Today I’m happy to share some photos of a recently completed interior design for a girl’s room. Lola’s parents called in my help when they moved house and were struggling to come up with ideas for their girls’ bedrooms. They wanted the rooms to have a similar feel and fit in with the rest of the house, yet have their own identity. After some brainstorming and moodboarding, we opted for a soft grey-based style with pink and vintage accents. This is the result for Lola’s room – I will share her sister’s room a little later.
Lola’s room is made up of soft tonal greys with pink and blush accents. Most of the furniture is white but we added warmth with some natural timber. The two-tone curtains add a playful touch and tie the scheme together. The floral feature wall with bespoke alcove shelving is centred around a period fireplace. Lola’s grandmother painted the dollshouse that Lola already had in tones to go with the colour scheme and we added matching wallpaper inside. Vintage apple crates on castors provide characterful storage for toys and assorted decorative boxes keep less pretty belongings out of sight.
Between the windows with two-tone curtains we added a vintage style school desk and a house shaped trinket shelf. A simple wall sconce provides task light when Lola sits down to do her crafting. Next to that we created a snug reading corner in a teepee with cushions and a sheepskin rug. The pretty vintage wardrobe was sourced online and painted, to hold all of Lola’s clothes and shoes.
To bring the room’s scale down a little, we used a four poster bed with a ledge for pictures and books to create a snug nook for bedtime. A bedside stool, fairy lights and a reading lamp complete this corner.
I hope you’ve enjoyed Lola’s room as much as I’ve loved working on it!
images: interior design & styling by room to bloom, photography by brett charles
Time to share this Scandinavian inspired kids’ room I designed for a girl called Florence. Florence’s parents wanted a fresh, light feel for their daughter’s bedroom, which hadn’t changed much since she was a baby. We went for a complete make-over: the carpet was replaced with a wooden floor and the colour palette was reduced to off-white and a mix of mint greens and blues. To complement the floor, natural wood tones and a wool rug add warmth to this cool colour scheme.
A reading chair was also high on the list, and not being able to find quite the right bookshelf, I designed this plywood house shaped shelf myself. As Florence was starting school in September, we added a small desk. The animal map of the world seemed just the ticket or a girl who loves animals.
To make the most of the available space, we chose a rustic white bed with storage drawers underneath and a cute little step to get in. A wall shelf above the bed acts as a bedside table for books, a reading lamp and knick-knacks. Don’t you love the little trinket drawers? Perfect to keep treasures nearby.
sources: woodland animals, star cushion, heart cushion, harlequin wallpaper mint, animal map of the world.
images: design & styling by room to bloom, photography by brett charles, with thanks to nubie kids and molly meg.
I’m starting the new year with photos of a soft grey bedroom I designed for a girl called Charlotte. Charlotte didn’t particularly want a new room, thank you very much. But with a new baby brother on the way, it was time to move to a larger room and leave her cosy nursery to him. With a reluctant little girl, I had my work cut out.
To entice Charlotte, we opted for a cosy cupboard bed with doors. This would also scale the space down a little, to help her transition to a larger room. As soon as the bed arrived, Charlotte fell in love and that was that.
Both Charlotte and her mum love pink, but we decided to keep it in check with a soft grey background. A feature wall with tree wallpaper creates a cosy corner and sets the tone for decorative accents.
sources: swan head, star cushions, tree wallpaper, tree cushion, bunny rabbit light, numero 74 bedding, star wand, crown, grey blanket, toy basket.
images: design & styling by room to bloom, photography by brett charles, with thanks to nubie kids, molly meg and decobaby.
Today I’d like to share some photos of a gender neutral nursery I designed for a twin boy and girl a little while ago. My client didn’t want to know her babies’ sex until birth, so asked for a gender neutral nursery which she could accessorise after the twins’ arrival with more gender specific colour.
We went for a soothing grey scheme and a mix of timber and white furniture. We then decorated with blush and celadon accessories once the twins were born.
With two cots and a daybed in addition to a changing station and chair, the challenge was to create a lay-out that didn’t feel too crowded. By keeping the décor simple and making clever use of the space, the nursery retains a calm simplicity.
(images: room to bloom, photography by brett charles)
I recently designed this green kid’s room, a big boy room for Dylan. He had outgrown his nursery and Dylan’s parents asked me to help them turn a small guest bedroom into a special room for their son.
To stop the room from feeling “bitty” and crowded with lots of freestanding storage solutions, I designed a bed with storage drawers and chunky floating shelves around the chimney breast. The wall and joinery were painted in the same colour to create a feature wall.
The rest of the room was kept light and simple, with timber accents to add warmth to the room. You can see a bit more of the room here.
(images: design & styling by room to bloom, photography by brett charles)
Before we go into 2015, I wanted to share one of the children’s rooms I designed this year: Phoebe’s grey nursery. Having worked on her big brother’s room previously, it was great to be back and create a little haven for his new baby sister.
We needed to do quite a lot of work to get the room up to scratch before we could start decorating – you can see progress photos and read more about this here.
Phoebe’s mum asked for a peaceful nursery that would last, and didn’t want the room to be too girlie or pink. The inspiration for Phoebe’s nursery was a pretty baby blanket made with Liberty fabric from Sture & Folke. With an eye on the colour scheme for the rest of the house we chose a soft grey for the walls and woodwork, adding pretty bunny wallpaper behind the cot. The grey furniture has a vague fifties feel to it – which connects with other pieces in the house in this style.
The room was accessorised with violets, plums and a hint of pink. I am thrilled with the result, it feels so peaceful and pretty but not too cutesy. More importantly, Phoebe’s parents love the nursery too – in their words it’s now the best room in the house!
(images: design & styling by room to bloom, photography by brett charles)
Today I’d like to share some photos of a boy’s bedroom that I designed last year. This is Jonah’s blue room:
Here’s what the room looked like before the make-over:
The project was a close collaboration with Jonah’s mum and I love how fresh it’s all turned out. Although the astronaut bedding and moon wallsticker hint at a space theme, this blue scheme is super easy to adapt. You can find out a bit more about the transformation here.
(images: client’s and room to bloom, photography by the wonderful brett charles)
No pretty pictures today I’m afraid. Instead I thought I’d show you a peek behind the scenes of a nursery refurbishment I’m currently working on. In fact, I could have called this post “behind the walls, under the floor and in the ceiling”.
We’ve arrived halfway: from a tired old room to a fresh canvas, ready to be furnished and styled. This is my favourite stage of any project. What’s been in my head, on mood boards and drawings, now starts coming to life for my clients too.
It’s easy to forget how much work goes into getting to this point though…
On this particular project, the floor boards were too damaged to be refurbished (my original plan), so a new floor had to be laid. The floor voids were emptied of old builder’s rubble and redundant pipework, then insulated to get rid of cold drafts. The ceiling had been patched up after numerous leaks, it was cracked, sagging and held together with wallpaper, so this needed to be replaced. There was odd boxed out pipework on the walls and inside the fitted cupboards, out-of-date electrics, out-of-character cornicing and a broken hearth. Oh, and did I mention damp from a crumbling chimney, exposed exterior brickwork and a rotting window?
On the upside, there was some sweet period detail to work with, such as the fireplace and fitted cupboards. I discovered a patch of seventies floral wallpaper high up in one of them, which we lacquered to preserve.
Now to work on the interior decoration. I can’t wait to show you the finished project soon! x
(images: room to bloom)
Earlier this year I was invited to work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For those of you who aren’t familiar with their work, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants magical wishes to children who are fighting life-threatening conditions. One of such wishes is a room make-over.
My wish child was a little boy called Jack, who like many a 4-year old, is mad about Toy Story. Jack’s illness means he is severely limited in his mobility and his parents wished for him to have happy place where he would be surrounded by his favourite characters.
This was Jack’s room before the make-over:
And this is his new bedroom – with all Jack’s friends present!
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I couldn’t have done it without the help of some very generous sponsors who all rallied around to make Jack’s wish come true. Thank you so much to all of these wonderful people and organisations:
Photowall (self-adhesive Toy Story wall mural – adapted to fit Jack’s wall)
Wooden Blinds Direct (wooden venetian blind)
Love Carpet (Wilton Victoria carpet)
London Flooring Contractors (carpet fitters)
Skandivis (Happy Cat beanbag)
Little Baby Company (cloud duvet set)
Hello Monkey (number art print)
Babyface (denim letter J, bunting and other goodies)
Curtains Made Simple (cushions)
And of course Tony, who hammered, sawed and climbed into the loft without a grumble to make Jack’s wish come true.
Thank you guys! x
(images: room to bloom)
Today I’d like to show you another nursery that I completed a while ago. This grey baby room was for a sweet little boy called Tobias:
And this is what the room looked like before it became Tobias’ nursery:
Quite a difference, right? I’m super pleased how it all turned out, and more importantly – so are Tobias’ mum and dad : )
You can read a bit more about this project here.
(images: client’s & room to bloom, photography by brett charles)
