Scandinavian Girls Bedroom

This project was something I originally dreaded because they said they wanted purple and yellow for the colors. It’s for a girls bedroom, ages 8 and 10. Yellow is probably my least favorite color and the combination didn’t sound great to me, until…

I started looking for yellow and purple fabrics. The floodgates opened when I discovered how many adorable fabrics there are in these colors. There were so many choices that I had trouble narrowing it down to just a few options for them to decide between. (here are just a few)

The linchpin was the raison-colored chairs. The color is so rich that I used it to help me decide which fabric to use. I loved the second one the most, but the raison chair went best with the last fabric.

The inspirational photos they provided are below.

Four Steps to Decorate Any Room

1. Function, Mood and Style

The first step to decorating any room is to consider the function of the room. It’s a bedroom, so we know sleeping is one function, but what else do you need to do in the room?

These girls like to read so they need a place with light to read and a place to store books. There are also TWO pre-teen girls in here, so storage is a requirement. Consider this when you are choosing everything. Even nightstands can provide storage.

The style Kathryn settled on is Scandinavian and the mood is “bright and cheerful”.

2. Furniture Layout

The beds had to go on the east wall, so that made the arrangement pretty simple. The chairs needed to go by a window, which made the west wall the only choice for that. Here’s the final layout.

If you want a free furniture layout tool, click here.

3. Color Palette

Kathryn has already painted the room a buttercup yellow. The floors are oak wood. Based on the fabrics above, which provided my color inspiration here is our color palette. The floors are part of that palette.

You might be wondering, where do I use the fabric if that’s my inspiration? Re-upholstering furniture is expensive, but it’s affordable to get pillows made and even drapes, if you know the right places. You can also use fabric in a frame as art.

4. Decide What You Need & What to Keep

Almost everyone wants to keep some of what they already have. You want to make sure to use the items you want to keep in your space plan (step 2) and your color palette (step 3).

At this point, it should be crystal clear which pieces you are missing. The fastest way to find these items is to use your style, color and size in your search. This really cuts down the volume of pieces that will work.

For example, if you’re looking for a chair use the search, “Scandinavian 30 inch (or petite) purple chair”. That search is SO specific that you don’t have to sift through millions of chairs.

I’m sharing the lighting plan because I believe that lighting can play such a big roll in the how well-designed any room looks.

Details of the room

I like to use inexpensive furniture in kids’ rooms because as they grow they like to change things. This is especially true with art. The art I recommended is really inexpensive, so it can be easily changed out.

• Spindle natural oak twin beds
• Quince European Linen bedding in cream
• Paper Flowers fabric
• 60″ IKEA malm dresser – I like to use inexpensive furniture in kids rooms because as they grow they like to change things
• Bookcase with drawers beneath
• Scandinavian wood table
• 2 drawer night stand
• Ottowa rug 8×10
• White rattan pendant light
• Naturalist wood ball table lamp
• Swing arm lamps
• Nordic wood track light
• Floating shelf
• Bargain 6 piece art

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If you liked this post you might be interested in this post about decorating a tween boy’s bedroom.