Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School!

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama





Tweens want cool rooms. Often it is so they can sit and brood, but mostly it is just because who doesn’t want a cool tween room!? When it was time to evolve our bedroom situation, getting our cool tween ready for middle school, there was no question what the décor would be – Harry Potter all the way!

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

My daughter has been a good sport the last four years. When we had her baby brother, she and my middle son began sharing a room. They had the coolest bunk beds in town and a pretty sweet set up that was the perfect brother/sister hang out. But then she began to feel she needed her own space. We agreed that when elementary school ended, we would switch her out of their room and into her four-year-old brother’s room. The excitement of my boys to create a “bro-cave” was reason enough! This was the perfect summer project with plenty of time to get ready to go back to school.

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

Where Do You Begin?

As a girl going into 5th grade, she was ready for a sophisticated room. She loves turquoise and blue, so we started with that color scheme. Luckily, the room was already painted a shade of blue that she loved! We took some furniture measurements and when the day came – July 31st (Harry Potter’s birthday, of course) – we were ready to go!

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

Cool Tween Room Wall Art

The most exciting part – and the entire focus of the room – is this spectacular removable wall mural from Recall Art that I found on Etsy. Igor – the owner – was amazing to work with and helped me pick out the perfect size to fit the wall. It honestly is the coolest thing I have ever seen and what I stare at when I sit in her room. I don’t think I could have found anything cooler. It was easy enough to put up and just makes the room amazing. It’s simply the coolest accent wall I have ever seen.

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

Cool Tween Room Seating Options

Next, we thought about the ideal lounge chair for a cool tween room. We quickly decided it had to be a bean bag chair! We wanted a really good one and in the perfect shade of blue. Our search led us to Big Joe’s Kid’s Fuf in cobalt. The foam in this chair is so comfortable and just mushes around you. It’s a given that at any moment you can find her curled up with a book sitting on her Fuf. It is so perfect. Plus, now that she will be doing remote learning for school, it is a great flexible seating option!

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

A Great Place to Do Homework

Speaking of flexible seating options, what would a cool tween room be without a proper desk to do homework? We were lucky to get this beautiful drop-down secretary – a family heirloom – for her room. It has a huge space where we can put all kinds of fun desk organizers. But even better, at the end of the day we just pop the drop lid up so we cannot see the mess!

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

Along with a good desk, a cool tween room needs a good desk seat. But not just any old seat. What she doesn’t know yet is we got her a Kore Pre-Teen Wobble Stool (in dark blue). This is going to be her first-day-of-school present. She first met this stool in her 4th grade classroom, and it was love at first site. This flexible seating option was her absolute favorite and she is going to flip out when she sees it, I cannot wait! Again, with her doing remote learning, this will be the perfect addition to her room. The fact that she wanted it makes it even better!

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

Cool Tween Room Storage

Storage was the next area for us to tackle. Cool tween rooms have a lot of clothes, and a lot of stuff. We were lucky to have more family heirloom furniture (again in blue!) that fit perfectly. Because the room is on the smaller side, and she has very little clothing that hangs, we decided to put the dresser in the closet to save some real estate. We then added in a three by three cube organizer that brought everything together. This was the perfect option to neatly store her books, but also big enough that she could store her jewelry boxes and put in some fun Harry Potter décor.

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

The Perfect Bed

Bedding was the next area we tackled. When we went to family camp last summer I bought her a white duvet cover to batik. The turquoise color came out great and it worked with the room so well. We also found the most perfect denim colored sheets. All of this on top of her trundle bed, with a few accent pillows and she was good to go!

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

Cool Tween Room Decor

Last, we needed to spiff up this cool tween room with some decorations. She is an avid artist, so this was not hard. We did a girl scout event at Casa de Spin – a spin art studio by our home – earlier in the year. With her new room in mind, she made a painting in multiple shades of blue. The painting matched perfectly and really brought everything together. On the other walls she was excited to hang up paintings I did that made her happy (cool tweens still love their Mommy!). The last step was putting together her new lava lamp, which turned out to be the perfect night light.

Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School! - The Mint Chip Mama

It is All About the Blues…

She is so happy with how her room turned out. It is amazing how all the colors and furniture came together to make a really beautiful room. It is the perfect place for her to relax, do art, do her schoolwork, chat with her friends, and of course – the most important thing for a cool tween – make TikTok videos.

Published by Stacey Wallenstein

Stacey Gish Wallenstein created The Mint Chip Mama blog in 2013 to share her love and passion for giving children meaningful life experiences and helping moms like her navigate the challenges and benefits of raising children in the New York metropolitan area. Before becoming a full-time mom in 2010, Stacey spent the better part of the preceding decade as a high-end customer relationship management (CRM) professional for some of the most well-known brands in the hotel, luxury, fashion, and beauty industries, such as Harrah’s Entertainment, Chanel and Christian Dior, Inc. She managed customer loyalty programs for thousands of clients around the country and created social media strategies for a span of industries including healthcare services, restaurants, consumer packaged goods, specialty foods, local attractions and retail locations. After 13 wonderful years in Manhattan (the last three of which spent as a city mom), Stacey and her husband moved to Long Island in 2014, where they now reside with their three children (13, 9, and 7). There, she is a founding member of her local Parenting Center, which provides classes and coordinates events designed to educate and inform parents while fostering an environment of support and friendship within the community. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Stacey has been active in the New York area alumni organization for nearly twenty years, serving as a board member on the school’s University of Michigan Alumni Club of New York City. She also holds a Masters in Psychology from The New School in New York City. Please check out The Mint Chip Mama in the Press: The New York Post, Psychology Today, NY Metro Parents, New York Family, Parents Magazine, Newsday, News 12, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: Kids, NerdWallet, Big Apple Kids Guide, and more! The Mint Chip Mama was also nominated as "The Best Blog On Long Island" for 2022 & 2023, one of the Top 20 New York Mom Blogs & Websites, and one of the Top 100 Mom Lifestyle Blogs on the web! For more updates, follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Pinterest.

7 thoughts on “Designing an Easy & Cool Tween Room for Middle School!

  1. How fun! I love that the closet was a Container Store Closet! [full disclosure – my office is by Container Store!] Also like that it’s not a massive, expense ‘do over’. Kids change their minds about what they love quicker then I can say – HEY! Get off Amazon! ;0 Would also love to see the Bro-Cave.

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