Jourdan Fairchild — A love letter to my daughter, by design

If you were to meet my six-year-old daughter Sloane in real life, you’d notice her typical first-born traits: responsible, determined, stubborn. You’d hear her many creative opinions, see that she expects to be taken seriously, and likely be tickled by her delightful, out-of-the-box ideas. So from the moment we began designing her room, I knew we’d need to involve her in ways that wouldn’t overwhelm her, providing opportunity for input with guardrails in place.

As with all kids’ spaces I design, I considered what she’d love in the next few years—reading books alone, writing notes, having sleepovers— as opposed to what she loves at this very moment (her atrocious LOL dollhouse she begged Santa for). I envisioned a room that would grow with her.

I began pulling inspiration photos of children’s bedrooms, whimsical spaces, and patterns I loved, and through that process I considered companies that would partner with me to bring my vision to life. To my delight, Spoonflower offered to provide fabric for curtains as well as ready-made bedding and decor (which I hadn’t realized they sell!). I had millions of colors and patterns at my fingertips, which was a gift and a curse. I knew the hardest part would be narrowing the options to a design that pleased us all and looked cohesive with the rest of the home.

If you build it, she will come

Before we tackled the aesthetics of this space, we really considered the pieces we couldn’t change: two windows and two doorways. The room lacked crown molding or other interesting architectural features. So then we thought: what would be the dreamiest addition to any childhood bedroom? A window seat with curtains you can close to make a cocoon. To balance out the window seat and add functional storage, we envisioned bookshelves on one side and a desk on the other. Sloane loves to write notes and draw, so we knew she’d love a dedicated art spot away from her little sister.

And so we started sketching. We had a few immediate creative challenges, thanks to a doorway that leads to her closet as well as an off-centered window. Given that we’d be incorporating some drawers, we decided to find existing pieces of furniture that we could build into the frame so we wouldn’t have to start from scratch. And of course there’s one furniture manufacturer known for these magic tricks (I know you know it’s Ikea). So over New Year’s break, I hit the nearest Ikea to buy a tv stand (for the window seat base) and a nightstand (for the desk drawers). Andrew had a few days off of work, so we shipped the kids off to my parents and got to work building the basic framework.

He started by building the support columns, and then through some magical electrical work, he extended the electrical up the columns so we could install a pair of sconces. Once those were up, he started building the framework for the bookshelves. Many, many nights and weekends went into purchasing wood and hauling it back from Home Depot, measuring and cutting and screwing the boards in place and then using Bondo to conceal any screws. Figuring out the arch for the window seat took trial and error, but we landed on a sweet notched look on either side that’s traditional rather than trendy and more fitting for this house.

And finally, to really make this built-in feel custom, we added the sweetest beaded molding and glued wooden cut-out shapes to the interior shelves that reflect Sloane’s current loves: ice cream, oranges, unicorns, hearts and more. These subtle additions add so much personality and can easily be removed in the future.

Imagining a playground of color and pattern

When we first started talking colors, Sloane shared that purple and teal were the way to her heart. I’d seen a few purple and teal combinations that I’d liked, and her adjoining closet is already painted a teal blue green, so I thought we could make it work. Purple felt like a great color because she’s loved it for a long time, it feels beautiful and regal without being baby-ish, and I haven’t used it anywhere else in the house. It just feels like Sloane to me. Before I finalized the purple hue, I ordered a ton of sample fabrics from Spoonflower that ranged in tones of purples, pinks, tans, creams, blues, greens. Narrowing down the patterns in the fabric choices I liked best was truly so hard, but I finally decided that I couldn’t not include this pattern by Danika Herrick as our curtains. She’s one of my favorite artists on Spoonflower, and I absolutely loved how it looks against this pattern by Pallavi Chaudhary. I knew the two would look so beautiful layered together as drapes. I showed the combination to Sloane and she loved them too (thank God).

With these two patterns in mind, we hit the paint store for samples of the perfect purple. Given that Sloane’s bedroom is west facing, I knew I’d need a purple with cooler undertones to balance the warm, golden sun. Sloane requested brighter purple, but I guided her to ones that she felt were “too gray, Mom!” But once we got Benjamin Moore’s Mauve Desert on the wall, she was really happy with our choice.

With the walls purple and the two main patterns selected, I start searching Spoonflower’s site for more fabrics to contrast the floral patterns. I love a multi-patterned look because it feels so playful and sophisticated. I knew this classic cream and brown wide ticking stripe by Holli Zollinger (another favorite artist) would look so great covering the window seat cushion with a contrasting (purple) welting. That fabric is repeated as gathered bed skirts.

And then finally for the bedding, I loved the look of Holli Zollinger’s moth blossom as a duvet cover layered with a pair of her kin stripe olive pillowcases and small mauve dotted sheets by Sweeter than Honey. I also loved incorporating lilac plaid throw pillows by Weaving Major on the window seat and lumbar plaid throw pillows by Lazuli Haus on the beds.

If you’re counting, that’s 8(!) patterned fabric designs in one room—and that’s not including the rug. But here’s why it works: they’re all in the same color pattern, vary in scale, and I repeated several of the patterns throughout the room. So to your eye, you only see a few at a time.

Once we had the fabrics for the room, I partnered with my friend Linsey to add lining and pinch pleats to the curtain panels, stitch custom bed skirts, and make Roman shades from scratch (FYI: we’re still tweaking the mechanics of those and will update you once we figure out a system that works best). Without Linsey’s talented contributions, this room wouldn’t have been possible!

With all of these patterns, it was also crucial that I added plenty of visual breathing room in the form of white and off-white. I kept the ceiling white with an off-white light fixture, added white blankets to the beds, and incorporated a white pinboard behind the desk.

This is why we thrift

Every piece of furniture in this space is thrifted, which is ideal for kids’ rooms and here’s why: you can be less precious living with them. Sloane marks on the beds? No worries. The nightstand gets doodled on? I can just paint over it. It’s also smart for our budget. We’re investing so much every month in lumbar and lighting and pieces for adult-centric rooms, so it’s nice to have spaces where we don’t splurge. Also, old furniture feels right in an old home, and these pieces are unique like her. I scored the bedside lamp (it’s called Tramp Art and it’s made of Popsicle sticks) at a flea market years ago and hadn’t found a place for it until now. It was already painted green, but the wrong shade, and so I sprayed it a deeper olive green to complement the green in Sloane’s bedding. And her desk chair was a Goodwill find that cost $20, but thanks to pink spray paint and new fabric, is totally custom for the space.

Finishing touches that tell a story

The final layers of this room are the finishing touches: a felt pinboard from a company called Felt Right that gives her a place to display photos, artwork and notes from friends and family. I made the ceiling light fixture—inspired by a designer pendant I love—to resemble a tutu floating in the air. And a giant wooden fan that I thrifted years ago featuring wild horses now hangs on the wall. Now that my work is done here, she has permission to add her own finishing touches (within reason ;)), a task I know she’ll take very seriously.