3 Is the Magic Number

Rooomy Reader Katie Pearce shares why three is the magic number

This issue’s Reader Room showcases not one, but three kids’ bedrooms. Former chartered surveyor for Jones La Salle, Katie Pearce has been very busy over the past 5 years, working on a two-phase refurbishment and extension to their house in Farnham, Surrey. She has also started to make her interior designer dreams come true by enrolling with the KLC Design School and all whilst being mum to Lyla (7), Harry (6) and Jack (2). She has been planning their rooms for a long time and now we get to take a peek inside.

JACKS ROOM

Jacks room is north facing so it doesn’t get as much natural light as Harry and Lyla’s rooms. To keep it bright I painted it in Farrow and Ball ‘Blackened’ which is a fresh bright grey with blue tones. This matches well with the Aspace furniture I already had that was once Harry’s. It is from their Charterhouse collection and includes a trundle bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers in a soft grey. In order to inject some colour into the room, I bought Jack some beautiful bed linen from Tobias and the Bear. It is a geometric fox print and it certainly brightens things up! It is made from a soft jersey material so there is no creasing and therefore no ironing needed. To complement this, I bought a La Redoute Ustril Berber-style rug that has hints of orange and yellow to complement the fox print.

I added a few accessories to Jack’s room to make a bright and colourful contrast to the grey. He has a bright red play table that is great storage for all the toy cars we have accumulated over the years. He loves his Great Little Trading Company car garage, and it even keeps him entertained in the mornings!

He also has a small fleece chair from Brissi which I bought because I love the texture. In the corner he has a Great Little Trading Company bean bag which is white with coloured stars. We are big fans of bean bags in our house!
The colour palette for Jack’s room is light grey, cream and orange/red.

HARRYS ROOM

Harry’s Room has only just taken shape as part of our extension this year. Baby Jack threw Harry out of his room when Jack’s box room was demolished. Subsequently he was ‘camping’ in Lyla’s room, which was fun at first – before he was thrown out for keeping her awake so he moved into the spare room.

Desperate for a space of his own, when his room was finally ready to move in to he slept on a mattress on the floor with no blinds in the middle of summer! Harry and Jack’s rooms have high vaulted ceilings that give them light and space. The rooms are identical in size to Lyla’s room but they feel much larger. I decided to paint them all one colour, including the skirting boards and using the same colour on the ceilings to keep the lines clean and create a modern look. Harry’s is painted in Farrow and Ball’s Pavilion Grey. Only the window sills are painted in Farrow and Ball’s All White.

The key piece of furniture in Harry’s room is the Warwick High sleeper with daybed in Prussian Blue again from Aspace. The key here is the size of the piece of furniture as it fills a good proportion of the room with its height and the daybed below gives him a sofa area for reading and playing with his ipad. It has a neat little desk that he will be able to use for studying when he’s older.

In Harry’s room I have bed linen from Chloe Flint’s limited edition collection for Aspace and Tobias and the Bear bed linen on the high bunk. Harry has a rug from Homesense that is a geometric print and brings the grey carpet to life. Blackout blinds were essential for Harry’s new room and again I went with Blinds2go, they are great quality and not too expensive (so you can change them without feeling too guilty!). I went for a cream with a bold dark blue stripe down each side.

Unfortunately I can’t show you the wardrobe and chest of drawers I have bought for Harry in my photos because they haven’t arrived yet but I can share with you what I have bought and my inspiration. Barker and Stonehouse have a Charlie bedroom range that is made from reclaimed and recycled wood giving it a rustic finish. I think this will complement the Prussian blue high sleeper well and certainly bring it all to life.

The colour palette for Harry’s room is mid-grey, dark blue and earthy wooden tones.

LYLAS ROOM

We first decorated Lyla’s room in 2011 when we renovated our dilapidated house in Farnham. She was only 3 years old at the time but she certainly had her own mind and actively participated with colour choices. It’s stood the test of time and she loves it to this day. I always knew it would be pink because at 3 years old there was no other acceptable colour. I wanted to keep it subtle for longevity, so I went for Dulux Blossom White paint and it works perfectly.

Prior to our move we lived in Clapham and I often visited the Aspace shop on the Northcote Road. I had my eye on an antique white sleepover bed and a lovely ‘Belvoir’ chest of drawers that became my key pieces of furniture. A little flower print wing back sofa, also from Aspace, brought the whole room to life. I don’t think Aspace make the sofa any longer; look at Sofa.com for a lovely range of children’s sofas that would do the trick.

I had lots of furniture for Lyla’s room but she didn’t have any blinds so I needed a quick fix without compromising the look of the room. Amazingly I managed to exactly match the colours in the sofa to a striped material sample from Blinds2go. I ordered two blinds and they work beautifully. A ‘grownup’ pink and cream damask rug (again from Aspace) has helped the décor stand the test of time.

Anyone looking to decorate a little girl’s room will know what I mean about storing all the tiny bits and pieces that they collect over the years! In attempt to tackle this problem I bought a bookcase, again from Aspace, which is now home to about a thousand Beany Boo toys. It is antique white and matches well with the other furniture. The colour palette for Lyla’s room is pink, antique white/ cream and a hint of turquoise.

Reader Rooms…