A Fairy Tale: Child’s Room Design

A dream is truly a tender wish right from the heart, and one of my most recent interior design projects was absolutely a dream-come-true child’s bedroom. I am so excited to share with my blog followers this princess-inspired, child’s room design.

My client’s daughter’s love for Disney, the color blue and princesses were the three notions for the design concept of her room. The home is in a beautiful woodland setting. So, the design challenge was conjuring an inspired fairytale theme to complement the style of the home, as well as planning a relaxing and aesthetically appointed bedroom for the sweet girl who would be using it.

I began conceptualizing the interior by incorporating the client’s daughter’s style preferences, favorite themes and pastimes into her bedroom design. She requested a theme based on playful princesses, her favorite hues of blue, areas to dress and read, a custom space for her TV that would allow her to watch shows from bed and an open layout with a lively design.

Soft color palettes of blues and silvers brought the space to life and evoked a princess’ palace. I designed a cozy window nook for reading to give her a special retreat. Inspiration from a flowing waterfall-style window treatment was used to concept and design a hand-painted, over-bed mural. Finishing touches for the bed included a custom-made coverlet and matching decorative pillows.

As an accompaniment, I also designed fresco-style murals of billowing draperies on select walls of the bedroom, as if looking outdoors from inside the princess’ castle. I sourced a glass and mirror-faced dressing table and unified it with a skirted, patterned chair.

The designed murals, which tied into the fairy tale theme in a tasteful, elegant fashion, generated height illusion for the space, which solved the problem of the room’s pitched ceiling and walls.

Using Venetian mirrors and mirrored furniture, I added depth and reflection from all areas of the room. An Italian crystal chandelier was custom-crafted to gently light the room and supply a glittering ambiance.

One of the room’s most special features was a remote-operated, tufted-velvet television cabinet at the foot of the bed, which I created. Not only did this allow the room’s occupant to easily watch TV from her bed, the TV cabinet also provided ample hide-away space for the television. With the lower pitched ceilings and little available wall space, the TV needed this type of special built-in placement.

I echoed the style of the TV cabinet with a tufted-velvet headboard, which was part of a Tempur-Pedic® bed with adjustable height options for the ultimate sleeping and television experience.

Functionally, my project gave the bedroom a specific sense of space for entertainment, chests of drawers that provided plentiful room for storage, and an in-set reading nook that maximized the window area.

Aesthetically, my design created a sense of magic by way of the painted murals to soothe the pitched ceiling as well as gave rise to streamlined design with the disguised placement of the TV. What was once just a plain space with pitched angles became a gorgeous, soft-looking sleeping chamber fit for a princess.

This design project came with its challenges, as is often the case when transforming spaces from bland to beautiful. However, I thrive where design challenges are present. Interior design projects that call for both form and function are my passion.

For this princess-inspired room, I could not be happier with the outcome. I also hear the little princess is enjoying her new room to the fullest. I guess happy endings do come true!
~ Ami Austin