Olivia and Emma’s Shared Room Gets Personal

Names: Olivia (4) and Emma (2)
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Room Size: 17 square meters

Jeanette, proud mom of Olivia and Emma, is a dedicated event and product manager at a computer games publisher by day but she is passionate about designing children´s spaces in her off time. Their Scandinavian home is filled with plenty of neutral whites, greys, beiges, and purples that remind them of nature but Jeanette has a passion for color too which really came out when designing her daughters’ room. She’s also a big fan of vintage furniture and believes that DIY projects are the heart and soul of any room. In the end, it’s the impressive number of personal touches that went into this design that make us want to learn more and more about how it all came to be.

What was your inspiration for the room? Mostly random images found in illustrated children’s books and movies. For example I am inspired by the Swedish illustrator Lena Andersen and her stories about the little Cone and Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking — both wonderful sources of inspiration!

What is your favorite element in the room? The green painted chest, which is over 70 years old, was brought home to Sweden from my grandmother’s summerhouse in Finland two years ago. It holds a lot of toys and makes cleaning up the floor from small parts easy! Originally the chest was grey. I painted the outside light green, like the leaves in the floral wallpaper, the inside shelves red and pink and the doors I wallpapered. The ceramics knobs, each one unique, we bought abroad as souvenirs.

Two other pieces important to me are Little Emma’s wooden crib (which was mine as a baby. I painted it red.) and the headboard for Olivia’s big girl bed (which was my teenage bedframe). I made the headboard out of plywood, padding and fabric and I am pretty pleased with the result.

Before starting, what did you know you wanted to include, for sure? A white rabbit lamp I bought when pregnant with Olivia. I also knew I wanted to find ways of combining vintage with new.

What was your proudest DIY? Most details in this room are actually DIY projects. But the red/white re-covered IKEA armchair is my proudest piece! It was originally white and the first piece of furniture I saved to buy for myself while still living at home at my parents’ house. A few years ago I decided to re-cover it so I bought different pieces of red/white patterned fabrics and started to sew it all together by hand. It’s become a truly personal piece for me and a perfect cosy chair for storytelling!

What was your biggest indulgence? The sweet wallpaper with white dots and pink roses! When I found this Dutch wallpaper I just had to have it. The pattern makes me smile when looking at it every day and it gives the room a romantic country style feeling.

Any advice for other people starting this process? Don’t be afraid of using color! Color spurs creativity. If there is any space in your house where you can be brave with color, it’s the kids room, so don’t be shy. Don’t forget to include free space on the floor with rugs for the kids to sit and play — it was important to me to create a beautiful space for my girls but first and foremost I wanted it to inspire their play.

If money was no object, what would your dream source be? I generally fancy Dutch and Danish design so I would love to have some of the Pronkstuk furniture designed by Marjan Godrie for Kids Factory.

Source List:
• Wallpaper: PIP Roses & Dots
• Striped rug: RICE
• White & pink rug: Åhléns
• Mini white table and small red chair: IKEA
• Patterned chairs: DIY, painted or covered with fabric vintage finds
• Baskets: Afro Art
• Ceiling lamp: Lampion
• Arm chair: DIY, originally IKEA and then re-covered in different red/white fabrics
• Green chest: Vintage
• Pink bed: Originally white from IKEA with DIY pink headboard
• Red bed: Vintage
• Earth globe and porcelain deer: Vintage
• Patchwork quilt: Made by my mother
• Fabric rabbits: maileg
• Bird cage: indiska

Thank you Jeanette! Readers, you can find Jeanette online at Froken Bauer where she writes about children’s rooms that inspire her.

(Images: Jeannette Bauer)

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