One Scheme, Two Ways
A few weeks ago on the blog, I talked about how to do a themed children’s room without all the cartoons and garish colours (read it here). Today I wanted to show you how the same colour palette and core elements can be used for both adults’ and children’s rooms.
The hero-piece of this scheme is the Anglessy wallpaper by Rebel Walls. Their product description reads,
“Push through into a secret garden and make your home bloom. This wallpaper will transport you to the ancient island of Anglesey in Wales, where history comes to life. The pattern comes from an old hand-painted original, and its patina will give any room depth and warmth.”
This wallpaper could easily be used to create a heavy Victorian scheme complete with taxidermy and swag curtains, but that’s not the look I like it for. I wanted to create something less fussy and more joyful, so I’ve turned to colour (no surprises there!) to create a livelier scheme.
I would use this wallpaper all over in most circumstances, because there are very few situations in which a feature wall doesn’t look like you couldn’t afford/were too scared to use more wallpaper. I would use the paint colour, Blue Gum by Paint & Paper Library, in an eggshell for the woodwork, paired with their Canvas II in a satin finish for the coving and ceiling to bounce the light around. It would also work with Canvas II (an off-white) on the woodwork, but it would look busier because it would create more high contrast. I would keep the flooring natural and quite light – sisal would look great but if you’re using it in a bedroom, you really need a rug too to be softer underfoot.
All the colours I’ve used in this scheme are drawn from the wallpaper, but mostly in a more saturated form. I will go so far as to say that I think this scheme only works because of the bright pop of yellow on the headboard. If this was a living room, that would be the sofa or an armchair. You can see below how the balance is thrown off by removing the yellow:
Everything looks much muddier
The wallpaper goes from being the hero to being a busy background
The turquoise lamp stands out too much
There is no centrepiece for the eye to rest on
When decorating children’s rooms, I prefer to use wallpapers and curtain fabrics that aren’t specifically childish. It’s really good if the bones of the room have a bit more longevity because these elements are expensive to replace. This Anglessy wallpaper has that timeless and slightly magical quality that makes it great for adults and children alike. As an aside, I hope this is also useful food for thought if you’ve moved into a new home and, like us, the room your child will use isn’t decorated in a way that initially strikes you as child-friendly.
To translate this room scheme to a younger occupant, I’ve used more painted furniture to give it a youthful edge. I’ve also removed the more delicate elements such as the ceramic lamp base and replaced them with more child-friendly materials. The ticking stripe curtains, which act as an antidote to the busy wallpaper pattern, work equally as well in an adult’s or child’s bedroom. To make it fun and youthful you can really go to town with accessories such as cushions, bunting and artwork. This is where you get your child involved in decorating their own space – and because it’s such a colourful scheme, there is little they could pick that wouldn’t go. Limited colour palettes are much less forgiving for children’s rooms, and you end up feeling like the room is messy unless all the toys are hidden away.
One final note, at the risk of perpetuating gender stereotypes, this is quite a girly child’s bedroom. However, if you swapped the bedding for green, the ticking stripe for blue and chose artwork to suit their tastes, you would have a good scheme for a nature-loving boy.