Guest Post: Ben's Boyish Bedroom

Another day, another guest. Let me introduce Karla of Kerrisdale Design (check out her professional design portfolio here). She is sharing her adorable son Ben's bedroom. Another great example of how a child's room can be playful without being overworked or cartoonish. But I'll let Karla do the talking...

Hi everyone, I'm Karla from Kerrisdale Design. I'm an interior designer and mom of 2 who lives in South Surrey, BC {a suburb of Vancouver}. I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I am to be guest posting for Stefanie while she's away on vacation....seriously, pinch me! As a newbie to the design blog world, her blog was one of the first I stumbled across and fell in love with. So you can bet that little old me is pretty excited about getting to make the Brooklyn Limestone my home {albeit virtually} for the day!

A lover of classic architecture, I'd give my right arm to live in an old brownstone or limestone home {lucky lucky Stefanie!}, but they are a non-existent breed out here in the 'burbs. Fantasy homes aside, my husband and I were tickled pink last August when we purchased our first home - a brand spanking new "heritage style" with a wee patch of grass out back for our monkeys to run around on.

Now, while I appreciate some aspects of new houses, it's always a challenge to personalize, decorate, and make them feel like home...which is what we have slowly {oh so painfully slowly at times} been doing over the past months in our new place.

Today I'm going to share with you my son's bedroom {one of the more "complete" rooms in the house, though we all know that few rooms are ever truly "done" if you are design obsessed!}

In designing his room I wanted something handsome, boyish and comfortable. I'm not into cutesy decor for kids, and Ben's never been a babyish kid anyhow. From day one he's been all boy - loves trucks, tools, cars, and bacon! Yup, a manly {little} man who needed a room to suit. The jumping off point for the room were some nautical flags from the Land of Nod...I loved the colours and the preppy feel and knew Ben would think it fun to have them parading around his room. The mood and colours fell into place after that find, and here are the results:

An upholstered headboard {herringbone linen fabric with brass nailheads} sits next to a black painted faux bamboo sidetable {you can read about it's transformation here}. The duvet cover is a taupe linen, sheets are white with a taupe stripe, and touches of red are brought in with the Pottery Barn euro sham and the red cableknit pillow and throw. The rug is an roadmap rug from Ikea, which I'd like to one day replace with a wide stripe rug, but for now Ben has fun driving his cars around on it.

One of Ben's favourite books is Curious George, so when he spied this guy at a store one day, he begged to bring him home!

This antique dresser was awaiting refinishing for my store when I decided that the style and gorgeous grain made it the perfect addition for Ben's room. I love its imperfections and the few chips, I think it adds great character to the space. Stacked above the old faux-bamboo chair are Ben's first {very abstract!} painting and some black and white shots of him as a baby.

Arranged on top of the dresser are a collection of boyish objects ~ wooden cars, a tin soldier {former cookie jar that now houses matchbox cars!}, a vintage trophy, red lacquer box, and iron obelisks. The round mirror is a slight nod to a ships porthole.

In a small space, every inch counts. Kids rarely need to use closets for clothing, so I added an Ikea shelving unit in the bottom of Ben's for toys, books and a "parking lot" for Ben's many vehicles.

The wooden dog's name is "Max" and he does an excellent job keeping lookout for monsters under the bed!

Ahhh, it's so nice to have a room completed! Though I still have a hankering to cover the walls in crisp white painted beadboard {floor to ceiling}, I'll leave that for down the road...no shortage of projects around here still to do!

Thanks for letting me stop by to give you a peek!