Scheming: Boys’ Bedroom in Florida

What do you think of unfinished/unpainted furniture? I’ve pretty much always hated it. But when we were faced with furnishing the condo in Florida on a tight budget, I found myself buying several pieces from Ikea’s Tarva line. Namely, a pair of twin Tarva bed frames and Tarva chests to put beside each.

In my defense, my plan was (and still is) to do the condo in glossy whites and light woods. (White + wood inspiration photos here and white + wood shopping guide here.)  So far so good. I’ve been able to stick to the white and wood scheme in terms of furnishings.

I had planned on having a contractor put in a plywood floor (plywood wall and floor inspiration here), but after several false starts, a neighbor referred me to Steve Gee at Tiffany’s Flooring, who (re)sold me on a cork floor instead. The new cork floor is amazing. Sneak peek coming Tuesday. Today, I’m trying to decide what to do in the boys’ room. So, back to the unfinished wood beds and chests. The bed frames are staying as is, that is, unfinished.

I am playing around with the idea of painting part of the little chests that are beside each bed as night stands. I don’t want to paint the drawer fronts—that seems really dated (or too DIY “see what you can do with a coat of paint”). But what about painting the top and sides? Or just the legs (or are we done with dipped)?

I realize this scheme looks a bit too plucked right from the Ikea catalog, but I’ll remedy that. I have promised them a rug, but that’s a whole other post.

B O Y S  B E D R O O M  i n F L O R I D A 

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Ikea furniture, cork flooring, and Etsy artwork in the boys’ room.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE CHESTS?
Leave both chests unfinished?
Paint one white, leave the other?
Paint the tops of the chests white? 
Paint the tops & sides white?
Dip the legs in white paint ? 

Inspiration rooms with unfinished elements.

house-boat-airbnb

Dutch houseboat on Airbnb

Girls Room With Unfinished Wood Furnishings

Children’s furniture by Bedzrus

Montage: 30 Kids Rooms with Teepees

Teepees, wigwams, play tents  (whatever you want to call them) have been trending for a rather long time.  However last week, the Wall Street Journal proclaimed them a trend:  Teepees: The New Urban Hideaway.  I’m not sure why a newspaper would be so slow to catch onto this (it’s not like there’s a three-month lead time). No matter, they’re still going strong. We had a refrigerator box playhouse for a while; admittedly not nearly as chic. But that was a dozen years ago.

The teepee is great because it looks good not only in a kids room, but in adult spaces too. As you can see from these 30 rooms with teepees, they work well in white Scandinavian interiors, minimalist black and white living rooms, nurseries with traditional childrens bedroom furniture, and of course colorful playrooms. You can even erect one outdoors.

I was obsessed with building forts as a kid, always enclosing my bunk beds with blankets, and wishing I had a way to hang a sheet from the ceiling. My kids, too, used to love taking all the blankets they could gather and draping them over chairs and ottomans to create fun enclosures. There’s definitely something satisfying, and practical too, about a kid constructing a hideaway on his own. That said, it’s also nice to have a ready-made private quiet space. Wonder if my boys are too big for one now?

 

teepee-in-lr-gotland summer home via lönngren:widell

Photo by Lönngren Widell

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unknown

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L.A. home of fashion designer Jenni Kayne
Photo by Roger Davies for Architectural Digest

Nursery With Teepee Style Files

Home of architect Clare Cousins
Photo by Sean Fennessy  •  The Design Files

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Sukha Amsterdam  •  Vosgesparis

My Bedroom Retreat Contest  Kids Room

Apartment Therapy’s My Bedroom Retreat Contest

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Weekday Carnival

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Pour Jolies Momes

teepee-black-white-marimekko

Time of the Aquarius

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Little Birds Boutique

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Interjero Patarimai

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Little Kind

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Design Sponge

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Design Sponge

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Photo by Krista Keltnanen

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Desire to Inspire

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6th Street Design School

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Aesthetic Outburst

teepee-color-pops

Varpunen

teepee-design-by-moozlehome

Moozle

teepee-library

Home of Minnie Mortimer
Photo by Claiborne Swanson Frank for Vogue.com

teepee-multicolor-tree-trunks

unknown

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The Handmade Home

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IKEA Family Live

teepee-scandinavian-pink-lapshade

Mokkasin

teepee-fawn-over-baby

Fawn Over Baby

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The Design Files

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Bolig Magasinet

teepee-white-gold-bunting

Jute Interior Design

teepee-striped-loft-bed

Photo by Christina Kayser Onsgaard for Bo Bedre

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Fine Print: Susanna Salk’s Room For Children

Connecticut-based interior designer and writer Susanna Salk has curated an entire book of spectacular children’s spaces, from nurseries to bedrooms to playrooms, in Room for Children: Stylish Spaces for Sleep and Play (Rizzoli, April 2010).

Sure beats the oversize floral wallpaper (on the ceiling!) with gingham border and green shag carpet of my childhood lair. Though actually, that’s sounding kinda groovy now.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the book.

Architecture: Platt Byard Dovel White Architects  |   Design: Tracy Boss
Photo: © Jonathan Wallen

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Design: Kim Zimmerman  | Photo: © Pieter Estersohn

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Design: Laurence Kriegel  | Photo: © Pieter Estersohn

*   *   *

Design: Sally Markham  | Photo: © Pieter Estersohn

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Photo: © Tria Giovan

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Design: Alex Papachristidis  | Photo: © John Gruen


All photographs from ROOM FOR CHILDREN by Susanna
Salk, Rizzoli, 2010

For more images from the book, see Susanna Salk’s Room for Children You Tube video.