A Lovely Lark: Violet's Room

Please forgive the grainy photo! It was a quick snap with my iPhone. The last time we talked about Violet's room we were trying to figure out the best way to get her a cozy "nook" similar to the alcove in her bedroom at our former home. The winner turned out to be using curtains to sort of canopy her bed. Next we had to figure out if the layout of Violet's room would allow us to actually do this. The other day we tested out a few furniture arrangements to see what would work best.

After we had all of the major furniture pieces in place, I took a pair of curtains and hung them from the ceiling using some string and tape (classy looking, I know!), to see if we liked the look. Violet was a little upset at first about the idea of her furniture being shifted around (change is hard, even if it's wanted change!), but when she saw this she gasped and said, "It looks so pretty in here, Mommy!" I knew we had a winner. I'm planning for longer drapes, a framed out top, and four panels rather than two. Here area few of my inspiration images:

I really love the look of the built-in bookcase in the above photo, but unfortunately there is a vent that prevents a bookcase from happening without a lot of extra work (Kev has enough on his plate as it is!), so I don't think that will work in Violet's room. I'm trying to keep this as low-maintenance as possible because I know he already has so much planned for this summer.

The colors in the photo above are so pretty, and so Violet. She's a purple and pink fan forever. In fact, she wants to keep the current purple wall color of her room, so we're probably just going to paint the trim and maybe the ceiling. I also love all of the pattern and the fact that the curtains are lined with a contrasting color/design.

Love this space too! So fun with the punchy colors and kid art. I definitely want to include some of Violet's artwork in the space (you can see one of her many rainbow paintings in the photo up above). What I'm trying to decide currently is what color fabric/curtains I want to use. Should I stick with white with a fun tassel or pom pom trim? Or maybe go with a more bold color? What do you think?xo, Lauren

Images 1 . 2 . 3. 4

Image 1 Credit: A Lovely Lark

Image 2 Credit: Trevor Tondro

Image 3 Credit: Melanie Acevedo

Image 4 Credit: Lily Z Interior Design
*I hope all of these are correct - I pinned them long ago and some of them are no longer visible on these sites.

The girls have handled the transition to our new house fairly well, but it's definitely been a bit harder on Violet. She was at an age where she had started creating real memories in our first little house, and there are things she misses dreadfully. Her top two complaints are missing her "secret garden" (a large rhododendron that was in front of our house that she would play beneath), and her bed nook. She just loved that she could close the curtains and feel like she was in her own secret fort. She misses the coziness of sleeping in that little space tremendously.

So as I've been thinking about how to design her new space, I've been trying to think of creative ways to give her that same cozy, adventurous feeling. My Pinterest board for her room is full of these sleeping "nooks," whether it be a cupboard-type bed, a canopy, or even a lofted playhouse. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. I love this cupboard-style bed. The designer actually created it out of necessity to hide a staircase. I think it would give Violet a really similar feeling to her previous bedroom (and those red check curtains are so cute!):

2. Here's another very similar bed nook. I love that this one has storage beneath and the curved edges and little wall light are just adorable:

3. Here's a super-fancy version of a cupboard bed with all of that gingerbread trim. I absolutely adore that one of the drawers pulls out to reveal stairs, and I think Violet would love the sconces on the inside (especially if they were on a dimmer switch!):

4. It looks like this one was created with just fabric, which is something I could more likely accomplish on my own without as much help from Kev, although it probably would look this professional and tailored than this photo!

5. This is from good ol' IKEA, which I'm guessing means that it has potential to be a "me" project as well. It looks like you just suspend this curtain rod system. from the ceiling, hang curtains, and voila - instant dreamy bed nook:

6. This is incredibly adorable. I've found a bunch of different versions of playhouse beds (even some that you can buy, although they're completely out of our price range. I even found one that is a hack of the IKEA .

7. And last but not least, here is a more trendy and insanely adorable bed nook complete with shiplap and some of my fave wallpaper! I adore the little inset bookshelf: