Designing for the wee ones

Topping my list of favorite areas to design are rooms and spaces for kids. I absolutely love designing homes for young families. It's such an exciting time when families are starting out whether building their dream home or changing existing spaces to incorporate a growing family. Being a Mom I thoroughly understand the stuff! The toys and books and tiny treasures that must be fit into a home and how all these "things" kids need and love are constantly changing and evolving. You can design a room around an interest but no sooner have you completed the finishing touches and your kid has a new love! 

Designing for the wee ones is exciting and fun and typically incorporates lots of color and whimsy. No matter the size of your home smart storage is key to keeping kids happy while keeping the parents sane.  

Utilizing sophisticated colors and fabrics while adding personality through accents allows a room to grow and evolve with the child.

Here are a few pictures of my son's room...

His Lucite bedside table displays his favorite treasures while making the space feel more open with a fluid view to the bedding and drapery.  

Photo by Christina Wedge

When we first moved to the big boy bed we knew we had to push the bed against the wall for safety reasons and also to keep the floor as open as possible for playtime. I designed a custom headboard for two sides of the bed to provide extra padding and to create a daybed look as well. Orange and blue accents provide the pop against a soothing gray background that allows for limitless changes.

Photo by Christina Wedge

Kids love to create and display their masterpieces! These magnetic strips from IKEA are an economical way to add color and a fun element to kid space.

Photo by Christina Wedge

I don't have girls but I love designing for the girly girl too! This room below is one of my favorites. The soft pallet is very sophisticated and perfectly fits the personality of a little girl becoming a young lady. The Oly tiny pink chair, tufted monogrammed headboard, and feminine bedside tables from Bungalow 5 are a few of the pieces that help pull off this sweet space. Butterflies in shadow boxes from Natural Curiosities showcase a favorite of the client's daughter.

K Kong Designs Photo by Barney Taxel

I love this happy example of another little girl's room using pale green with turquoise panels and painted furnishings. The dresser with all of the little mirrored drawers was in instant favorite of this five year old and has become the treasure chest for all her jewels. The black and white floor lamp with the bird cage and little bird from Stray Dog is another best-loved addition. The painting from Sugarboo Designs balances out the eclectic mix and brings some additional colors into the space.  

K Kong Designs Photo by Barney Taxel

I just completed a space with two little boys rooms and a playroom designed to look like a tree house in between! Photo shoot was just completed and can't wait to share those spaces as well.

In the meantime, here are a few more of my favorites in the Pinterest world for the wee ones ...

Gorgeous use of color and pattern for an adorable girls room.

House Beautiful

One of my all time favorite playrooms from Lonny.

www.lonnymag.com

Incorporating whimsy with wall coverings is a fun way to add character to kids rooms. Being from a commercial background I'm known to use vinyl commercial grade wall coverings for children... virtually indestructible! This is a sweet pattern from Lulu DK for Schumacher and is precious for a nursery ....

www.luludk.com

Or this super fun "Buggie" pattern by Abnormals Anonymous at Paul+ for a little boys room.

Paul+

Decidedly masculine fresh and youthful. Amazing design from Jimmy Stanton.

Jimmy Stanton

Since the more the merrier with kids, bunks are a wonderful use of space especially in vacation homes. This one is fantastic!

Pinterest

Kelly Wearstler playroom - always cool.

Kelly Wearstler

I can always find accents at Jonathan Adler. He has an incredible line of children's pieces like this Rhino. Modern, sleek, and crisp to fit any color palette. I started collecting them for my sons room when he was born.

Jonathan Adler

Here's a link to more kids spaces on my Pinterest page...

Inspired by ... Christina Wedge

" You don't take a photograph. You make it." - Ansel Adams

Recently in searching for an interior photographer I was guided to contact Christina Wedge by several industry experts namely Brian Patrick Flynn of HGTV fame during a seminar at ADAC. Brian emphasized the importance of the need for gorgeous images in the design industry and especially images that you as a designer own.

 

christinawedgephotography
 

 

So with the goal of growing my portfolio I contacted Christina to photograph my personal home last fall. Christina was such a joy to work with, with her laid back although perfectionist style. She has an incredible eye and provides amazing input for each photo down to the tiny details. I cannot remember how many times we changed the coffee table vignette! Adding a book, a sculpture, flowers, a tray, and then painstakingly adjusting the height and angles of each object. The perfect photo was about taking away elements more than adding and this process is time consuming requiring infinite patience and a passion for art.

 

Her talent comes through the lens and translates into images that tell a story. Preparation for a photo shoot is key and my team spent hours shopping, arranging, steaming, ironing, etc. until we thought everything was perfect. And then Christina showed up and she pointed out so many things that we hadn't exactly perfected! She even taught us tricks to keep the pillow starched and straight. (Hint it doesn't include starch but packing tape!).

 

I feel so blessed to have met Christina and had her photograph several of my projects.

 

And her images have led to incredible opportunities that would not have presented themselves with my amateur photography. This week Better Homes & Gardens is coming to view one of my projects for an upcoming issue!

 

Christina shared some of what inspires her with us today. Thank you Christina for your unique perspective and inspiration on the design industry.


1. What is your most prized possession, what you can’t live without? My camera, family, friends, Hershey my chocolate lab and my red cowboy boots. 

2. What is your last purchase? A Cannondale slice race bike for my first Ironman this year.

3. What is the easiest way to update a space? Paint.

4. What would you say is the color of the moment? Well, for me it will always be orange.

5. If you could shadow any designer for a day who would it be? I would love to shadow the late Verner Panton. He was born in Denmark and made his name as a visionary designer.

wikipedia.org
 

6. Favorite restaurant… Atlanta: Optimist. Berlin: Frieda Kahlo restaurant.

7. What store/ catalog could you spend hours browsing in? Anthropologie.

8. What is your favorite way to spend a lazy Sunday? Lake or beach and Morellis ice cream.

9. Marilyn, Audrey, or Jackie? Jackie.

www.jacquelinekennedyonassis.tumblr.com
 

10. What’s the most inspiring thing you’ve seen lately? Memphis and the Stax Museum last month.

Here is a link to view Christina's portfolio.

 

 

Glamorous Life

 

Here are a few highlights from a recent install in midtown Atlanta with a picture perfect view. Contrary to popular belief, being an interior designer is not always glamorous, especially on install day! There are many variables that affect the job, for instance, a high rise with a view means the installation includes finding parking in a deck, hauling boxes of accessories and cleaning supplies from the car, through security, and up multiple floors to the job site. For a small job you are lucky to complete it in a day, but larger jobs can take several. So when you see on TV that they install a whole house in a day, know that there is probably an enormous installation crew, and/or they have done it in several days and "cut-out" that part. Preparation is key and my install kit includes a swiffer, Windex, nick stain pens in multiple stain options, trash bags, a level, pencils, wall anchors, measuring tape, light bulbs of all wattage and size, batteries, some tools, comfy shoes, and snacks! Inevitably you work through lunch and then when you do grab a late bite it's not the healthy salad option!

Thankfully we had a professional staff of installers from Masterpiece Installation Services to move the large items and place everything perfectly in place including changing the orientation of art and holding multiple choices up until the perfect fit was found. Even in this small one bedroom apartment there were five of us working, two from my office and three from the installation company and it still took all day.

 

So we start by unpacking, unwrapping, untagging, de-gooing, etc. Everything that was shipped or waiting at the installers seems to have a layer of dust that needs to be removed. Here the kitchen bar serves as a catch all for the the accessories that need to be dispersed in their proper positions.

 

The installers are laying the rugs from Surya and the rug pads while I am swiffering in the background. By the way if you spell check swiffering... it translates to "suffering". Very apropos!

 

Oh and here I am windexing a mirror before it's hung. You wear many hats as a designer and you cannot be afraid to get your hands dirty. In the end you want everything to be as perfect as it can be for the reveal to the client.

 

This space is serving as a company's accommodations for traveling members of their firm. A much more economical and comfortable option for traveling executives. Our goal in this space was to create a serene executive retreat with a luxury edge to make you feel a bit spoiled while working away from home.

 

The bedroom is a very  small space, but we tried to make it very tanquil with warm grey tones and a custom tufted black headboard. Originally we specified a queen size bed, which would have provided circulation space, but the client asked that we try to fit in a king. It works, but we had to forgo the second end table. The blank space over the headboard was filled with a weathered wood sunburst mirror but wasn't quite at the install date.

 

 

 

A workspace overlooking the city. Dark baskets will later be hung on the narrow wall space to add texture.

 

Here is a shot of the main living space with Bernhardt custom pieces. Artwork is a mix of the company's own art and a new mirror, which wasn't the original selection, but sometimes you have to improvise when items are backordered. Luckily we found something at Homegoods that fit the look and was a good size for the large wall. Isn't that floor lamp in the corner incredible? It has two shades and illuminates in both directions! This, as well as most of the other lamps in the space are from Arteriors.

Another shot with a bit warmer lighting. We tried to keep the surfaces durable since this is more of a "hotel" application. The metal coffee table from Noir and the metal and marble end table from World's Away are both beautiful yet durable solutions.Many of the accessories were purchased from Go Home.

A view to the balcony... here you can see an upholstered bar stool from Ballard Designs... oh and the trash bag we haven't removed yet!

 

 

In the end the client loved it, and that is all that matters. Hope you enjoyed this sneak peek behind the scenes. We will be having the unit professionally shot by Christina Wedge next week, so check back on the website to see her incredible work!