Tiffany Brooks is a Chicago-based interior designer and says that 5-year-old Ruby was one of her favorite clients - ever. She shares details about Ruby's room re-do: Ruby wanted "Gemy, Girly, Sparkly, with all the colors." "Don't forget I want it gemy" - Ruby would remind me at our meetings. So her mom and I got to work.
We shopped high and low for Ruby. Sourcing and mixing materials anywhere from Ikea to Schumacher. I did not want to make this project "over-designed". Which is common when you hire a designer. I wanted to space to be imperfect. And most importantly I wanted Ruby to be proud.
I was initially inspired by a fabric swatch, which we later framed. Next I found the perfect Schumacher wallpaper, then a rug by Ballard designs. As a gift I painted a violet silhouette of Ruby and made it the focal point in her wall gallery.
Ruby's favorite moment was the chandelier. - I gave her the Gemy, Sparkly, and Girly, all in that one find!
Thanks Tiffany!
More of Tiffany's Work: You and Your Decor
(Images: Eddie Shackleford)






Ercol Bar Stool
I always loved that bed frame from Ballard designs.
Where are those lovely white book shelves and bench from? They don't look custom made but I could be wrong.
I am looking for something similar for my daughter's room.
That's one happy little client!
People actually hire interior designers to decorate a kid's room? That, uh, seems excessive at best.
Cute room. I'm confused about the curtain length, though. Wouldn't you either want to go full-out and have them be floor-length, or at least to the bench, or have them stop at the bottom of the window? Where they end now seems arbitrary. They line up with the bottom of the stuff pinned to the wall, but that's going to get moved around.
Do you know where the quilt came from? I adore the color scheme on it. Looks a bit like the Kantha throws that Pottery Barn has started selling...but bigger.
I love all the color combinations! The quilt especially brings the room together. What a warm and welcoming room for little Ruby.
As cute as this room is, personally I wouldn't be able to keep the thought out of my mind that the money I spend on an interior designer (on anything, not only a child's room) would probably save the live of a dozen or so starving children.
Quilt is from Land of Nod. Have it for my daughter's room and everyone loves it!
Nice room, but have to agree that hiring a professional designer for a kid's room always seems excessive at best and pretentious at worst.
First off, I love this room. I love the pic of the little girl jumping across her bed. That is awesome. But I have a beef with some of you and your comments. Have you guys ever stopped to think that the client may just love their daughter to pieces? It's not your money, so why does it matter, really? If they work hard to make good money to hire a decorator to design their kid's room, so what? This girl looks like she's 4, look at the items in the room. The bed, the bench, the area rug and the chandelier, looks like she might be in that room for a long time. We don't know what else they do with their money. Maybe they donate money to charities, better yet, maybe they tithe. You talking about starving children, maybe they donate money to the homeless. I'm just saying people, be easy when making comments like that. I mean for crying out loud, this is Apartment Therapy, it's about interiors not about how much some parents spent on their daughters room. On top of that, I looked at this designer's site and the prices for their services are right there. Doesn't seem that expensive compared to what I know interior designers charge. I had my son's room decorated when he was 3, he is 8 now and the room still fits him. AND I didn't pay a lot of money like you guys are thinking this person paid. You have to quit judging wrongly and assuming. That's what wrong with the world now. Their are people buying their 16 year old's BMW's and y'all tripping about a bedroom? If I was in the area I would call You and Your Decor. Sorry for the rant, but DANG!
I would like to know how much money Okashi donates to starving children.
Good point that the assumptions are very judge-y. The parents could be very charitable people for all we know, and it's not our business to know anyway.
The curtain length catches my attention too. The wall color is my favorite part. Not the usual pink and still sweet.
What's "gemy"? Is it "full of precious stones" (gemmy)? Because I don't see anything like that here. I don't have a 4yo, so I think I must be missing the reference!
I think she means 'gemmy', or rather, 'gem-like'. As in, jewel-toned colours?
I don't know. It's a nice room and all, but mostly because the quilt is stunning. Something about the bedskirt doesn't work with the quilt, and the curtain length is weird. I like it, but it doesn't look like something you'd need to pay an interior designer for.
That said, it's really pretty, and if the client is happy it's all good.
I think its perfectly imperfect, a ton of color. Too much for me but I live in a beige palace anyway. My neighbor paid a designer to style her bathroom, and patio, so a kids room is just a jump up. I love the gallery wall!
To me, it absolutely looks llike an interior designer put this room together. I think that the room is nice, but the white shelves/seat look slightly out of place. The bedspread is gorgeous, though.
I checked her rates out too, and they are really reasonable for the amount of work required.
From the looks if it, she is filling a good niche - those who appreciate that a designer can help create a room that is comfortable for the long term, but do not want to spend tens of thousands...
That said - I agree with the other comments on the curtains.
"Maybe they donate money to charities, better yet, maybe they tithe."
Tithing is better than donating to charity? Interesting.
And I don't care about how much they donate or not, I just dislike this sort of decadence.
To the so non-judge-y Sepher: I donate to causes that are dear to my heart to the extend my freelancer income allows me to and if I had more money to spare I certainly would not spend it on anything as decadent as an interior designer (while I guess the poor interior designers would be unemployed without people spending money on someone else designing their personal space, my bad).
Wow!!! Really?
I am fairly certain that this awesome "gem," Ruby, attends school with my daughter. If so, the invidious and narcissistic speculation that her family is decadent in its spending is absolutely absurd...
The expressly stated MISSION of apartment therapy is:
Helping people make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy by connecting them to a wealth of resources, ideas and community online.
Nevertheless, I must admit that my "spare" hard earned ca$h goes to coffee, alcohol and porn, so who am I to judge any of you?
Her rates don't seem "decadent" to me, and the room is sweet (with an awesome quilt and odd curtain length). These shrill comments are why I've drifted away from this site...all we know about this family is a single room and that their daughter's adorable. Let's leave it at that!
Nice. What's the wall color? I'm looking for something neutral but warm and this is it!
OKASHI, did you not look at the AT comment policy?
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