Case Study: A Ten Year Old Boy's Room

I have been working on a house since last September, room by room, and today I am showing you an update of the little boy's room. He is ten. This was not as easy as you think. Ten is too young for some things, and too old for others.

The boy's bedroom "before"

I started by repainting the room in Winterwood, the same greige color used throughout the house. This is an interior room without any windows. I also changed the carpet, not only to refresh, but also because when the huge bookshelf was moved out, there was a patch of even older carpet under it, and needless to say it did not match. The carpet came from perch.

The "Nook" bed from Modern Market in New Orleans
Ceiling fan was replaced with Nelson bubble light

It was time to get rid of the bunk bed, and I chose a bed that can grow with him into adulthood, the queen size "Nook" bed from Modern Market. The little boy loves color, and his two favorites are orange and green. The ceiling fan was replaced by the Nelson bubble pendant (the large size) from Design Within Reach ion New Orleans ((504) 891-6520).

The Playroom "before"

I also worked on an adjoining room, called the playroom. It is very small, but large enough for a TV and some furniture. I replaced bean bag chairs with a pair of vintage chairs, and a sofa from Urban Outfitters.

Vintage chair from Neophobia in New Orleans

The chairs were reupholstered in orange velvet from Fabricut from perch.

A large wall hanging from Urban Outfitters was hung on the wall behind the couch, and another Nelson pendant light (the medium size) was hung above.

A pair of theses chairs were redone in a velvet from Frabricut

The Playroom "after"

View from the bedroom into the playroom "before"

View into the playroom from the bedroom "after"

Shelves from Blu Dot purchased at Modern Market were put against the wall where the bunk bed was. The boy has tons of Legos, and requested shelf space where he could store them and see them.

"Before" - We needed to get the Legos off the floor
The pine dresser was replaced with a vintage one

Blu Dot shelving from Modern Market for the Legos

When you purchase new furniture for children it is very easy to fall into the trap of the matched room. I like to do the mix I do everywhere else: Vintage, modern, antique.
I found an adorable vintage desk, dresser, and chair on Etsy from Rhan Vintage Modern HERE, and had it shipped from Los Angeles for this room.

Vintage desk, dresser and chair from Rhan Vintage Modern

The little boy was thrilled with his new desk. I have also ordered a rolling table in orange from Rosenberry.

The desk is in very good vintage condition. It just needed to be cleaned up. The little boy discovered "treasure" in the drawers! There was a vintage costume jewelry pearl necklace and vintage hankie that he gave to his mother. He also found a bottle of dried up India Ink. There was another object, something the young boy had never seen. It was a 45 record!!!!

In honor of that, I asked his mother to get him a record player for his new room. I suggested a vintage style one. She plans to build a record collection for him too. What records would you choose for him? The one he found is "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town".

The new record player
Also a peek at the new carpet

"Before" - This bookcase was given away...
And the vintage dresser was moved to this spot

"After" - This book shelf unit replaced it...

Check out the duck taxidermy!

I am showing you the bare bones of the room. There is more art to come, and of course the little boy will make it his own.

I added bedding from CB2, and mom added the hourglass with lime green sand. A pair of Stilt lamps rest on a pair of nightstands from Blu Dot.

I did choose several Blu Dot pieces, but I mixed the various styles they have, rather then matching them.

Bedding from Cb2 called "Ink"

Hourglass with lime green sand

I always like to leave a little gift in each room I complete, and for this young man I found a box of vintage pool balls I placed in a wire basket. He called me to thank me, and was pretty excited that a pool table might be coming too.

Modu-licious nightstand and Stilt lamp from Modern Market

I loved doing this room. There were unexpected challenges. I felt a different kind of responsibility for creating a room for a young person on his way to adulthood. I hope he will remember this room with fondness when he is grown up, and perhaps take some of this furniture with him.

My gift of vintage pool balls

Case Study: A Ten Year Old Boy's Room - Interior Design: Valorie Hart

The French Woman's Bedroom In New Orleans

Flowers and photo by Valorie Hart

For many many years I have loved a book called "The French Woman's Bedroom" HERE

The moment I saw the guest room in the home I have been working on HERE, my thought bubble was "The French Woman's Bedroom". As with the other rooms in the house, I wanted to use what the owner had, and freshen it up with a few changes.

The guest room I call The French Woman's Bedroom
This is the reveal of the finished room, the "after"

The room already had some lovely French pieces, but like the rest of the rooms I updated, it was a little lackluster. I managed to bring in quite a few of the antiques that were in the living room, saving them from storage or auction.

The "before" of the living room -
I used quite a few things from here for the bedroom

The room once had a four poster bed, and the client did not want to revisit that piece of furniture. Here was a chance to modernize a bit with a headboard.

This is an interim photo - art work and lamps re-purposed
No headboard or new bedding yet

I also brought the drapes from the living room to guest room, but had them updated by removing the elaborate brush fringe, and repairing the sun damage on the edges. The drapes that hung in the guest room were off the rack, and a faux silk polyester, and just a little too gold fo the room.

The new headboard arrives from Urban Outfitters!
The old drapes are down and on the bed

The living room drapes were remodeled for this room
The table and lamp were also in the living room
The embroidered silk botanicals were in storage

A small farm table that the client already had was brought in and used as a vanity, and a lovely arm chair covered in a fabulous discontinued Bergamo silk cut velvet damask became the vanity chair.

A farm table and a chair from the living room
I replaced a huge gold mirror with the pretty framed prints

There were two pairs of carved wood antique candlestick lamps that were wobbly, so I had them repaired, and purchased some fresh new modern shades for them. One pair ended on the vanity table, and the other pair became nightstand lamps.

A Venetian dressing table mirror
Antique gilt candlestick lamps got new modern shades

I also moved art work around and added a Venetian dressing table mirror. I brought the collection of early 19th century landscape paintings that hung in the living room, into the French Woman's Bedroom, because like all woman, she loves to be surrounded by art and flowers.

Flowers on the vanity table

Along with the arrangement of paintings over the bed, I added a sunburst mirror. I had ordered a collection of mirrors, but when I found out they were back ordered for months, I cancelled the order. The client and I were just about to sit down at the computer and look for a replacement when she remembered that she had a modern sunburst mirror that she had taken down in another room, and it was being "stored" under the bed in the guest room! She thought she had given it away, and I was so happy that she had not! It was perfect!

Landscape paintings and sunburst mirror arranged around headboard
Les Indiennes bedding

I had many choices for new bedding, and all the hotel style stuff, and monogram linens, and Horchow style bedding was just not thrilling us. And overly modern textiles would not work. And the client does not like quilted textiles. And a Suzani wasn't it either. I suggested simple French style bedding, and suggested Les Indiennes.

Antique candlestick lamp with new modern shade

This bedroom is one of three I have revamped, and it is the most different. Because it is a stand alone room in the floor plan of the house, it is not jarring. Everyone loves to stay in this room. It feels so luxe and romantic.

All photos by Valorie Hart
The photographer on the shoot loved my snap shots!
It's my styling habit since the days of Polaroids!

The photos I took are my snap shots from a recent photo shoot. I styled this room (and many others) and did the flowers for the shoot. It is such a pleasure to go back to floral design now and then. The bouquets in this room are pretty little gems.

Flowers in a petite Majolica pitcher

Flowers on the nightstand

This project is ongoing. I just finished the little boy's bedroom, as well as the college age son's bedroom. This Summer I hope to work on the kitchen and the master bedroom. The family should be good for another ten years in this house, and God willing when they need another revamp I will still be working!

Another time I will show you the kids' rooms...

The French Woman's Bedroom is ready for guests!
Interior decoration by Valorie Hart

Dwell Studio Discounted

Bella Porte by Dwell Studio at Fabric.com HERE

The New Year gets everyone revved up to do some projects, and if you need designer fabric at discount prices, there is no better source than Fabric.com where they just launched a new line of Dwell Studio fabrics HERE

This fabric called Bella Porte would be a great choice for a padded headboard (DIY instructions from Be Jane HERE)

In fact the owner and CEO of Dwell Studio thinks so! Christiane Lemieux is featured in the February 2011 issue of House Beautiful in the "I Love My Bed" feature. She has launched a new line of furniture that includes an Art Deco inspired headboard upholstered in modern Dwell Studio fabric.

Christian Lemieux in House Beautiful with her headboard design and kids

Padded headboards add instant design panache. So pick up a few yards of Dwell at Fabric.com, and have at it for a fresh new look for the fresh new year.

Padded headboard idea via House to Home

ALSO - Dwell Studio is having a "White Sale" on many of it's fabulous products HERE

Please send me photos of your headboard projects so I can feature your work on Visual Vamp.

The Dust Ruffle and Bed Skirt Controversy

Do you remember way back in blog time in 2008 when Joni from Cote de Texas did a post about skirted tables that started a huge debate that ultimately led to podcast she stars on called "The Skirted Roundtable."

Holy dust ruffle!
Charlotte Moss

Well clutch your pearls, there seems to be another great controversy brewing regarding dust ruffles and bed skirts.

Joni's lovely deep drop bedspread

It seems that not only are bed skirts (I hate the word dust ruffle - why would anyone want anything described as dust?) out of fashion with the Lonny-Rue-Apartment Therapy set, but they are unsanitary too with worries of attracting bed bugs.

A tailored bedspread with a deep drop skirt

Glam bed skirt - Temple St. Clair

Mmmm.. Personally I have no dust ruffle in the guest bedroom because the iron four poster bed did not require one visually. The bed in our master bedroom does have a dust ruffle. This bed has a headboard and a metal bed frame and box spring, and I don't think it would look very good without the bed skirt. I even tried the white bed spread with the huge skirted drop ala Joni, but found it too cumbersome. Damn I should have sold it on eBay sooner! Now who will want it?

Eddie Ross used a tailored bed skirt
in this pretty traditional bedroom

I came across the following article by Sara Ruffin Costello:

A headboard with a bed frame needs a bed skirt

"So the other night I went over to my friend Miles Redd's house for a TV party. Curled up in his seraglio-inspired space, I took in the visual splendor—the towering four-poster mirrored bed with striped silk taffeta upholstery, the wall-to-wall caramel cashmere underfoot, the yards of couture curtains across simple French windows and the endless originality—which all added up to a tailored, comfortable, no-grandmother-in-sight inner sanctum.

Fishing for free decorating, I submitted to my old friend, "How can I get a little piece of the Miles magic?"

Miles Redd's bed sans bed skirt
But what's up with the padding?

"Oh, please," he said. "This old shoebox?"

"Well, yes..."

And then, with the precision of a brain surgeon, he said, "An exposed box spring is like a fly in the soup...unsightly. Cover your box spring with a decadent fabric...touch of luxe darling...every room needs it, especially the bedroom."

I sat up and took note. By God, I realized, the filthy, pointless dust ruffle of '80s Shabby Chicdom is dead. Long live the tailored box-spring cover!

Ditching the dust ruffle diminishes your chances of bedding down with bugs. (A floor-grazing bed skirt is like a hospitable stairway for bed bugs.)"

Miles Redd - This Old Shoebox

Well! What do you all think of that???!!! First of all that tag line: So the other night I went over to my friend Miles Redd's house! Well smell her! In a good way of course.

Miles Redd four poster bed

Four poster beds look good without a bed skirt. The proportions of the bed suit this choice.

Miles Redd used a dust ruffle! Alert the media!

Bed with headboards and box springs seem to need the bed skirt to give it a finished look. Of course a platform bed with a mattress only, would look ridiculous with a bed skirt.

Miles Redd in Domino
The bedroom that launched the careers of blog decorators
Swoon! J'dore! Copy!

Modern interiors seem to fare better without a dust ruffle. Even the word is too granny for the hip decorating spawned by Domino.

But what about the majority of the world dwelling in suburban traditional homes with traditional bedrooms, or gasp, bedroom sets?

Can a dust ruffle or bed skirt be done right, just as Joni thinks doing a skirted table can be done right? You hardly see skirted tables anymore except at events and weddings. Will the bed skirt become as extinct as the table skirt?

Tom Scheerer's stainless-steel bed doesn't need much
besides crisp sheets and a white cotton slip cover for the box spring

Will they give up their bed-in-the-bag that includes the matching dust ruffle? Can they get behind a box spring slip cover?

No dust ruffle for Jonathan Adler and Liberace

Will there be bed skirt and dust ruffle burnings to alleviate the bed bug pandemic!!!! Will there be a new podcast show called "The Dusty Ruffle" or "The Skirted Bed"?????

Betsey Burnham doesn't use a bed skirt

Chime in! Bed skirts yes or no! Discuss! Dust ruffles over and out?

Martha Stewart don't need no stinking bed skirt or box spring slip cover

Kelly Wearstler doesn't have her slip showing


Even shabby chic can go skirtless

Apartment Therapy eschews the wrapped bed

Go HERE to see the whole article.