Name: Kim Ludy (aka ethanollie) and Ethan, or as he prefers to be called, E.
Age: 6 and three quarters
Location: Framingham, Massachusetts
A wonderful collaboration between mother and child, E's room is a bold, fun room that invites a child to come in, explore, grow and dream. Lush woods, vibrant colors, a great map and globe collection, and a sweet mix of vintage pieces all come together to create a personal room that E can enjoy now and definitely grow into and continue enjoying. Take the full tour after the jump.
Just about every design decision in the room was made by 6-year-old E or as a mother/son team. Kim, writes, "…my boy…loves dark, deep, saturated color. The wall color, which I love, was a compromise. He wanted purple, I told him lavender. He settled for blue, I let him choose the shade."

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Inspiration:
The boy himself. I pored through design blogs, Flickr streams and shelter mags. But ultimately E was the expert on his own space. He knew exactly what he wanted.
Favorite Element:
The closet fort and trap door. I mean, c'mon, who doesn't want one of those in his or her room? Myself included.
Biggest Challenge:
Letting go. I needed to completely scrap every notion of what i had in mind for this space when I realized he had such strong opinions on it.
What Friends Say:
"Wow. You finally finished!"

Proudest DIY:
(I'll speak for Ethan's Dad here...) The closet fort's trap door.
Biggest Indulgence:
The bed. We were going to use a cheapo twin mattress on a plain frame, but we splurged on a full size bed with a nice comfy mattress. Now we can all pile in for bedtime stories.
Best advice for those approaching the kid's room decorating process:
After your child gets to be of the age where they can communicate their opinions and tastes, you really should indulge them the best you can. After all, this is probably the only space in their world where they can be totally surrounded with only the things they love. It's also a great way to teach them about them decision making, compromise and process. For example, E won out on the wall colors, but I convinced him on the quilt.

Dream Source:
I can find just about anything I need at thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets. But I would love to shop guilt-free at some of the great on-line Japanese furniture stores such as Truck.
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Resources:
• Bed - Mandal from Ikea
• Vintage Dresser - Salvation Army Thrift Store
• Vintage Danish Chest as nightstand eBay
• Vintage Polar Map - sourced for my shop Trampoline on etsy
• Lamp on nightstand eBay
• Quilt - solsticehome on etsy
• TeePee Art - Sweet Love Vintage on etsy
• Eames look alike chair - Sandwich Flea Market
• Chalkboard paint, Ben Moore wall paint and wood siding - the Home Depot
Thanks for sharing, Kim! To view more photos, visit Kim's Flick page.
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Comments (13)
Love the knotty pine bed... where'd it come from?
I love the tipi! This room must be huge! Great colors and nice little display touches. Is that a secret door in the closet? Awesome!
This room is remarkably like our toddlers, from the room itself to the large (for a kid) bed and the closet shelves. Personally, I'm always experimenting with ways to take down the spareness a notch so she feels cozy. I appreciate seeing a room that left the bare, open feeling as-is for contrast.
Great room!
I LOVE THIS ROOM!
Wow, what a great job you all did. I really like it and can see that it will be a perfect room to grow with your son.
I've just gone through an entire reno of my 8 year old's room and can relate to a child who has "input". Lots of fun, lots of compromises, but a great end result!
love it! what is that wall color? just what I'm looking for for the exterior of our house. . .
Great wall color. I love that it is clearly is a child's room but not too grown-up or babyish. It's just right.
Great room. The bed is an Ikea Mandal, I see, but what is the headboard? It doesn't look like the Mandal headboard (paired with a Mandal frame). Thanks.
hi everyone. thanks for all the feedback. here are some answers to your questions:
the bed is indeed the Mandal, but it is the discontinued style. this one has a headboard and footboard, but no storage drawers underneath. it is no longer on the Ikea website i see.
the lighter walls are painted benjamin moore 'woodlawn blue' and the darker paneling in the bed nook is benjamin moore 'polished slate'.
@p_capucine: the room is actually the opposite of huge, but very much adequate. it is laid out vaguely in an 'L' shape, so that the bed is in it's own little nook. the area that the bed is in is only about 7 x 6 and the overall size is about 130 sq ft.
and yes, that is a trap door in the closet that opens up to a finished space beneath the attic eaves.
The most lovely thing about this room is that it definitely reflects a childs point of view...It very simply 'radiates' kid. Bravo....It takes me back...
Man, I am 75% done with decorating my boy's room and now I want to start completely over with everything. What a great room...boyish but not too boy. Great job!
Hi! I am 26, and saw the first picture of the bed (which I think is perfect by the way. This is the type of bed I've been looking for and can't find one that's perfect anywhere! Now, you say it's been discontinued! I'm almost positive I'm going to have to build my own!) and the super chic white ottoman and blue walls and ddnt even realize it was a childs room! Even though I'm aware now, I still don't care!!, I still want to steal this idea for my own bedroom!! What can I say, I'm young at heart. ;)
Could you PLEASE tell me where you got the ottoman??!
I'm crazy about it!
Also, did you use a special painting technique on the darker blue area? It looks as though you did.
You have excellent taste!
I just looked back at the picture where the bed is, (the darker part I was referring to before), zoomed in, and embarrassingly noticed that it's not a paint technique, but just how the wall is! Hahaha. Oops! I'd still love to know where you found the ottoman, though, please! Thank you! =)
It's great!! I just moved into a new apartment. This gives me some ideas on what to do with my son's room. Thx
Would you please tell me where I can get that teepee? I love how spacious and tall it is!
Thank you. Lovely bedroom, btw. Its soothing and very charming.