Archive for 2018
Lately my eye has been drawn to children’s rooms made up of warm neutral tones. Honey, clay and rose. Plaster pinks to peachy oranges. Skin tones, nudes. Dusty reds and warm ochres. Mellow wood features heavily, as well as other natural textures like rattan, wicker and hemp. I love the offset with cooler green-blue-greys. PS: note the on-trend wall hangings in the gorgeous children’s room above. Rainbows are popping up all over Instagram.
Light walls, warm peachy tones and an oak herringbone floor… love the playroom that Steffi has created for her daughter. Spot another mini-trend in kid’s interiors: oversize floral wall stickers.
A perfect (in my eyes) combination of cool and warm tones in this quirky, vintage inspired – and gender neutral – children’s room. Loving that rattan doll’s bed and the wall hanging on the left.
I adore the bed in this cosy girl’s bedroom that Mirjam Hart created for her daughter. Painting a standard white piece of furniture in an outspoken colour is transformational.
Darker rusty pink in an all white girl’s room with more oak herringbone flooring. Sigh.
I am still very much in love with lighter nude schemes – this room feels so delightfully bright and soothing.
Oh my. Ochre and clay against a pale celadon background. Utterly beautiful. Loving the clever storage bed too.
Cool grey and dirty blush are beautifully juxtaposed and both work like magic with the pine floorboards and other natural wood decor. Which child wouldn’t love a raised bed like this?
Another example of warm pinky nudes, white and lots of texture. What a sweet nursery Missy Kyree has created for her daughter.
A study in warm ochres, caramel and chestnut – how to style your child’s play kitchen. I say it is possible without plastics and primary colours.
Beautifully tender nudes in this girl’s bedroom by Chloeuberkid. Love the picture frames with little figure inside.
images: christine_simplybloom, steffi martina, mylene kiener, mirjam hart, cotemaison, andreamaso, anna malmberg, missy kyree, irina pushko, chloeuberkid
Have you seen Hibou Home‘s dreamy new children’s bedding collection? I am a big fan of their children’s wallpaper range, so was super excited to find out Hibou has now launched a kids’ bedlinen range too.
The floral design in pale rose has stolen my heart, closely followed by the light grey stars set – both would fit in so easily with many of my room designs, I can’t wait to style some of my new projects with them.
The bed linen features simple little patterns reminiscent of the wallpaper designs, and comes in a pretty range of colours.
As you’d expect from a quality brand, all Hibou’s bedlinen is made from soft 100% organic cotton and OEKO TEX certified, so it’s safe for children’s skin and kind to the planet too.
images: hibou home
Have you ever wondered what working with a children’s interior designer is like? And who the people are who hire them? Then hop on over to Lunamag.com, where I answer these questions and share some of the work that goes into a designing a children’s room.
image: room to bloom
Today I’m super excited to share a green based woodland nursery design I completed a little while ago for a little girl. Oona’s bedroom is adjacent to her big sister’s room (which I posted about here), though much smaller. I really like small nurseries, they feel nice and snug and somehow fitting.
The design brief was to create a cosy and beautiful nursery that worked well with the adjacent bedroom in terms of colour, as they are interconnected. Green is an accent colour there, so we decided to make this the nursery’s main colour, which also works well with the oak floor and aspect of the room. A beautiful whimsical woodland wallpaper design sets the tone and provides lots of detail to gaze at. The colours pull together the other finishes in the room.
As there was limited space, we prioritised room for a cot and clothes storage. A vintage single wardrobe in dusty green blends with the background to keep things feeling spacious. The cot is a simple, open design in a similar tone to the floor, minimising contrast which helps the space feel calm. A two-tone wall creates a cosy corner and backdrop for the cot. To tone the yellow oak floor down a little, we used a light, bear shaped rug which provides a soft surface for play.
For now, some floor cushions, a toy basket and a house shelf give Oona enough to play with. An small book ledge for favourite books is easily accessible. In the future, a cabinet or book shelf can be added to provide more storage.
The result is a calm yet fun to interact with space, that will adapt easily as Oona grows up.
images: design & styling room by bloom, photography by brett charles
with thanks to lidor: wooden animals, wooden alphabet blocks, maileg bunnies; and to wijs west: shoes
for further sources, please follow me on instagram, where I tag lots of the products that I use in my designs x
I went to Maison & Objet in Paris earlier this month, to get inspired by the new collections in kids’ interiors and design. I particularly loved the new children’s bedding collections from Hibou Home, Garbo & Friends and Camcam Copenhagen – gorgeous colour, pattern and texture abounded. These are my highlights – enjoy!
From top left to right:
Siou Leon | Fabelab | And the Little Dog Laughed
Nobodinoz | Maileg | Camcam Copenhagen
Camcam Copenhagen | Camcam Copenhagen | Hibou Home
Lilipinso | Garbo & Friends | Garbo & Friends
images: room to bloom
My latest post for Luna is all about decorating children’s rooms when moving home. This can be a bit of a challenge, for example if the new bedroom is a very different size to the old one. As it’s a blank slate, there’s an opportunity to make it really special, but where to start? For tips and ideas, read more at Lunamag.com.
image: room to bloom
Of course, the minute I posted my previous round-up of my favourite natural wood doll’s houses, I spotted this beautiful A-frame doll’s house by Such Great Heights – an on-the-spot new favourite. And I’m not alone: it’s sold out, but more will come in stock. Check out their other beautiful wooden toys too – love the truck and the doll’s chair.
images: such great heights
I’ve put together some of my favourite wooden doll’s houses for children’s rooms. I really love how they can be used to decorate a room – some of the dollshouses below feature in my children’s room designs.
I’ve chosen all wood ones, as I think these go with any scheme and don’t add more “noise”, but if you have an expensive dolls house and the colours aren’t right, why not paint it? The dolls house in Lola’s room used to be blue and pink, but it it fit right in after it was painted. Another idea is to use wallpaper on the inside of the house – using wallpaper samples or any pretty patterned paper, such as wrapping paper or Japanese paper. I’ll do a round-up of some of my favourite examples in a next post.
sources: 1. plan toys victorian dolls house 2. zara small wooden house 3. olliella holdie house 4. john lewis leckford wooden dollshouse 5. ferm living funkis doll’s house 6. ikea flisat doll’s house wall shelf 7. ashburton dolls’ house kit
I’m so excited to share new photos of a girl’s bedroom design that I recently completed. It’s a room close to my heart: Freya’s mum loved my style and fully trusted me to create something beautiful for her daughter, yet it’s also the result of a close collaboration.
We made contact just before the family moved country. Freya’s parents’ priority was to settle their daughters in their new life abroad as quickly as possible, starting with their bedrooms. Transitioning from a converted cotbed in a small bedroom to a much larger room with a “big girl bed”, the brief for Freya was to create a warm and welcoming bedroom, where she could retreat and feel inspired.
From the beds I proposed, Freya was super excited about a house frame bed, which is great for larger rooms. It creates a room within a room, feeling snug when transitioning from a toddler bed. We backed this with a beautiful floral wallpaper to emphasise the room-within-a-room effect. There were several colourways, from which Freya chose a soft lilac, grape and green design. This formed the base for the room’s new colour scheme.
Next on the list was a generous desk, where Freya could explore her creativity and interests. I designed a child sized desk from rustic scaffolding boards, including a pin board and storage, backed by a dusty purple background. Above the desk we created a mini gallery with existing prints and new.
I love vintage furniture to soften a room and add character, so on the other side of the room, a wide, multitasking vintage wardrobe holds Freya’s clothes and books. Next to it, a clothing rail with a storage drawer creates a dress-up area. In the large bay window, we found room for an heirloom dollshouse.
The result is a beautiful, light and restful room for Freya to make her own.
images: design & styling by room to bloom, photography by brett charles
with thanks to lidor: maileg dress-up clothes and bunnies, numero 74 star cushions and dress-up clothes
for further sources, please follow me on instagram, where I tag lots of the products that I use in my designs x
Curious to know how I choose colours for kids’ rooms? Head on over to Lunamag.com, where I share my approach to choosing colours for children’s rooms as a children’s interior designer. It might not be what you expected!
Images: room to bloom
