How to Design a Child’s Room

Don't let the littlest clients miss the opporuntity to have a well-designed space. Read on to hear how Sarah O'Dell of Dwell Chic Interiors designed a chic space for her own daughter. 

{Chic} Child's Play

As an Interior Designer who specializes in residential design, I frequently get asked what are my favorite rooms to design. And if you look at my portfolio, you can probably see where I shine. The projects that get the most attention, and what most of my clients reference when they call to schedule an appointment, are the rooms that I have designed for children.

Why do the nurseries, playrooms and toddler rooms draw so much attention?

Even thought these spaces are such a small section of the home, they continue to catch people’s eye. I believe it is because of the imagination that can be explored in a child’s room.

Colors, patterns and themes are all acceptable, and since it is such a small part of the home, clients are more open to letting me “go crazy”, if you will.

This toddler room is one that I designed for my 2 year old. I was pregnant with my second child and we were not interested in 2 cribs, therefore, soon-to-be big sister had to move out! Being completely exhausted and of course hormonal, I thought about how difficult it would be for my child to go from the center of her parents world to playing second fiddle to a newborn. Then, worse than that, the new baby would be taking her nursery and all her baby belongings away from her. Although I know kids are resilient, this seemed traumatic to me. I threw myself into creating a spot for my first born that would make her excited to enter into a new phase of life as a big girl and a big sister.

I tried to stay away from a themed bedroom in hopes that this room would carry my little girl past her toddler years, maybe even into her pre-teens with only minor updates and improvements.

We started with the wallpaper. I went through probably thousands of samples of pink wallpaper and I just did not find one that had enough personality for this sassy young thing! I finally decided to move the hot pink to the ceiling, and use Stroheim’s Twig Orange to cover every wall. The combination of orange and pink had just enough sass, and I was ready to continue to mix in more colors and patterns to keep this room Interesting at every turn.

Next, we found a feminine floral pattern curtain for the window, and another playful trellis pattern I was dying to use somewhere!

I ended up purchasing inexpensive benches off of a deal website and had my upholsterer railroad my second trellis pattern so that it would not compete with the Twig Trellis wallpaper. We kept the bedding solid and simple, found a few antique pieces to give the room some character, and topped it off with a gorgeous pendant light.

When we moved my daughter into her room, I laid in bed next to her to read her a book, and before kissing her goodnight, I asked. “Emerson, I just love your room. I think it is beautiful, what do you think?”

Her response: “I would like it better if it was green.” 

Love this room? See more from DwellChic. 

Sarah O'Dell is a guest blogger for Fabricut.
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