By Tracy Kleinberg
I recently built an extension onto my house above the garage; two new bedrooms with a Jack and Jill bathroom connecting them. My two daughters are four and seven, and we needed to get them farther away from us, so this seemed like a logical solution. My four-year-old Ava is easy-going and left the decorating to me. However, Maya, my seventeen-year-old, excuse me, seven-year-old was another story. She is an amazing child, but if something isn’t exactly her way, she won’t wear it, eat it, play with it, or live in it as the case may be. So I had no choice but to include her in the decorating process.
We began with two giant Benjamin Moore paint sample books. Immediately Maya was drawn to the names “poolside blue” and "lemon yellow". That’s right, she was drawn to the names, not the actual colors. And once she found them, there was no turning back. I ordered samples of the lighter versions of these colors, the ones higher up on the sample card, but she was onto me. Her new room was going to be these two disturbingly bright colors, or she wasn’t moving in! Once I gave in to the inevitable, I began my quest for matching bedding. Maya has very outrageous style; she often wears a sequin fedora to school, so finding something that suited her was not going to be easy. I scoured every store in the area that sold bedding, and spent many nights on the Internet, googling search terms like “turquoise peace sign blanket” and “bright yellow funky throw pillows for girls.” Everything I found was rejected with statements like “too girly-girl”, too babyish”, and my favorite “you think I’m a dork!” Surprisingly, my search ended at Bed Bath and Beyond, where I found this incredibly cheap, soft, and accessory-packed bed-in-a-bag set by Self Expressions. The multi-colored hearts were the perfect complement to the paint colors, and even better, it came with a mesh canopy and a sleep mask! Maya was sold.
Another struggle I faced was the fact that Maya is a gymnast – she can’t walk two feet without doing a cartwheel, a handstand or a back kick over. Therefore, I was afraid to leave the new hardwood floors exposed (afraid for Maya’s safety, not that the floor would get damaged, I swear!) and thought that even an area rug under the bed would not be enough protection (for her head, not the floor, really!) I decided to go to a carpet store, find wall-to-wall carpeting that was very soft and plush, and have it cut and bound so that it left exactly a half foot of hardwood showing on each edge of the room. I mean, I wanted Maya to be safe, but no way was I nailing anything into my beautiful new hardwood! I was expecting to not like this carpet solution and to just learn to live with it, but I wound up loving the look. If I ever decide another room in my house needs carpeting, I will do it this way for sure.
One of the best things I put in Maya’s new room is a built-in window seat with storage underneath. It is a great place to hide all of her trinkets and toys; you know the ones that she doesn’t necessarily use, but would be sure to ask for the day after I got rid of them. She keeps all of her stuffed animals on top, which helps keep them off the floor. When designing this aspect of her room, I envisioned her lounging in the window reading a book, so I added two sconces for extra lighting. Well, so far she mostly uses the bench as a stage to put on shows for us, and the sconces as her spotlights, but she wouldn't be Maya otherwise and at least they are getting a lot of use.
Designing a room with Maya was challenging and fun at the same time. Her opinionated personality and outrageous style are two of things I love most about her, so I really couldn’t be mad that they came out in full force during this project. The beautiful, pink, shabby chic bedding that I originally bought her when she first got a bed has been lovingly placed in our guest room, so it's still around for me to admire. In the end, we both got what we wanted. She got a bright, funky and fun bedroom where she can cartwheel to her heart’s content, and I got her room moved all the way to the other side of the house. Now if I can only find a way to get her to stay in there all night…