How lovely ...
it feels when you finish a project, and manage to get some decent ‘before and after‘ shots. It doesn’t always happen. Sometimes a client doesn’t want their home displayed on your website, but more often than not, it’s just a timing thing. After all, I am designing spaces for people to live and work in, and that’s what they want to get on and do. In order to show the full effect of a completed design, you really need to be able to take the photos the moment it’s finished and dressed.
So here’s one …
I made earlier. This has been such an awesome project to be involved with because it’s a nursery. If you read my blogs or tweets regularly, you’ll know I love colour, and having fun with my designs. Any kid’s room is therefore, the perfect canvas for me to really let loose.
Let’s start …
at the beginning (it’s a very good place to start.) My clients had bought a home where they had “inherited” the worst kind of DIY – lucky them. The room therefore needed a lot of preparation. The previous owners had stripped wallpaper by simply tearing it off in strips, and then painted the room without removing the paper that hadn’t come away. Goodness knows what they were thinking?! The walls needed filling in order to make them good enough to paint. (We could’ve re-skimmed them, but this method sufficed in this case.) Top tip number one: you can NEVER spend too much time, money or energy on getting your prep right – it is what makes a room.
"Before." Nursery, door wall.
"Before." Nursery, right hand wall.
"Before." Nursery, window wall.
"Before." Nursery, left hand wall.
Once …
we’d made the walls good, my design was ready to go in. The brief was fairly straight forward. My clients don’t know if they are having a boy or girl, so they wanted something unisex, without it being dull and predictable. They also wanted to avoid the room being too geared towards a baby, so that their child could enjoy the design until they are 3 or 4 years old (or until a baby brother or sister comes along to enjoy the design in their place.) They both like colour, but the room is fairly small, so it was important that the room felt cosy and homely, without feeling pokey. The only other thing they mentioned is that they quite liked the thought of going with an animal theme, and that they preferred ‘farmyard‘ to the ‘jungle.’
So …
do you want to see what I did? Oh, go on then. The first thing I did was to divide the wall space into two, using the top of the window as my guiding measurement. Everything above the line above the line was painted in a pale blue, and became the ‘sky,’ while everything underneath the line was painted in a pale green, and became the ‘field.’ Top tip number two: when painting a child’s room, spend a little extra money on wipe-able paint, you won’t be sorry you did!
Using paint to define 'sky' and 'field'
I found …
a fab light in Ikea that was perfect for this design. I had been keeping my eyes open for a light fitting with clouds, so that I could properly define the ‘sky‘ from the ‘field.’
Ikea's Skojig ceiling lamp in white
Nursery with Ikea Skolig Ceiling Light detail
The window dressing…
was fairly simple. My client had been given a pair of off-white blackout curtains from her sister that she wanted to use. That introduced white into the design, which was perfect in keeping the design fresh and not too colour heavy. I suggest a white pole, and we were able to re-use one they already had in another room. I also put some funky white holdbacks in place. Lastly I specified a white wooden venetian blind. This finishes the look, but also diffuses the light in the day. This gives my clients the option for the middle of the day when they might not want to use the black out curtains. Top tip number three: There’s nothing wrong with making do and mending. You can often incorporate things you already own into a room’s design.
Nursery. Window Dressing detail.
I was very clever …
when I bought the blind. I bought one that was twice as long as the window. I removed all the extra slats and instructed my carpenter to make them into a ‘fence,’ which he then attached to the wall at just over dado rail height, in line with the bottom of the window. Looks easy, but it did involve A LOT of measuring on my part! I then finished the walls by adding some stylised sheep stickers from Decosticks, and a sheep light switch cover for a bit of fun. So then my ‘field‘ was full of sheep. Top tip number four: don’t forget the small details, they can be what makes a design.
Fence made from a venetian blind and sheep wall stickers
Nursery. Light Switch Detail.
Lastly …
I specified a brown carpet with a lighter brown stripe running it through it. It’s meant to represent a ‘ploughed‘ field, but also adds warmth to the room by grounding the pastels and white scheme, meaning the room doesn’t feel pasty or bland. Then all we needed was to start adding the furniture.
A picture …
paints a thousand words, so I’ll leave you with some images of the final design in situ. Hope you like it. My clients do.
After. Nursery, door wall.
After. Nursery, right-hand wall.
After. Nursery, left-hand wall.
After. Nursery, changing table detail.
After. Nursery, cot detail.
After. Nursery, cot detail.
Fiona
Interior Designer, Flame Interiors
Interior design solutions for you in Bath, Bristol and the rest of UK
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This blog post is part of the mydeco.com ‘Pass It On Nursery series’, a collaborative blogging project. I’m passing it on to APD Interiors and Austin John Interiors
