Please note that this space was sponsored by many of the brands mentioned in this blog. I may make a small commission if you purchase anything through these links.
I’ve always said kids’ rooms are my favorite to design, and this one was no exception. Our nine year-old daughter, Eva, leans gender-neutral in her tastes, loves color, but is also very decidedly “not childish” in her decor choices. And while Eva was both my most difficult and easiest “client” I have ever worked with, the whole family is really excited about how fun this space turned out.
Eva definitely struggles in the “decisiveness” department. She agonizes over even the smallest of decisions (which is something she doesn’t get from her impulsive mother). So, it took us approximately 3,000 hours to pick out a wallpaper (and she’s not even a teenager yet). But other than choosing the wallpaper and keeping her “house bed,” Eva left the rest of the design to me. I tried REALLY hard to get her more involved, but maybe it’s a bit of a blessing that she doesn’t really care too much about her room. I both wanted her to care and be involved, while also wanting to let my own imagination run wild. All that matters, though, is that she loves the end result. And I must say that I love that she loves it.
I knew wallpaper would be a perfect choice for Eva. She’s extremely creative and if you’ve ever caught my Instagram stories, I’m sure you’ve caught glimpses of some of her art. By seven years-old, Eva’s drawing and painting skills had surpassed my own. But what really impresses me most about Eva, as an artist, is how ripe her imagination is. She sketches up clothing that I could easily see on an Alexander Wang runway, and creates portraits that capture the very souls of her subjects. I know, I know. I sound like every other overly proud mother on this planet. But, truly, the kid has a gift. And I wanted her room to be a worthy space for her imagination to be fed.
As I mentioned earlier, Eva’s tastes lean gender-neutral. She loathes dresses and the color pink, and feels most comfortable in both clothes and spaces that don’t feel gendered. We searched for wallpapers from so many different brands, but finally landed on the Alpine Garden Multi wallpaper from Hygge & West. Because I knew Eva was going to be extremely picky about the wallpaper, I chose the paper first and worked from there. I was also really relieved to love the wallpaper as much as Eva did. I promised she could choose whatever she wanted, and the kid chose well!
It’s hard to believe that the Alpine Garden wallpaper is even more gorgeous in person. It has this wonderful metallic finish that catches in the sunlight. From a design perspective, I loved the palette of the Ebony color and knew it was going to be a lot of fun to design around it. I think a lot of people (even designers) take color a bit too literally. By that, I mean they might pull out colors from a rug or a wallpaper that are an exact match. I think that makes the room fall a little flat. I wanted to play around with the subtle blues of this wallpaper, but was careful to use different shades of that tone.
The first piece I chose was the Coco Lantern from Stray Dog Designs. This piece carried two shades of blue, both with green undertones to play off the blue in the wallpaper. I loved that the blue was an unexpected choice for the chandelier. I had originally planned to paint the ceiling the same color as the trim (Farrow & Ball Book Room Red), but decided against it. I really wanted this blue chandelier to share the spotlight with the wallpaper, and placing it against a white ceiling with this complementary ceiling medallion proved to be the perfect combination.
Now, let’s talk about that trim. The Alpine Garden wallpaper has so many different shades of poppy/terracottas in it. I wanted to play off of that color, but without matching any of them exactly. I also wanted to have fun with color on the trim (it is a kid’s room after all), but without it feeling too juvenile. At nine, Eva is solidly still a kid, but with the investment of the wallpaper, I wanted to make sure this is a room that can grow with her for a while. Book Room Red is a Farrow & Ball color I’ve been crushing on for a long time, and I just knew it would make the perfect complement to the wallpaper.
We also teamed up with Metrie to add crown moulding to the space. It’s strange that there is no crown in our Queen Anne style 1899 home (we suspect it was there in the past), so we’ve slowly been adding it to each space. We went with a 7.25-inch width and a design that would vibe with the window and base trim. I love how it works with the rest of the trim in the space to frame the wallpaper, and really finishes off the room. Here is the link to the exact crown moulding we used.
The other piece in Eva’s new room that has been asked about quite often on Instagram is this incredibly chic “Bold Chair” from Moustache (via IamFy!). Josie has a pink version in her room (in fact, it comes in lots of different colors), and it’s the perfect chair to pull up to a desk or to use as an accent chair, especially in a kid’s room. The colors are bold, the design is playful, it is easy to clean (the covers can actually be changed out), and the scale of the chairs is a bit on the smaller side. Here is the link to check it out.
The Roman Shades I ordered from Blinds.com. They are the Premium Relaxed Fold Roman Shades, and the fabric is Linenette Bark. Eva’s room, despite having three large windows facing different directions, tends to be a bit dark, especially when the foliage comes in. So, I wanted a shade that would be a bit sheer (kid wakes up with the sun regardless, so why try to shut it out). I thought black would be a bit too harsh, and I love that the brown softens the space and picks up those tones from the wallpaper.
And the very last items that really pulled the space together is this fabulous new bedding from Printfresh. Yes, Printfresh now has bedding and shower curtains and other textiles and they are absolutely fabulous! Eva was super excited about adding this elephant print to her room and the pattern mix between the wallpaper, rug and bedding is REALLY speaking to both me and Eva. Pattern mixing should be fun, and that’s exactly what this is. The elephants and stripes pull the warm blues from the rest of the room and really tie it all together. We even added the matching shower curtain to her bathroom that works to tie her room and the bathroom together.
To see where everything in the space is from, please find it all linked here:
RUG (it’s vintage, but check out my Capsule Collection for Revival here)
