This two-year-old’s room has an aviation theme and just the right amount of colour
Whose room is this?
Charlie, 2.
Who created this scheme?
Mum Ana Dermer (owner of graphic design business Woolly Lemon Creative and photographer).
Where is it?
Pt Chevalier, Auckland.
Ana, what are the key changes you made to Charlie’s room?
I changed our boring spare room into a fun bedroom by using a combination of old, new and re-purposed items. We inherited an antique bed from my partner Chris’ father, but I wanted it to work in a modern setting. I chose blue and green paint to complement the bed and added orange to tie in with the modern bedlinen. I found the suitcases on my parents’ farm; they double as a bedside table and toy box. They still have my grandfather’s travel stickers on them!
What was the inspiration for the look of this room?
Chris and I love skiing and can’t wait to get our kids into it so abstract mountains felt right to us. I got the initial idea from Pinterest and adapted it.
How did you create the painted feature wall?
I used masking tape to get the straight lines and used chalk attached to string to get the curved lines, along with a bit of freehand.
Are you happy with the outcome?
Yes, although it took a few goes to get the paint right. I learned a lesson here – always use a testpot no matter how confident you are! I completely repainted the mountains as I couldn’t live with the first colours I chose.
Fave feature?
The reading corner. We read there every day and every night before bed. It’s also a comfy place to sit while Charlie plays and has recently come in very handy as a breast-feeding bag!
What projects did you undertake yourself?
Making the snowman picture (above beanbag), painting the walls and the inside of the shelves and adapting the old wire-slung bed into one with slats.
Fact File:
Wall feature in Resene ‘Blue Lagoon’, Resene ‘Java’, Resene ‘Padua’, Resene ‘Flamingo’ and Resene ‘Crusta’; beanbag from Citta Design, covered in a duvet from Cotton On; birdcage from Redcurrent; shelving cubes from Mitre 10 Mega; wall shelf an old wine box; triangle shelf from Typo; house-shaped display shelf from Cotton On Kids; suitcases found in Ana’s parents’ attic; lamp from Citta Design; wooden chair and bed family heirlooms; bedlinen from Cotton On; cushions on bed from Bolt of Cloth, Thread Design and Cotton On; orange lightshade from Mitre 10 Mega; cloud cushion from Cotton On; bird and plane decals from Etsy; planes on wall and blackboard speech bubble from an unknown source.
Photography by: Helen Bankers