their child
Kids returning home from university cost parents an extra £2,864
George Home launches £69 single bed

Parents will spend up to £8k redecorating and upgrading their child’s bedroom before they fly the nest, in a recent survey commissioned by George Home to launch its latest children’s furniture range.

Loving mothers and fathers are sacrificing their own needs in order to provide for their children, with 71% prioritising the decoration of their child’s bedroom over any other area of the house.

Research by the supermarket retailer has found that 36% of parents will spend at least £250 every time they re-decorate their child’s bedroom, with 12% spending at least £1,000. The price tag for kitting out their son or daughter’s nursery in the first year alone reaches almost £1,500, landing parents with a £5,268 bill over the course of 18 years with some spending as much as £8,000.

Parents polled said they re-decorate at least five times, with the biggest expenses including re-painting the walls (76%) and upgrading from a cot to a bed (53%). Kids bedrooms run through a cycle of five changes from nursery to toddler, child to teenager and young adult. 45% of parents say they constantly update their child’s bedroom to fit popular culture and changing tastes and trends, letting them decide themselves from the age of five how they would like the room to look.

Children who fly the nest to attend university only to return home as adults in their twenties are also stretching parents’ purse strings further. Nearly half (40%) of those polled said making the decorating switch from child to adult décor was an emotional step, but also a financial strain, costing parents an extra £2,864 onaverage. Walk in wardrobes, man caves, office and fitness spaces were named as the most requested changes by young adults on their return to the family home.

Parent’s Highest Kids Bedroom Expense:

Upgrading from a cot to a bed (52%)
Replacing and/or upgrading the flooring (31%)
Re-painting the calls/ceiling (76%)
Purchasing accessories such as lighting and rugs (51%)
Purchasing character furniture/accessories that their child loves (33%)
Purchasing wallpaper/decorations that reflect the child’s favouritecharacter/film/football team (32%)
Redecorating to reflect style-led teenage phases/trends (45%)
Upgrading the whole room to suit adult / changing tastes

The study found that parents will blow hundreds of pounds upgrading their child’s cot to a bed, with one in three splashing out on new furniture or upgrading to a bigger bed within the first four years and a 31% of parents even replacing the flooring after one year once their bundle of joy begins to walk.

Parents in London are the most likely to splash the cash on upgrading their child’s bedroom, with 18% admitting to spending at least £1,000 each time they re-decorated with 38% of parents from the North East spending approximately £250 each time. Parents in Wales (30%) and West England (26%) say they spend up to£100.

For budget conscious parents, George Home has launched an affordable nursery furniture range that grows with a newborn child right up to the age of 6 years, with prices starting from £39 for a kids bedside table and £69 for a single bed and over XX different designs in the collection, Asda customers have an extensive range of affordable kids furniture to choose from.

A George Home spokesperson said: “For many parents, the first twelve months of parenthood can be frantic and as our research shows, the most expensive. The evolution of a child’s bedroom from nursery through to teenage trends and into adult life can be an emotional experience for parents and signifies each change in their child’s development. Our new furniture range adapts to the changing needs of the family and has been developed in response to us understanding what families need when it comes to the home.”