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.

A Caribbean Style Guest Retreat

 As a Caribbean girl, I am always inspired by the beautiful colors that can be found in my home town of Montego Bay, Jamaica.  On my visits home, I cannot help soaking up the sights of the clear blue skies, the varying blue and turquoise hues of the Caribbean Sea,the powder white sands of the beaches, the colorful and delicious fruits, and of course the lush greenery that's everywhere around you. As a Decorator in Katy TX, I rarely get the opportunity to decorate a Caribbean inspired room, so I decided to put together a beautiful, airy guest bedroom with influences from my home country. I was careful not to select pieces that were too beachy, which I think would be too cliche and expected. Although the beach is a very big part of the natural landscape of Jamaica, there's so much more to the island, so we'll hint at the beach without it becoming the theme of this virtual guest retreat.

First we'll start out with our wall color. We'll go with a fresh light blue green to set the tone for the rest of the room. Sherwin Williams SW6756 Crystal Clear is our color of choice.

Next we'll do something a bit unexpected. The ceiling in a room is often neglected. In our guest retreat we have the perfect opportunity to do something interesting by treating the ceiling as a fifth wall. We will incorporate natural grasscloth wallpaper in a coffered ceiling treatment. This Arrowroot natural grasscloth wallpaper will be applied between the trim of the coffered ceiling. For our application, we will simplify the trim just a bit, and maybe even whitewash it. We opted for an airy, light blue for the wallpaper so the focus will be the texture and not the color.

Next we will bring in our bed. In Jamaica, we love dark stained woods like mahogany and heavily carved, traditional pieces. I decided to take a more casual approach to our bed to keep the room more relaxed. This mahogany bed is from Noir Trading. The black hand rubbed finish gives it the casual feel we are looking for, and the carving, though not traditional, gives it a global, worldly feel and the four poster evokes a bit of romance.

For our bedding, we have chosen simple but luxurious egyptian cotton linen from Eastern Accents. We will add a few decorative shams and pillows to add a bit of interest.

Next we'll introduce our nightstands. These burlap shelves from Noir Trading are the perfect scale to act as nightstands. The open shelving is great for storing treasures collected on long walks by the beach. The simple lines of these nightstands work well with the intricate details of the 4 poster bed. The nail head detail gives them an elegant, timeless feel.

We'll now add a bench at the foot of the bed, which is a great place to sit and put on shoes or stacking pillows at night. The bench is from Noir Trading and will be done in the stripe fabric to tie into our bedding.

Next we'll bring in a dresser for storage and a full length mirror. When you have guests, always be mindful of the little things that will make their stay a bit more enjoyable and feel more like home. This dresser from Noir Furniture and Mirror from Studio A are great additions to the room.

Next we'll add a seating area in the room. This area would be great by a window or bank of windows. It is always a great idea to add some seating in a guest retreat or master retreat. Your guest will never want to leave.

The chairs are a classic wing back style with contemporary lines, done in a beautiful meadow green, knobby linen fabric from Kast Fabrics. We'll  also add a pillow to each chair made from the patterned fabric from our bedding shams.

The round ottoman is perfect for kicking your feet up and just relaxing. Guest rooms should always be inviting, comfortable and relaxing to give guests the experience of being at a five star resort. This beautiful "bullseye" burlap ottoman from Noir Trading is the perfect choice.

We'll also add a table to the seating area for a table lamp and maybe a floral and accessories. This sea horse table is definitely a novelty piece in the room, but is a great conversation piece and will add a touch of charm and whimsey. It is ok to add one or two whimsical pieces at most to a room but too much can come off as being too kitchey.

We'll add an area rug to define the seating area. This jute rug from Surya will be warm and cozy underfoot. Perfect for a relaxing reading nook.

For our window treatments will be choosing a gauzy, sheer linen fabric (unlined) that will mimic the feel of mosquito netting. Mosquito netting is frequently found in bedrooms in the Caribbean draped over four poster beds. As the name implies, mosquito netting is meant to keep mosquitoes away while you are sleeping. We have chosen this 100% Linen fabric from Kast Fabrics in a mineral blue to blend seamlessly with our wall color. This will give the room a more soothing and calming feel.

Now for our lighting. No room is complete without proper lighting. We'll bring in three table lamps (one for each nightstand and one for the table in the seating area), and a chandelier.

Now we'll tackle the art and accessories. The art we chose is definitely beach and tropical inspired. We chose an old Caribbean map and an old Ackee postcard to further capture the essence of being in a Jamaican Island retreat,



So there you have it, a restful, Caribbean inspired guest retreat. Some other helpful tips for creating a guest retreat are:

• Include a small coffee maker, mugs and coffee condiments in a hidden area in the room. This area can be incorporated in a cabinet or dresser or a niche built into a wall or hallway.
• Always have extra toiletries like soaps, toothpaste, deodorant, and toothbrushes etc handy in case your guest forgot to bring theirs. Arrange them in beautiful baskets or upholstered boxes to complemet the room.
• Aways have extra towels and bath robes on hand
• A notepad and pen or pencil is great to have on hand
• An alarm clock

Just think about the comforts of home you cannot live without, and go all out for your guests. They may never want to leave, which may be a good or bad thing?

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


My top three Fun Finds of the week:

This great mid century modern sofa frm Room Service. I just love the wood trim of this piece. Quite a handsome piece!

This handsome Klismos chair. I can imagine a fun geometric fabric as the seat cushion.

This cute shabby chic inspired bench from C.R. laine. Perfect the way it is!