“Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what little girls are made of!”  But what about their bedrooms?  These days the patterns, prints, themes and colors are enough to make a girl’s head spin and their parent’s head spin even faster!  So where do you start, what are staples that any room can use,  and how do you blend “popular” and “timeless” in the same place?  We turned to Sarah Bartholomew of Bartholomew Designs to tell us.

BACKGROUND: Decorating is really Sarah’s first love.  She’s been painting things, moving furniture, and generally trying to make things prettier as long as she can remember.  A Virginia native and graduate of UVA, she has a deep love and appreciation for classical architecture.  As a mostly self-trained designer, today, she gets great joy out of driving around a car filled with fabric samples, lamp shades, and paint chips. She aims to make a house a home for her clients, and develop a relationship with the spaces she designs as well as the people that live in them.

Little Girls’ Rooms

When I think back to my childhood bedroom I can vividly remember the blue and green Laura Ashley bedding that I found so beautiful and soothing, the white wicker headboard we found at a local quilting store, my great-grandmother’s painted chest of drawers, and and the wallpaper border that ran around the top of the room (now that dates me!).  It’s funny because, while my tastes have certainly changed, I still gravitate toward that room’s colors and textures in my design today.

Little girls’ rooms are often the toughest to decorate.  We want something soft, pretty, and age appropriate.  We want it to reflect their strong little selves  and have it grow with them.  We don’t want to have to be painting over our bubble gum pink walls, ripping down poufy balloon shades, and throwing away that had-to-have Tinkerbell or High School Musical bedding next year.  So where do you start when it comes to a girl’s room?

My first recommendation is don’t blow the bank on a kid’s room.  This year’s Tinker Bell will be next year’s Rapunzel.  That gorgeous headboard, will be covered in nail polish next time your are on the phone.

Secondly, don’t over style their spaces.  Leave enough room for their latest piece of art work, their tea set, or their polly pocket village on the shelf.

Finally, let them have a say, but not the final word.  Let them give you input into the color scheme, bedding, etc.  But if you don’t like it, don’t buy it!

 

Below is a “recipe” for an adorable girls room built around the most requested little girl color…pink!

Walls – For a modern clean look use a modern white such as Benjamin Moore’s White Dove.   For a soft sweet but sophisticated pink try Benjamin Moore’s Pink Swirl. For a really fun look, have the painter create a wide stripes using these two colors!

 Benjamin Moore White Dove

Benjamin Moore Pink Swirl

Head Board – I’m a big fan of the Stevenson nailhead headboard from Ballard designs.  If it’s good enough for Gywneth’s Apple, then it should be good enough for all of us too!  Depending on what color you paint the walls you could cover your headboard in hot pink or white linen, and create a tailored boxpleat bed-skirt in the same color as the headboard with a green tape trim along the bottom.

Beautiful Bedding from John Robshaw’s JR line in Heath Pink.

A Create Your Own monogrammed pillow from Jonathan Adler makes a cute personal finishing touch for the bed.

For artwork on the walls, I adore the idea of a gallery wall using Fifi Lapin prints. Isn’t she the chicest little bunny?

I also think a framed piece of wrapping paper that happens to be a map of Paris is an affordable and adorable idea as well.

For a fun sophisticated accent, place an X bench(es) at the end of the bed

For a Chest, I love Chelsea Textiles Commode with Fluted Carving.  This is a splurge, but I make an exception here, because she will take it with her when she gets her own house.  (Contact for pricing)

And to top it off, this sweet Shell Rosette Mirror from Pottery Barn Teen adds texture and sweet sophistication!

Thank you Sarah! We are tickled pink and think our little girls would be very happy.  For more information on how to contact Sarah, read below:

 

         

Sarah Bartholomew

Bartholomew Designs

615-429-4007

sarahtbartholomew@gmail.com

(Intro quote: Anonymous) (Images from the following:Vogue Living;  Paint Colors from Benjamin Moore, Headboard ballarddesigns.com; Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter’s bedroom House and Garden Magazine (no longer in print); Bedding www.johnrobshaw.com,; x-benches, www.ballarddesigns.com,; dresser http://www.chelseatextiles.com,; mirror http://www.pbteen.com,; monogrammed throw pillow http://www.jonathanadler.com/designyourown; Fifi Lapin Prints from http://www.etsy.com/shop/fifilapin; Map of Paris http://www.paper-source.com ; Sarah’s picture and additional portfolio pictures – taken by Bartholomew Designs)

 

Nashville Interior Design