Irini's room has been a work in process for quite a while, and I am happy to say I think I am finally finished with it (for now, anyway!!). While it is still a room for a young pre-schooler, I wanted a room that was still classic and elegant, and not full of Dora! Similarly, while there are many touches that are skewed at younger set, these are all easily (and inexpensively) changeable as Irini grows up. I like to pick a theme with the kids as a jumping off point to start the inspiration flowing. Irini gave me three ideas: pink, flowers and fairies, and this helped to pull the whole room together.
This is the view as you look straight through Irini's door into her room. As you can see, I've kept her furniture white and feminine - while it suits the Flower Fairy theme now, it will suit so many other design ideas later.
The first major thing I picked for her room was the drapery fabric. The pelmet and tie back are in this gorgeous Jacobean-style floral, and I chose it because the colours would go well with the Flower Fairy theme, but aren't juvenile at all. Plus, the shades of raspberry, rose, peach and sage green are just so lovely! The curtains themselves are just decorative (since there is a plain cream roller blind underneath) and are done in a sheer linen-type fabric. The trick I use is to pull two or three colours from the main fabric and use them elsewhere in the room, to bring it all together. To add depth, you can go slightly lighter or darker rather than trying for an an exact match. You can't tell from this pic, but the back wall of the armoire is painted a slightly darker green, the sheet set is a deeper version of the peach shade, and the lanterns above the reading nook (see further down this post for a picture) are various shades of rose and raspberry.
For the longest time, I just had the plain white quilt on the bed, paired with the peach stripe sheet set, but then just the other day I was walking through Myer, and right there, (the last one, on sale!) was a duvet cover set in the exact same pattern - it was so obviously meant to be so I snapped it up. Next to Irini's bed is her chest of drawers and her armoire which is mostly used to store her collection of baby soft toys, favourite books from my childhood I have put aside for her, and her spare bedding. The sign with her name on it has been there since she was a baby!
Along the cornice on this wall is my one real concession to the Flower Fairy theme; I have hung a number of collectible plates each depicting different fairies from Cecily Mary Barker's Flower Fairies illustrations. I used to love her books, and I love sharing them with Irini now. These plates are so beautiful, and even after Irini grows out of them decorating her room, I hope to keep them so she can share them with her daughter.
On her chest of drawers is an ever growing collection of "pretty" things. Irini has started to collect snowglobes, and the fairy one is her absolute favourite so it gets pride of place! The lamp was bought at a craft fair, the colours go beautifully with the fabrics in her room, and the Victorian styling just speaks to me - if she didn't love it so much I'm sure I would steal it for myself!
The prints above her chest are from Etsy seller PeriwinkleSky, and are some of the most adorable things I've ever seen. There is so much detail in each one - she has so many to choose from I struggled to narrow it down to just three, so I ended up picking ones that were night themed - is there anything sweeter than a napping fairy?
This little corner has been set up as a reading nook and a place to pinup her favourite bits of arts and crafts. The paper latterns are decorations from her last two birthday parties, and are simply hung from the ceiling using 3M hooks and fishing wire. Eventually I hope to re-cover the chair in the same fabric as the rest of the room, but that is a project for another day.
And so there is Irini's room - I hope you enjoyed seeing at as much as I enjoyed putting it together!
Labels: children, decorating, lifestyle