Jessica Ackerman - When you're decorating a kid's bedroom, it's important to focus on fun, convenience, and easy care - just as much as you focus on the overall look. After all, children spend a great deal of time in their bedroom, participating in a myriad of activities. Although you might think of a bedroom as primarily a place to sleep, your child undoubtedly views his or her bedroom as a playroom, study area, game room, and personal retreat ... in addition to a sleeping area. Because a child's bedroom is used for so many different things, it can sometimes be a challenge to decorate. However, by using these tips you'll be able to create a fun bedroom design that your child is sure to love.

Focus on Function

Before you start the decorating process, it's important to give some thought to the overall layout of your child's bedroom, as well as how he or she tends to use it. It's also a good idea to consult your child before you start the planning process. By keeping your child involved in the decorating, he or she will tend to take more ownership in the room. It's usually best to start by planning the primary functional areas of the room. The sleeping area is of course a key concern, but it's also important to pay close attention to your child's study and work area. Storage should also be a primary consideration when planning a child's bedroom.

Fun Bedroom Themes

Once you've decided on the functional aspects of the room, start to think about an overall theme. While an older child might not care too much about a specific decorating theme, younger children tend to love this kind of decorating approach. If your child has a cartoon character, hobby, or activity that he or she is particularly fond of, it can be a lot of fun to use it as the focus of the room's overall theme. Themes that are a bit more generic can also be a good idea, such as a beach-themed bedroom. For example, you could use metal beach wall art combined with a taupe and light blue color scheme to give your child's bedroom a fun and exciting look.

Once the theme has been decided upon, you can focus on the decorating process. Because a child tends to use his or her bedroom in so many different ways, it can be a good idea to create different areas within the room. For example, you might want to install wall shelves in the play area, making it easy to keep toys off the floor. Good lighting and plenty of work area are both important when designing a child's study space.

interior design, videoGuest UserJanuary 28, 2012beach, bed, furniture, kids bedrooms, wallsComment

Patricia Urquiola: Decorating with "Emotional Austerity"

interior design, videoGuest UserJanuary 9, 2012Patricia Urquiola, chair, concrete, furniture, leather, rugs, trends, wood, woolComment

Shabby Chic - Timeless Style for Your Home

Janet Ramin - Like a grand dame in her waning years, a shabby chic home reflects faded beauty and elegance but with blurry features. Despite this decay, Shabby Chic became a very popular style that gathered steam in the 1980s and continues to be a fashionable choice today. In our continuing series on mood boards, we’ll delve into the elements of a shabby chic interior.

Despite its emergence as a somewhat contemporary style, shabby chic has actually been around for a long time – the style really derives from the faded elegance of old British country manors. The British upper class commissioned furniture makers to create long-lasting quality furniture and basically handed it down to their heirs. Sometimes their descendents replaced the furniture with newer styles but as fortunes waned, some kept the more popular pieces – the Georgian and neoclassical styles – until it broke down. What started as mere frugality eventually became a style statement in the 1980s.

A shabby chic interior usually features furniture that has naturally faded by time and use, its paint peeling, its edges worn down but with its integral structure still mostly intact and functioning. Or a shabby chic interior can feature furniture that has been artificially “aged” using distressing techniques. The overall mood that a shabby chic style tries to achieve is elegance and a romantic atmosphere. Shabby Chic doesn't try to achieve a “funky," thrift shop look that may happen when using vintage pieces; it aims for more of a timeless, classic style.

On our mood board above, this Shabby Chic bedroom includes the Montana chaise by Peninsula Home. The chaise frame has been painted and then partially hand-rubbed off to create an “aged” patina. The Lisbon table with its X-shaped legs, also by Peninsula Home, is used here as a bedside table. The Lisbon was distressed and then its edges studded with brass nail heads.

The writing desk with cabriole legs from Guildmaster is

Sheffield School, interior design, videoGuest UserNovember 10, 2011furniture, lighting, mood board, shabby chicComment

Family Style Luxury - 58 West 9th Street, Manhattan

interior designGuest UserAugust 14, 2011Corcoran, Manhattan, real estate, townhouseComment

Summery Home Styles Set the Seasonal Mood

Janet Ramin - The thermometer reads hot, hot, hot – summer is definitely here - and the only thing on my brain is escaping to the beach. For our Mood Board this month, we’re exploring all kinds of ocean-inspired styles. Many clients have a secondary home on the beach, near the ocean, or on a tropical island so there is always a demand for that tranquil, summery, ocean-inspired look.

Our first mood board is the Seaside Style - which I chose to be an elegant, sophisticated interpretation of the vacation home genre. The inspiration and starting point is the Conservatory lounge chair from Ralph Lauren, an updated version of the 19th century library chair. The baluster rail arms and gold fluted legs give the chair that elegant, upscale feel. Yet the lounge chair is upholstered in crisp ocean blue cottons and deep cushions, inviting one to relax with a good book while being lulled by a seabreeze.

Next to our lounging chair is a pierced cube side table made of tropical hardwoods from Tucker Robbins, adding a touch of earthen stability. On top of our cube is the very nautical Marine Tripod Lamp from Restoration Hardware. To provide texture and a suprise touch as well as a place to put up our feet, we added a dhurrie pouf from West Elm. The browns from the dhurrie upholstery give a balancing contrast to our ocean palette of blue and white. Rounding out our seaside theme, we added shadow boxes of seashells from Palacek to grace the walls.