So reads the title of a recent Wall Street Journal article.
When a family embarks on a redecorating project for, say, a living or family room, it’s smart to get input from all family members. When you’re focusing on the design of a child’s room, well, effectively there are only 2 stakeholders: the one sleeping in the room, and the one paying for it.
How much input SHOULD a child have? Obviously I support taking his or her favorite color into account, but I think common sense has to rule the day.
(Common sense and heart: one of the designers in the Wall Street Journal article likes black and white palettes for children’s rooms. That just makes me sad.)
ANYway…
The occupant of the bedroom above loved green, but the parents and I didn’t think green walls were ideal here. Instead, we did a snazzy aqua on the walls, and then installed green shag FLOR tiles. (They’re excellent in case the child spills something that stains; just pop it out and replace.)
We also included green in the accents, such as the trim on the smaller Roman Shades and the amazing pendant light from Stray Dog Designs. Because the little girl was so young, we wanted a color scheme that would age well. Aqua and green are fabulous at any age ;)
I DID go for green walls in this bedroom:
This little girl was about 7 when we designed her room, so we thought her favorite color (grass green) might have staying power. Most people resist saturated wall colors because they’re concerned a room will feel too dark (I have lots of opinions about that, but that’s a different blog post!), but this bedroom happens to get a ton of light from different directions.
The little girl also loves pink, thus the bedding and window seat pillows, which are easily changed if she outgrows them. My clients invested in great quality furniture, so even though this little girl will age out of the bunk bed eventually, the dresser will stand the test of time.
I’ll admit that this client and I didn’t seek her daughter’s opinion much when we designed her bedroom:
The little girl wanted pink walls, so that was easy. But then we fell in love with this Manuel Canovas fabric and HAD to use it for the headboard. Yes, the background is mustard yellow (not the first color you might think of for a little girl’s room), but there were so many other colors to pick up on!
We did make this cute little pillow for her reading chair. So that’s kid-dy.
This little girl wasn’t an active part of the decorating process, but she loves her “fancy” bedroom. When she was super little, the velvet duvet was brought out for special occasions, and a washable pink duvet cover took its place.
If you’re lucky, the child ends up liking what you intended all along. When my daughter Ruthie was 6, she decided that she didn’t want to share her room with her twin sister anymore.
Somehow I managed to use what we already had and make it seem like it was her idea. I remember the orange ceiling being a BIG DEAL when we decided on that.
You can see a picture of the room here along with a note from Ruthie — it’s really cute! After the project was finished, Ruthie kept sleeping in her sister’s bedroom. Turns out that she didn’t really want her own room; she just wanted to decorate one. Huh.
Bossy color | Annie Elliott interiors is based in Washington, D.C. We create outrageously beautiful homes, starting with color.