Design Portfolio: Teen Girl's Room in Black and Lime Green

This is a room I designed for a teenage girl who absolutely LOVES green, and also likes black. 

What is to be her new bedroom is currently a crowded computer room/guest room/random storage room (think of a HUGE corner computer desk from the '90's, several file cabinets, several gigantic veneer particle board cabinets, a guest bed, and a closet so full of stuff that it attacks when opened), and she is moving to be with her dad in only a few weeks. And that boring gray sponge-look wallpaper that makes me think of concrete; and COMPLETELY does not match in tone to the oak wood trim & doors in the room and the roll-down shade the first decorator made? The homeowner/father absolutely does not want the trim painted nor the window shade changed, since he loves wood and paid a lot of money for window treatments and wallpapering job from his previous interior designer.

The first step was getting rid of the ENORMOUS computer desk that took up half the 10' x 10' room, which meant finding him a new desk and making room in another part of the customer's house for his home office. The trundle bed that was being used as a guest bed went back under the other bedroom's bunk bed, and 2 big cabinets & the file cabinets found new homes elsewhere in the house. I personally cleaned 7 years of dirt/dust out of the carpet... who knew designing starts with, literally, a CLEAN slate? Ha ha!

First purchase was these Urban Outfitters curtains that I ordered, and I can't say how much I adore them... the yellow birds tie in the warmth of the natural wood and the roll-up shade, and the blue birds bring in the cooler gray/blue tones of the wallpaper! Already a transformation just with the curtains!

So now I finally had a clean, blank room to work with. I measured and laid it out on paper, and measured some more, and then searched for a computer desk that would fit into the space next to the closet door, which is the only spot where I could put one and leave room for her dresser and bed and some actual empty floor space. Finally, I found this perfect desk at Office Depot (it also comes in white)... it's the Shore Mini Solutions Computer Hutch in Antique Black (still offered).  It is black, which the teen girl will like, and has an antiqued finish, which isn't so dense as plain black and ties in with the wooden trim and the honey oak dresser a little better than flat black would have.

The dresser is from the set in the other bedroom, and if it was up to me, I would paint it to match the computer desk or at the bare minimum, put cute door knobs on it to make it blend with the rest of the room better. I've seen some really cute ones on blogs with a variety of different door knobs, and I'm eying the ones at Hobby Lobby, but the homeowner does not want the dresser altered at all. The little cute lamp is from Ross, and what a lucky find, see how perfectly it matches the pattern on the curtain fabric? The quilt is one I made (under Rose Tree Originals). The beautiful little painted "E" for her name is a custom piece by my very dear, talented friend Jacqueline of Peachbutter Arts Studio.

The new bed was the only other piece of furniture purchased, and here it is in all it's glory in WHITE (teenage girl will think a white bed looks like a little girl's bed)... I'm taking my redoing furniture to an entire new level because I PAINTED this brand new bed!!

The new bed now looks old, after about 10 layers of primer, paints, glazes, and Johnson's Paste Wax (available at Home Depot):

The details on it are lovely, and it's sturdy and well constructed, just a little too... white!
 I did a weathered dark gray finish, with a little metallic pewter accent on the details, aged, distressed... I saw furniture with similar finishes in the Restoration Hardware catalog.

And I saved the best for last, the custom bed quilt that I made, and with it, bringing in touches of complimentary colors to the lime green she loves.

Challenging room design, but fun, and she ended up loving it!