Child’s Bedroom

Designing children’s bedrooms is an exercise in restraint for a parent.  As a child grows and their sense of independence and personal preferences evolve, they will want to reflect their evolving personalities in their private living space.  Unless the client has unlimited funds and a strong sense of indulgence, I always apply some sensible guidelines to the design of a child’s room.  The primary rule is to limit the whimsical design elements to things that are affordably replaced: wall color, bed linens, and accessories.  The more costly elements such as window-treatments, carpet, furniture and light fixtures should be more age-neutral and should lend themselves to a changing environment.

In this project, a 3 year old was transitioning to a big-girl bed so it was the perfect time to change the nursery into a room that would take the child from her early years through High School if desired.  A medium-length shag in a neutral camel color was selected for the floor-covering and a sleigh-bed provides the right kind of charm to appeal to a child as well as an adult.  The windows are dressed with simple double-pleat panels of a heavy white cotton embroidered with pale pink polka dots – very subtle. A white-washed chandelier with crystal flowers introduces a bit of glam and sparkle.  An old, ugly bedroom set of surprisingly good construction was stripped of its heavy nautical-style hardware and its inlaid carving was filled in with wood-filler. I white-washed the set and then glazed it down to make it look like it had been peeling and fading in a farmhouse for decades.  Adding pulls from MacKenzie-Childs gave the set a playful nature.  A rocking chair was loaded to overflowing with a riot of stuffed animals and a canopy of mosquito netting was ceiling-mounted over the bed to provide the child with a sense of magic as well as privacy.  Whimsically-painted stools were purchased to help little people reach closet shelves and some wrought-iron and crystal “thingies” of no purpose that we found at a swap-meet were suspended from the ceiling in front of the windows where they catch the light and swing in the breeze.  Since little girls are fascinated with storing their treasures, antique brass boxes with toggle closures and stackable boxes covered in country paper complete the look of an innocent, childish clean space that is easily reinvented again and again as the child matures.