An Industrial Vintage Sport's Vibe for Jack

Do you decorate your kid’s room for you or for them? This has been a dilemma I’ve had for a few years now, once they started to form their own opinion, and given I have fairly strong opinions on decor choices. I know what I want and the way to make decor work for me, BUT should I be influencing their choices in their rooms? 

I’d argue not, since this is the space that they spend the most time in, not me.

However, I have learnt the way in which it can work for both of you and how to make the process fun for them, so that you can end up with a room you are happy with and that they love. The key is to work with them on their ideas, show them examples, mood board ideas. Take them along with the design choice.

Ever since we completed makeover with a Rebel Wall Mural, Jack has been asking if he could have his own. To be fair, both boys had outgrown their room decor, and as I decorate myself, and had spent some very busy three years at work, I'd let things slide. When he asked again after Christmas, I said yes, we would sit down and plan it and when I took a week off over Easter I would decorate for him.

Unlike Alfie who has very clear ideas about what he wants, Jack is more comfortable to go with the flow (he just wants a "cool" room) and so our starting point was to actually choose the mural and the paint colour and then the styling and room vibe, he left to me.

However, if we come back to the point above, Jack originally choose green walls. And, not just a dark green but a lurid green colour that would have bothered me for as long as it remained in the room. So, I talked about how he wanted to keep his blackboard wall and showed him a mood board of how green would look in the room, against the black, and once he saw that and the paint I was suggesting, it was a “no-brainer” on our choice. Did I influence him? A bit, but I like to think I was also showing him how to make decor choices that we both would not regret.

The Decor

Rebel Wall have such a vast array of murals to choose from, so it took us a few goes to find the right one. I actually stumbled across this mural in the home of @kateyoungdesign, and the minute I showed it to Jack, I could see we had found the mural he wanted. 

The mural we have chosen is Brooklyn Wall, which is based on a rough exterior wall from New York, it is industrial, cool and more importantly will grow with Jack (who is only 9) as he gets older.

It also gave me the idea of going with a sports/vintage vibe to tie in Jack's love of football with the industrial wall; to create a room that was based on his personality. Think vintage sports items alongside, industrial lighting, old wooden crates as storage and vintage letter lights, my vintage desk and a metal desk chair, all tie the look together and I will explain more about all of these later.

More importantly, and a good tip for those on a budget, nearly every item in this room has been "shopped" from my own home. I will point out what is new and what we already had.

As someone who puts much of my personality into my rooms, I believe that creating a room that expresses my son’s personality is important to them too. It makes a room yours, sits with you emotionally and you will always feel more comfortable in a room that has your own stamp on it.

Finally, we had to choose paint colour, going through the process I described above, and once again Farrow and Ball who I worked with on Alfie's room, were my first choice. Jack already had blackboard paint on two walls, which he wanted to keep, so we decided just to tie that in and use "off Black" by Farrow and Ball, which you can see juxtaposed to the mural above. it is a bold choice for him (I’ve always loved the colour) but really works with the industrial vibe going on, and was a much better choice than lurid green.

A wide angle view of the room and you can see how well the off-black paint from Farrow and Ball ties into the blackboard paint

The mural is very easy to put up, you just paste the wall, (in fact the mural comes with paste) the pieces are marked as to where to cut them, and this wall probably took me two hours to finish.

You can see Jack's blackboard wall to the right of the picture.

The Detail

In this shot, Jack's bed hasn't changed, although it probably will shortly. The boys have broken the slats in their over-enthusiastic bouncing. We did receive a lovely Eve Sleep Hybrid Mattress as a gift, which you can see to the right.

The cabinet to the left of the picture belonged to my husband before we were married and was sitting in our cellar. I simply painted it in the same colour as the walls and added a vintage apple crate on top for Jack to store some of the toys he likes to have on display. At some point, I'd like a vintage wire locker, as Jack grows older, but for now this will do for him.

The industrial bronze lamp was in our dining room and the silver lamp, our living room, both from Covet. The green storage basket a gift from the basket room and the stool was in our bedroom, bought from Alpine Lifestyle Boutique. The rug was an EBay find.

The industrial shelf in the centre of the wall above was in our bathroom and sourced from RockettStGeorge. On the shelf is a vintage shop front letter that has been rewired, bought from Decoporium, an emporium just outside of Wetherby, the vintage boxing gloves and tennis racket we already had, and were sourced vintage.

The cushions I had specially printed from Razzle and the Snurk footballer bedlinen can be sourced from a variety of places such as Amara.

Ceiling lampshade was already in he room, sourced from Homebase

This Vintage Desk was in my study as was the metal chair both from Covet, Faux cacti from Abigail Ahern, pictures from a variety of sources including @patirobins and the 9 and 3/4 sign was bought from Crimple Hall. A vintage rugby ball and baseball glove bring the sports vibe, as does the England flag (Jack's idea not mine).

The Egg chair was bought from Ebay. 

So, there you go slightly later than planned, but Jack now has his new room and judging by the fact we haven't seen him since it's been finished, I will take that as a positive sign. Seriously, though he loves it.

Thanks go to suppliers for this room;

Farrow and Ball; http://www.farrow-ball.com/?utm_source=thegirlwiththegreensofa.com&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=bau&utm_content=paint

Rebel Walls, https://rebelwalls.com/uk/wall-murals/categories/surfaces/concrete.../brooklyn-wall

Eve Sleep, www.evemattress.co.uk/Hybrid/Mattress

The Basket Room, https://www.thebasketroom.com

The Girl with The Green Sofa