what child is this?

People assume that because I have two girls, I've been having a grand time over the years creating beautiful, whimsical rooms. But the truth is, I have two individuals with rooms that reflect their respective taste: one a sweet, creative but fastidious tweener the other a sunshiny scribble of bon vivant. Except for bedding choice and a few other pieces, I've had very little input on their rooms.

Which is why, when asked last week by my oldest daughter if I would re-do her room {she of the neat~nic gene} I responded like the loner girl at school being asked to eat lunch at cool girls' table. "what? of course, of course!" I jumped, clapped and squealed, a bit too eagerly. "Oh, it will be great, I have the perfect wall covering, we'll do one wall, an accent wall and then we can paint your bed a beautiful green {and be bffs forever}" and then....I was cut off.

"I want all of my furniture to match." not blinking, she thrust out her little arm, clutched in her hand was a page from a mail order catalog. whose child is this? Before you chew me out: I'm good with a few pieces here and there. But, must we match the whole room?

Currently her room is a collection, of flea market finds. mish mash of things picked up over the years, her favorite treasures and yes, even, catalog bedding.

But I heard the message in her pleading voice: "help me make my room look like every other 5th grader I know. make it normal"

Que the after school special music, fade to commercial.

I remembered back to my own 5th grade room. Having a father as an architect, it was normal in our house for the kids' rooms to have a Bertoia chair next to the platform bed or a Calder mobile dangling over a crib. Not really "normal" by most standards, and certainly not appreciated by me.

Back then, I wanted Mary Ann Flatley's room. It was a yellow canopied, 'French Regency' extravaganza. Her bed matched her night stands which matched the gold embelished dresser. It was all so "normal" with her matching shag carpet tacked wall to wall.

I can empathize. However, this does not mean that I must buckle to her innocent design ignorance. No, as with any client, it is my duty to inform and educate rather to admonish and dismiss. Shake it up, throw it at her, let it land and see what sticks.

And so in an effort to prove to her, that 'normal', uniform and safe design isn't always best, I've gathered a few images to share with her.

If we're going to go the catalog route, let's do it right. Serena & Lily have some of my favorite rooms hands down :

no matchy, match, just beautiful, complementary pieces. Interesting, each of them on their own and together; perfection.

and if we were to stick with vintage, we're going to get rid of the "shabby chic" paint job~ that's a given {the dresser's done, now for the bed}

and we could even go, bright, creative, modern and young. Let's be realistic, there needs to be room for soccer trophies, art projects and favorite animals. It's a 10 year old's room, not an art director's version of a 10 year old's room.

photo thanks to lisa congdon

of course, if I had no budget and a child whose design preferences weren't changing with the tides, I'd unload the cash on some incredible wall covering, and YES possibly a bed from a {gasp} catalog and even some vintage finds. Something beyond normal. Something perfect in all of it's non-uniform lovliness.

photo: domino

photos top and bottom: designer, ruthie sommers

in the mean time, my job will be to convince her that, really, you don't want the bed that matches the night stands, that matches the dresser that one day you'll want nothing do with.