I love doing bedrooms – whether for toddlers or for grown ups – the bedroom is the one place with a lot of personalization potential! My favorite bedroom designs are those for kids. This is where we get the opportunity to provide great spaces for homework, play and imagination!
Here are a few of my most favorite designs and the stories behind them.
Josh’s Bedroom
Josh is a vibrant pre-teen with loads of personality and a competitive streak bigger than his mom and dad’s combined. Of course, having parents who are big Ohio State fans influence his team loyalty. For his 10th birthday, his parents wanted to give him a room to be proud of. Below is the room before:
The first item on the list was to get an Ohio State emblem from www.fatheads.com and his dad got a big one! Then we brought in Sorin to paint the room, including the stripes, to match the colors of the decal.
After the painting is completed, my mission was to find bedding that coordinated well with the theme colors and lends itself to changes as Josh grows – in other words, neutral bedding rather than bedding with designs on it.
No room is complete without the personal touches. Adding wall shelves for his trophies and using some photos of Josh and his family added the perfect personalization to the room
Of course, every young person needs a place to study – with a new desk and hutch, Josh has the perfect set up to get alot of homework done 
Alex’s Bedroom
Alex is more than a budding musician, at the young age of 14, Alex plays Jazz with the best of them and his favorite instrument, the guitar, inspired me to make his room both functional for homework as well as a great place to practice. When we started, Alex, like most teen boys, isn’t exactly organized. The mission was to organize the room, provide a place for his guitars in a manner which they could be used while also providing great wall art, and make a place for him to study. Below is what Alex’s room looked like before we began:
The first order of business was to paint Alex’s room in his favorite color, then arrange new furniture to provide the space and function he needed.
Then we used guitar hangers to place his guitars on the wall in an arrangement that was both artful and useful.
Of course, every musician has a favorite instrument which stands out among the rest. I felt the need to not only hang the instrument in it’s own place, but to create a canvas painting to highlight the instrument as it hangs on the wall when not in use.
Alexa’s Room
Not to be outdone, Alexa, Alex’s little sister, wanted a room that showed her personality. No longer into pinks and purples, Alexa wanted a total Bobby Jack makeover for her room. Below is what Alexa’s room looked like before:
Not only was Alexa’s room painted, but the furniture as well – to coordinate with the Bobby Jack motif.
Not wanting to stop there, I built cornices and used fabric to add details to the design:
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After jumping up and down and falling in love with her room all over again, Miss Alexa has a room that is a great reflection of her personality!
Aiyanna and Briella
Two little girls, one big playroom. Our goal was to create a space for the girl’s to play as well as learn. With so many toys and games, we had to start with some organization.
One of my recommendations to anyone in need of organization is when you run out of horizontal space, go vertical. We did just that by adding some simple shelves from Ikea.
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Once we got the toys and games organized, next came the fun! I like playing with window treatments to see how many different ways a simple panel can be changed. For this room, we played and played and decided adding just a bit of hot pink was just enough to add some color, but I needed to add more “girly” so I made little floral bouquets to the tiebacks.
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We weren’t done! All around the room were scrolls and flowers and of course “Sugar and Spice” quotes we made with Pam’s machine. This was a fun project for us girls, almost making us wish we were four again!
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Sean’s Room
I love painting – usually it’s on canvas. When Sean’s mom said he wanted his room to be painted with an ocean view, I just had to jump in and go for it. Here is Sean’s room before:
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Doing an ocean scene is easy in some regard. My sticking point was how to incorporate the window into the overall scene itself. After much thought, I decided to make curtains which resembled a beach cabana (those old fashioned tents that you change in).
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It takes more than two days to complete a mural of this size. I went back and painted in the seagulls, crabs and other details, and this is what I did
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And the finale –
A beach loving bedroom
Oh the fun to be had when designing kids’ rooms! What do you think?
Happy decorating!
Kate
