I call my toddler daughters room design “Modern Montessori”, because I feel I have incorporated many of the Montessori philosophy, but gave it a modern cute twist. Whether this is good or bad or not Montessori appropriate I really do not care, because well I love her room! Her room has become one of my favorite places in the house.
One of the biggest and best things I believe in and implemented right away when she was 11 months old was the idea of the floor bed. Montessori philosophy is all about giving children independence through movement and little restriction. When in a crib obviously for safety reason the baby needs to be restricted, but once they are able to move giving them freedom to explore and make their own decision as far as when to go to sleep is important. In a traditional toddler bed the baby still has a rail and restrictions to height. Possibly needing you their parent to put them to sleep or ask to be taken down their bed. With a floor bed, the child is free to decide when to go to their sleeping quarters and when to wake up. This decision not only give my daughter a place to mark as her own territory meaning she can go take a nap and wake up from her nap on her own. Mind you many times she still needs me to lay with her until she falls asleep.
Floor Bed
My husband built this bed for her, if you or your husband are not gifted with the art of building or know how to use tools you can try Amazon or here is one too Toddler Floor Bed. We used a twin size mattress.
As far as bedding goes. I love Pottery Barn Sheets so I splurged and bought her some. For the throw pillows and accessories I love shopping my local Marshalls and Homegoods which is where I bought hers.
Accessible Books
I used Ikea spice racks as book shelves and most importantly hung them low where she can access the books whenever she wants…. which is ALL THE TIME! Her favorite book is the Bright Baby “Primeras 100 Palabras” literally brings this big book around with her everywhere!
Minimal Art
Black and white images and things that aren’t very busy are recommended… I am not too sure if this I Love You ABC counts, but I love it! It was one of my few Pinterest projects that actually turned out well! She also likes to see pictures of family meaning her nana, tata, daddy, mommy, and her dogs so I have those accessible too.
Rock-A-Boat Seesaw & Floor Mirror
The floor mirror was something she used a lot while she was a baby. I used to lay her next to it as soon as 1 month old for floor & tummy time. The Rock-A-Boat which you can purchase here I know it is not cheap, but for us we saw it as an investment. We are the type of parents who favor quality heirloom toys vs lots of cheap toys. We introduced it at 11 months, but she didn’t have any interest in it though until about 16 months. The cool thing is that it acts as a stairclimber and then a rocking boat later.
