40 146
HOME&PROPERTY
40
Aug-Sep15
Children’s spaces
Upstairs in the children’s hangout
area, more comfy sofas are heaped
with textured cushions, and the colour
scheme of light-grey, duck-egg and
petrol blue makes it just the sort of
place where a child would want to
relax on a Friday night, watching DVDs
and scoffing popcorn. Velvety carpet
gives way to an even softer shagpile
in the children’s bedrooms, which are
all completely different. So Ben’s room
has a vintage British vibe: a Union Jack
throw picks up the blue and red of the
roman blinds, and the colours of a large
retro cushion on the bed. A quirky touch
is added by the Magritte-style bowler-hat
light, which Alex found at Homeless, and
an old-fashioned green library desk-light.
Across the hall in six-year-old Harry’s
room it’s all about sailing the seven
seas: a skull-and-crossbones pillow and
a piratical red-and-white striped throw
adorn a wooden Simon Horn sleigh bed.
Alex has mixed it up by adding a rocket-
shaped light fitting and a Superman
poster, but everything is exactly the
same shade of red and indigo blue.
Ten-year-old Lulu chose a sophisticated
black, white and red colour scheme, with
Designers Guild blinds, a vintage-style
bedhead from Bowerbird, and a light
fitting in the shape of a delicate bird. Alex
has rigged up a red birdcage high up in
the corner of the room – “for the bird, of
course!” Open shelves in the hall house
all the children’s toys – Alex wanted
them easily accessible – but as soon as
they grow out of a certain stage, the toys
go. Alex definitely practices what she
preaches as far as de-cluttering goes!