Monday, February 17, 2014

pint sized design: moonrise kingdom

Semi-controversial opinion warning. I don't think kid's rooms should have "themes."  There, I said it. Themes are too limiting. Your baby is born, and you have a teddy bear themed room. A year later, it feels to baby-ish, so you have a Mickey Mouse room. Two years later, it's Spiderman. Then whatever new movie Disney has released that every small child is obsessed with. This creates a perpetual cycle of re-decoration and throwing away money.

Good design never truly goes out of style. Seek out pieces that can evolve as your baby grows into a big kid, and eventually into a *gasp* teenager. Although with a 2 year old and 3 month old, I can't begin to conceive of a time that I will have two teenagers, people keep telling me that it will happen.

Kids rooms deserve to be less stuffy and formal than other rooms in the house. Let the expensive pieces be timeless and rotate in and out less expensive accessories and toys that are more age appropriate and fun. The $250 plastic race car/princess castle/pirate ship bed seems cool now, but you're just one growth spurt away from letting it go for $25 on Craig's list.

What I suggest (to anyone who will listen) is having inspiration for a room, rather than a theme. You need a concept to drive design decisions and to help everything work together. So here's an example. I'm currently Jonesing on Wes Anderson films. Can we all agree that Wes Anderson is the bomb? The combination of the super-dry humor, awesome soundtracks, and beautiful cinematography is beyond inspiring. If anyone is looking for a gift idea for me, it would be the complete collection of Wes Anderson films. Just sayin.

I think I could design an entire perfectly vintage house inspired by his movies. Since I don't have the money to build a new Wes house, a mood board will have to do. Please enjoy the following child's room inspired by Moonrise Kingdom. Spoiler alert...there are more of these Wes boards coming.

 

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