A "Soccer Locker" Boy's Bedroom

I'm sure most of my friends love HGTV's Design Star as much as I do. Well, it's more of a love/hate relationship with me. I love that it is an opportunity for the design contestants to show off their creativity and talents while being pushed to the limit. I also love that the whole world gets to watch their ideas come to life in a beautiful way. I hate some things about the show as well.....Well "hate" is a strong word, so I will say I dislike some aspects of the show: The ridiculous timelines in which to do a project and sometimes, the crazy challenges that they have to execute. And of course, my biggest pet peeve is the judges (especially Genevieve) referring to an element or vignette within the room as a "moment". With that said, I literally can't wait for Mondays to get my fix of Design Star.

One of the finalists that I am really rooting for is Kellie (minus the waterworks every week). I can tell that she is truly talented - although she has had a few mis-steps. Case in point: The last challenge was designing a soccer locker bedroom for a young boy, who was about 4 or 5 years old. He asked for a bunk bed and lockers in his room. Being the mother of a 9 year old boy, (and I believe Kellie has a young son as well), I know that that request should be taken literally. Instead, she decided to reinterpret what the young man was aking for, and came up with her own concept of a soccer locker.....Big Mistake!

This was the finished room. Not horrible, but could have been so much better.

I decided to make today's virtual bedroom a Soccer Locker using my son as the inspiration. He likes soccer (maybe not as much as his XBox 360). Most of the soccer elements we'll introduce are not the big ticket items like the furniture. When he grows out of the soccer phase (which he will sooner than you can say GOAL!!!), this room can easily transition to a different theme or no theme.

We'll start with the bunk bed. Yes, when a kid says bunk bed, they mean it. As one of the judges told Kellie "It's not up to you to decide what the client wants. It's up to you to make what they want work".

A bunk bed can work in a small room, it just requires a bit more thought with the color palette and the scale of the other pieces in the room. It is actually great in a small room to go vertical, and leave floor space for play time. this bed will work great along the longest wall and still have space for a homework area at the foot of the bed.

I decided to make the bunkbed a feature of the room and do it in a rich red. The simple lines of the bed keep it from taking up space visually. This bed is from Young America Furniture.

Next we'll introduce the bedding. We'll use this red and blue duvet and shams with the white patterned sheet set shown below. The yellow fabric will be made into a couple of pillows to add some contrast.

 For the windows we will do grommeted panels in a  solid dark blue coordinating fabric, and use the yellow fabric above to run a 2" strip along the leading edge of each panel

Next we'll focus on the walls in the room. Always keep in mind that kids rooms should inspire fun and creativity. We will paint a section of one wall in a magnetic chalk board paint and frame it with white moldings. It is a great place to write, draw and create. Because the paint is also magnetic, it will be a great area to display artwork. here's an example of a chalk board painted wall

The rest of the room will be painted white and possibly add some Fat Head posters of sports figures to the walls.

Next we'll add a homework area to the room. This is very necessary to encourage kids to get their homework done. We'll add a desk and chair. I chose a desk from Young America and chair from West Elm in pure white.

We can also add a cork bulletin board above the desk to display art. This is a great way to encourage kids to create works of art.

We'll also bring in a dresser for storage of clothes.

We'll also add some storage lockers to the room. This could be used near the lounging area and is a great place to store sports gear. We'll add just a couple lockers instead of the whole unit, to prevent the room from becoming too crowded. Here's also a great place for the television if there will be one in the room. the lockers will be painted a navy blue.

On to the most important area of the room, the video game and TV watching area. Even if there won't be a TV in a kids bedroom, having an area to lounge and relax is still a great use of space. We'll add a couple of rugs to ground the lounge area. This stripe rug from Pottery Barn Kids makes a bold statement. We'll layer a small soccer ball rug on top to add some visual appeal

We'll add these loungers from Pottery Barn Kids and maybe a yellow bean bag chair

There really isn't a need for more accessories in the room. We'll frame and diaplay some of the child's art or work on a fun project like using faux grass mounted on a board as art. Maybe in a checkerboard or solid pattern. This is a project that can be done with the child and will definitely be a conversation piece, plus it is appropriate for a soccer themed room.

As a designer, I try to discourage my clients from making a room too "themey", but in a child's room it is perfectly ok to decorate using a theme. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that kids minds change quite frequently, so keep it simple. Keep the more expensive, permanent pieces in the room simple and go crazy with accessories.

So there you have it, the room that Kellie should have done.

Hope you are inspired to create and decorate the home of your dreams.

My Top Three (maybe more) Fun Finds Of The Week Are:

These beautiful lamps are from Best and Lloyd, a company founded in Birmingham, England in 1840. They have produced fixtures for the royal family. They closed their doors in the U.S. during the depression, and after a 80 year hiatus they are back and still known for their quality craftsmanship. Here are a few table lamps and pendant.