When your little sister reaches out and asks you to design her new bedroom, you don’t hesitate. But when your little sister sits at a spot on the opposite side of the style spectrum from you.. it’s going to push you to your highest level of creativity to accomplish something she, who is 12, will like.

My goal for this project was to give her a room that would be her haven long into her teen years, and even accommodate a guest room style for my dad when she moves out, eventually. Both my sister and my dad share a very… “rustic” style.. though I call it more redneck than rustic… so their confidence in me being able to create something that suited them was not very high.

BUT. To their astonishment, I did, and of course with the added critiques from the preteen, they’re happy.

I normally try to start by getting an idea for what my client wants style wise, and going from there. I like to sketch out my thoughts first before I ever move to a computer because I can get it down quicker and don’t get distracted. It’s a creative process.

I got her to send me pictures of all angles of the room, send me pictures of rooms she liked, and a list of furniture that was being for sure custom made for the room.

Then I needed rough measurements of the room to know exactly what would fit, and what wouldn’t. The original plan for the room was to have one nightstand on the left, with a desk on the other side of the bed… no.. just no.. I couldn’t let this happen.

So my idea was to get her a custom desk for the nook in the corner, a two tiered open air desk that would create flow without blocking much light from the window, and also give plenty of space for storage and doing homework.

I also wanted to give her a sitting space across from the bed under the tv, being that it’s a raised and lonely space, for entertaining when her friends came over.

The inspiration pictures I received resembled something out of a log cabin.. and as you can see there is plenty of wood in the room to last a lifetime in the style world, so I wanted to tone it down and bring in the modern elements of clean crisp whites, greys, and blacks with simple lines and tones of pink in accessories. I also found a beautiful print from Pottey Barn, on sale, which screamed modern rustic, and I knew she’d love it too.

 
I wanted to give them options for some of the products used in the room, couple different options for nightstands and side tables, so she didn’t feel like I was taking total control over the space.

All the links and design boards were sent over so all they have to do is click, buy, and deliver. Then I come in and style the room once it’s all there, and boom, room is perfect and beautiful and looks like something out of a magazine. Easy peasy.

I can’t wait for it all to come together, and I know she can’t either.

-Kat.