I have two very special clients right now. One is obsessed with “One Direction” and fairies, and the other is more prone towards Ninja’s and “Star Wars.” And they are both VERY fun to work with. She is nine, he is five, and they both have pretty good style and great spaces.
As I started conceptualizing their spaces, I realized I was pinning a lot from the Land of Nod site, so I pitched Land of Nod the idea of using their products in the bedrooms, BUT mixing them with vintage pieces to create a room that is totally unique and stylish, even though it’s technically full of “big box” pieces.
So I’ve partnered up with Land of Nod to redesign these kid’s rooms, and they are looking goooooood.
When I came into the job the bedroom was being renovated due to water damage, like so:
They were installing new flooring and repainting. Her walls were yellow before, and she was super over it.
So we quickly picked a color, after painting many a swatch up on the wall:
She said she loves hot pink but didn’t want a too girly room, so we choose aquas and teals to counter the hot pink, but still feel young and fresh. I mean, she’s nine; I still wanted it to be youthful without being “baby, ” and pink without being an explosion of pink.
We chose the top left color — “Quartz Stone” by Benjamin Moore. Just as a note when swatching for clients — I always do a variety of colors, including some I don’t necessarily think are right. By seeing all the colors together they feel more confident about their choice instead of thinking … I wonder if it should be darker? So I try to nip that doubt before we have to go for another round of swatching. I give them a darker option, a really light option, a few safe medium options, and a couple that I think are my favorites and slightly riskier. I truly could have made any of these work — they are all really pretty colors — but this light aqua-y-mint color is so happy and bright and fun. My nine-year-old client pointed to it instantly and I was excited to work with something so young and fresh, yet make it modern and not too “baby.”
Ah yeah …
The room has such a good start, the wall color is perfect and the furniture they already have is great. Plus, they bought that huge Michelle Armas canvas print, which is beautiful.
The challenge:
1. To please a very opinionated and stylish nine-year-old girl, who doesn’t want a little girl’s room, but loves aqua and hot pink.
2. To create a room that she can grow into until she graduates from high school, even. Her very lovely parents probably aren’t going to hire a decorator again when she’s 13, so this room needs to be full of furniture that can transition into teendom.
3. To mix these very diverse styles together to create a cohesive look, but one that is totally unique to her.
So I pulled together a mood board using the Land of Nod pieces, mixed with the already there antique pieces:
1. I Could’ve Been A Container 2. Ruffle Curtains 3.Hue-Nighted Nations Map 4. Michelle Armas canvas print The Bowtie I Like 5. Perfectly Perforated Pendant 6. Singing in the Rain Forest Bedding 7. Between a Rock Lamp 8. Sparkle Pillow 9. Pull Up a Pouf 10. Gummy Bear Lamp 11. Rags to Riches Rug 12. As You Wish Storage Bench 13. Modern Clip Lamp 14. Fall Foliage Leaf Wall Art 15. Jenny Lind Bookcase
The items they already had were:
1. The antique iron bed, passed down from her grandma, and so sweet and pretty. (The pics in the mood board are just pulled from online.)
2. The antique dresser, again inherited.
3. The vintage desk, from her grandma.
4. The Michelle Armas print. Luckily, I LOVE this and it was one of the reasons that I chose to work with them on this project. They wanted me to use this piece as the inspiration for the room so I knew that they had good taste and we were on the same page, stylistically.
5. The night stand (not shown), which is vintage but mid-century, and I totally love it. They had just purchased it from Etsy.
Right now, we have installed about 75 percent of the room and are waiting on a couple lamps that are on back order, as well as a custom bench. But after we installed this much, I got an email from the mom asking if we heard the screams from their house the night they got home from vacation and found her room all decorated. I guess she was freaking out, screaming, just so happy … which makes us VERY happy.
So to celebrate their screams and thank all of you for reading and following along, Land of Nod is giving away that amazing Between a Rock gold lamp that is universally loved.
All you have to do is leave a comment with your favorite Land of Nod piece in this post comment field. BUT, you can get an additional entry by “liking” me on my Facebook page and “liking” Land of Nod on their Facebook page. After you “like” us you leave two additional comments saying that, and then you’ll be entered three times. We’ll choose a random winner (from random.org) this Friday, the 18th.
I’ll announce the winner on this post, so come back for the update and PLEASE make sure to leave your email address. It won’t be submitted into anything; it’s just so we can contact you to say “Congratulations on your new dope lamp.”
How do you feel about the aqua and pink combo? Can you get behind it?
UPDATE: CONGRATULATIONS Rmily of @littlebitsofdelight for winning. She was number 529 (of 788, nice job guys). Land of Nod will be sending you your lamp! Thanks for playing. 🙂
