Designing a Fun Kids Room the Downtown Chic Way

Have a kids room that needs a little oomph? You might want to look for some fun tips from Robert and Courtney Novogratz, the authors of a new design book, Downtown Chic: Designing Your Dream Home: From Wreck to Ravishing.

For the girls room, they mixed their pinks and purples and used furniture that is functional but looks really great, too. The room is a little grown up but still has plenty of little girly touches. The chairs (they used two large lounge chairs) are from a garage sale that they had reupholstered in a bold pink print…always a great idea to get good furniture on the cheap, as long as you pick fabric that won’t break the bank.

I do wish they would have talked a little more about why they chose the bold prints they did, what their rationale behind mixing such seemingly different prints and colors together was, and what their inspiration behind the Balinese beds was. Just to give a reader more “meat” to chew on when contemplating his or her own re-do. Also, no mention of bed bugs (from garage sale furniture) and in New York I know that is a HUGE problem – though maybe it’s just too gross to mention?

For the boys room (there are 4 in one room!) they used vintage pieces with over-sized contemporary art to add flourishes. Otherwise there was minimal furniture with lots of room for playing, studying and sleeping. The less furniture, the better they say. It’s true, too. Kids don’t need a lot of stuff, they need room to play and let their imaginations run wild.

I love what they did with the bathroom. They took a cheap tub and put a Corian enclosure around it to make it look more sleek. With the bright pops of color in the rug and on the wall (or ceiling), the bathroom is clean, crisp and fun. Love the idea of the non-functioning light above the tub as a decoration – cool touch. Oh, and they used brightly colored Plexiglas in an old 6 paneled door to create a very cool effect.

I found myself enjoying this chapter of the book so much I wanted more. I could have used either more tips, more stories of how their kids interact with the rooms or something…this section seemed light on info, though to be fair it was heavy on photos that were fun to look at.

Thanks to the generous folks at Rizzoli International Publications for sending the book my way.