Gianna’s Inspiration for her new bedroom

When Gianna’s mom asked me to help her create a new bedroom for her daughter’s teen years – I immediately wanted to be involved and to exercise my ideas about children’s rooms that are not juvenile and last through teen fads and trends.  I also wanted to definitely involve Gianna and see what she was thinking was her ideal new direction.

Last week we introduced the One Room Challenge and talked about Gianna’s room as it is now- too young and too purple and full of tons of possibilities!  Be sure and catch up here if you want to see the “Before” photos.  Gianna wanted her room to feel like the picture she found for me of the bed above – and she wanted to add more pictures and maps – I interpreted that as a place for her to dream about travel, relax in comfort while doing homework or hanging out with friends.

If you are new to the One Room Challenge and have found yourself here as a newbie to the process, the One Room Challenge is a fun, online design and decorating challenge, where we transform a room in 6 weeks and share our weekly progress, out trials and tribulations as well as our fabulous work and ideas!!  The ORC is the creation and brainchild of Linda of Calling it Home and there have now been over a thousand rooms done and transformed.  Be sure and visit the website and follow along on the fantastic work being done by the Featured Designers and the tremendously talented work being done by the other Guest Participants!

So here we are at Week 2 and I want to share a few decisions and a few inspirations while we are having the room painted and wait for some of the large items of furniture to arrive.  We decided on a soft, fairly neutral color palette that would work well with the soft berry rose and very soft blush pink on the bed.  We also knew we have some driftwood greys in the picture frame on another inspiration piece…the map artwork.

Nice colors in the map- with a rustic frame

While looking around for some ideas to share with Gianna I found a couple of fresh and somewhat bohemian bedrooms that  inspired me – i just liked the vibe I saw….not too serious, not too young, and full of personality.  I also saw a photograph of a carousel in Paris that seemed to relate to our theme of maps and travel and yet still seemed fresh and young….I hope that the carousel reminds Gianna to have fun!!

Parisian Carousel

 I love the mix of styles and the general sense of fun here!

New desk chair for Gianna

We are keeping in the room a few items that will be part of the fun mix I envision, and also appeal to Gianna’s call for a little “glitz” – her sparkly mirror and her gold faux fur benches…this new desk chair will fit in nicely, and I love the soft gold finish.

We have picked out the new queen size bed – the “Collette” from Crate and Barrel, a really nice basic, that she could use even when she moves to her first apartment! A practical choice to mix into the fun and glitz.

Next week we will have the painting finished and few pieces of furniture in place – I hope you follow along and check out our progress!  Be sure and visit some of the other design challenges and cheer them on as well!  This challenge is as much about the progress as it is about supporting each other as we make our transformations….who doesn’t love a great “Before and After”?

Cheers,

Meredith

I love transforming rooms and creating spaces to enjoy and remember – our home creates part of our personal history and the memories we will have through our lives – sometimes it’s  a piece of art, a favorite chair, sometimes a book nook in a room…we will remember these when we think of our room as a child or teen as much as we might remember an event or a trip….