Initial Board I received from a Teen Girl. It shows me she likes: SOFT LIGHT- COZY FEEL- BOHO STYLE

The days of the nursery and big-kid bed are gone for good and your children are now their own medium sized, fully opinionated humans. They are pushing boundaries and practically bursting for an opportunity to exorcise their evolving maturity and independence. One excellent low risk/hi reward way for kids to begin flexing their personal identity muscles is to have some creative control in their bedroom.

Without knowing you personally, I am unclear exactly how much anxiety this may/may not give you. However, I know for certain that even making small scale adjustments where your children feel like they are calling the shots can have a big impact. The process can, truly be really fun if you have a plan!

Let’s dive in. 

STEP ONE:  GET ORGANIZED

Whether this is a weekend project or longer, the first step for getting organized is to distill their plethora of ideas down to something realistically doable within your individual

• Time

• Budget

• Capabilities

To accomplish this, I recommend creating a MOOD BOARD. I make them for all of my projects, especially when working with kids/teens. They are a wonderful, visual jumping off point to see which ideas go together well.

Depending on your child, this is something they can do on their own while you relax or you can do it together. Either way, a mood board is an invaluable tool for getting started. They can be as detailed or simple as you would like. Whatever works best for you.

Once the mood board is in a place you’ll be ready for the next step. Before the real work begins, go have fun making a mood board!!

Items to include:

• Furniture that is staying in the room

  • Don’t worry if you can’t find the exact item. Simply copy and paste something similar

• Color ideas for the overall room

  • If a piece of furniture it staying that is a distinct color, build from this

• Photos of the style/ feel for the room

  • No wrong answer here

Detailed Mood Board for 10 year old girl bedroom. She wanted: ORANGE- COMFORTABLE- GROWN UP

Where to Create Your Mood Board

• Google Docs

• Pinterest

• Mood Board Apps (StudioBinder, Mural)

• Canva Collage

• Adobe Software (Spark/Photoshop/InDesign)

• Ask your child- they will know

Mood Boards are a simple tool that keep my projects focused and moving forward

Next Up: Kids + Teen Bedroom Makeovers Part II -Simple Changes for big impact

I strongly believe that one doesn’t have to be excellent at something in order to enjoy it. Case and point…..”me and math.” It drives me bananas when people humble brag about their lack of geometric, algebraic, or calculaic skills as though proficiency in math is something to be embarrassed about. (yes, I likely made up words) I would love for math to come easily to me. I would shout statistics from the rooftops if I could.

FIG A

See, even though I rarely got the answer correct, I always loved the downward pyramid of showing my work and using the PEMDAS rules for solving quadratic equations. To know that there is only one right answer filled my brain with a sense of order and rightness in the world. I struggled to keep rank mathematically with my peers, but that was okay. I had tutors and asked for help and did my darnedest to figure it out. Okay, so maybe I still hold a teensy grudge about my C in Algebra II which kept me from graduating high school with honors, but I am working on getting over it. (I still maintain that my innate curiosity regarding why my teacher was missing the tips of his fingers on one hand kept me from being my smartest self in his class. :) )

But I digress…In my decorating work math is useful in all of the predictable ways. (Think measuring rooms, scale renderings, etc) However, recently I discovered that using PEMDAS as an analogy for my process (see figure A for a refresh) is really useful as well. Not that there is one right answer for how to decorate a home of course, but that there is a process and each decision we make informs the next. The bookcase in the living room, for example can inform the master bedroom storage necessities as well. You may only need one piece of furniture!

Especially now, wanting to redecorate your home or even just one space is incredibly exciting and gives us some purpose. It makes complete sense that you want to get it all done right away… so do I. Yet,even more so now than six months ago, it is essential to create thoughtful, functional spaces that really meet your work at home/live at home needs. The process may take a little longer because we will need to dig a deeper into how you use your space, but the final result is well worth the extra time….and as a bonus you will be refreshed on high school math principles which will help you teach your kids from home!!!

You’re Welcome

Vision Boards or Mood Boards, either title is accurate, are an incredibly useful aspect of my workflow both with clients and on my own. When I am initially brain storming ideas I use Pinterest to dump absolutely everything and then refine my thoughts by constructing multiple vision boards to create a more cohesive design plan.

While the vision board is not the only tool in my box, it is a wonderfully simple way to begin to tell the story of my client’s space. Once I have a few ideas that I think can work well, I will collaborate once again with my client to see where we land on colors/textures etc.

REAL CLIENT SAMPLE

Current master bedroom is “move in basic” and not at all representative of her and her husband’s personalities. Based on our initial conversation, I pulled together a jewel tone color scheme (Fig A) that reflects what I heard her tell me they want in their space and where they are comfortable budget-wise. Modern, color, sophistication, gender neutral were all components of the conversation so I kept all of those in mind for my vision board. The lighter option (Fig B) kept some elements the same, but overall lightened the space and used a piece of art, I know she loves, as the jumping off point.

FIG B: Master Bedroom Refresh: Neutral Tones/Pops of Color

FIG A: Master Bedroom Refresh : Jewel tones

Where do you think we landed??? As the project progresses I will share updates.

If have any questions about creating your own Vision Board, would like feedback on one you have created or would like to set up a virtual consult regarding your space I am here to help!