roomtogrow

Fueled by technology, media and an abundance of do-it-yourself and home makeover shows, this generation of children and teenagers knows what it wants from fashion to furniture. While their parents may have been clueless, today’s kids are much more sophisticated.

“I blame myself,” said Ann Gareth, a busy mother of two, Anissa, 7, and Perry, 14. “I’ve indulged their trendy needs since they were little and now they want to decorate their rooms all over again, for every season.”

Gareth had hired a decorator for her children’s nurseries and chose colors that weren’t “too baby,” so that they could transition to a trendy bedroom as they got older.

“Now they come to me and ask for a certain chair they saw at Target or a rug they saw on some show, swap out the bedding to spruce up their room before school starts,” Gareth said. “It’s a lot of fun and they get to express themselves as their tastes change. They want the accent piece to speak for who they are or who they are aspiring to be.”

According to New York-based Easy Analytic Software Inc., youth furniture sales will generate more than $5 million by next year, an increase of almost 10 percent over the past five years.

Commercialism, pushed by technology, has assisted in the growth of the market. Children are a captive audience, watching between 25,000 to 40,000 commercials per year, according to Packaged Facts. Children and teens influence parental purchases to the tune of more than $130 billion a year.

Gareth can actually point the finger of blame at a former president. In 1929, Herbert Hoover sponsored a report on the home and the child, which concluded that children were independent beings with particular concerns of their own and advised parents to give children their own furniture in their own room to facilitate growth and education.

Since then, designers and manufacturers of kids’ furnishings have been capitalizing on this growing market as kids become more sophisticated and are demanding more from the furniture market, said Anne Barth Drinkwater, sales leader of Children’s Ikea and Ikea Family.

“One thing we know for sure at Ikea is that most parents desire furniture that is suitable for the child as they age and grow,” she said. “Ikea is all about children and their growth.”

Ikea plans to open its first Las Vegas location by summer of 2016 with a two-story, 351,000-square-foot store on 26 acres at Durango Drive and Sunset Road. There will be a large children’s furniture section.

“Moms want good furniture that can adjust,” Barth Drinkwater said.

Ikea’s research shows that 70 percent of mothers want furniture that is age appropriate and can be transformed from a child’s play place to a teen’s whimsical world.

“Children like small spaces; they like spaces that fit their size,” she said. “We have a twin-sized bed, extendable beds, that are twin in length but as the child may start with the furniture at 3 years of age, the child can be cozy in the bed and it can grow with them as they grow taller.”

The Minnen furniture line, priced at $149, can be extended to fit a toddler mattress and eventually a twin mattress in a wrought-iron frame that is pleasing to the parent and eventually the child, who can change the look with bedding and other accessories.

“We have a bed range that does grow with the child very well,” Barth Drinkwater said. “The Stuva storage planner is a great resource to plan what solution the child needs.”

Ikea’s collection pieces easily accommodate a child’s distinct personality and a mother’s desire to provide an inspirational atmosphere for her child to grow in.

“We see that furniture decisions are being made together, with the parent and children, and even at a younger age,” Barth Drinkwater said. “We as parents are catering to them, to what they are finding in the world today, the games, the shows, the apps. There is a plethora of choices.”

Just in the last decade, she has seen an increase in parents and children working together to create a room that reflects the child’s individuality.

“The neat thing about Ikea is that our products are designed from a child’s perspective,” Barth Drinkwater said. “We are a good fit (for) the children’s needs from the beginning. We also have an Ikea range for tweens, 10 to 15 years old, that is doing very well. All of our product development is based on the needs of the child.”

But they don’t leave out Mom and Dad.

“We design so that a child would feel really cool sleeping in a certain bed and the parents don’t have to spend the money to make that happen,” she said.

The Stuva loft set begins as a blank canvas with a white frame that holds colorful drawers. The loft bed with shelving and a desk starts at around $400. The drawers can be swapped out for different colors, pieces added as the child grows and requires a study area or nightstands or other storage needs.

“It is one of our more popular series of beds and a fantastic storage line that truly grows and changes with the child’s needs,” Barth Drinkwater said. “It’s an affordable way to change out fittings, buy different drawers, as the child wants.”

Furniture designers and retailers are extending their children’s furniture lines. At Fall High Point Market trade show in early October, many furniture makers came out with new furniture lines for little ones that offer a broader choice of styles and pricing to stay competitive in this continually growing market.

Legacy Classic Kids will launch two new Wendy Bellissimo collections, Big Sur and Harmony. Bellissimo launched the Inspirations collection last year with much success.

In-Room Designs will launch seven new collections for youth, including the Jasper bedroom collection with a clean, contemporary design that combines ebonized metal and rustic acacia solids and veneers.

Vaughan-Bassett is launching three new U.S.-made youth bedrooms for the premium segment of the market. The French Market Louise-Phillipe inspired line is available in French cherry, antique merlot, soft white and zinc, a distressed gray.

Nantucket offers a more casual cottage style in white and cherry finishes as well as a driftwood gray and dark brown finishes. The company’s more contemporary line, Commentary, has sleek lines in cherry and merlot and steel finishes with quartered oak drawer fronts.

The two twin bed sets retail for $499 with mirrors, dressers and five-drawer chests and nightstands sold separately to complement the sets. The groups also offer desks with built-in charging stations.

The market is enormous, said Stephanie Mitchell-Anthony, owner of Pas De Deux children’s boutique in Tivoli Village.

“I think that the children today are demanding more function and fashion in their decor than generations before because the children today come from a generation that has unique expectations, lifestyles, values and demographics that influence their buying behavior,” Mitchell-Anthony said. “Generation Y is so charismatic.”

Technology has had a hand in the upturn in children’s furnishings over the last decade.

“We live in a world of technology and trends and the kids are able to stay in tune with that via phone, iPads, apps, PC, social media and TV,” she said.

They are looking to find something that expresses their flair and individuality.

“The kids today know what they like and what they want from color, feel and style,” Mitchell-Anthony said. “The top sellers in our store are the unique dresses that allow the girls to express themselves through color and material.”