Children’s rooms are where good design gets to have a little fun, but that doesn’t mean they need to look like playrooms. A four-poster bed can become a cozy cocoon, an antique daybed can find new life in a nursery, and even a bunk bed safety rail can become a surprising design moment in its own right. From unexpected color and pattern to heirlooms and whimsical details, these kids’ rooms from the FREDERIC archives prove that decorating for the smallest members of the family can be every bit as thoughtful.
Preserve Architectural Character
Designer and FREDERIC It List winner Ellie Peugeot exposed and stained the original beams of the attic in her 16th-century country home when renovating the children’s bedrooms, making the house’s history part of the design. Victorian iron beds, antique gingham eiderdowns, and gathered bed skirts suit the room’s heritage while making it soft and inviting.
Mix Old and New
Max Sinsteden didn’t abandon his Watch Hill, Rhode Island home’s sophisticated design vocabulary for his young son’s bedroom. Antique mahogany furniture, a custom-printed Colefax & Fowler wallpaper, and D. Porthault textiles give the small space the same collected character as the rest of the house, while the toys and books make it unmistakably Everett’s.
Plan Ahead
In an Upper East Side apartment, designers Ashley Whittaker and Alex Wilson designed this boy’s bedroom to be a “masculine yet youthful space they can grow into over time”—a balance struck here with airplane prints and a bright red bed against tailored plaid walls and blue furnishings.
Coordinate, Don’t Match
For her daughters’ bedrooms, Lauren Weiss used the same wallpaper in two different colorways, then paired each with its own paint color and accents. The rooms feel connected without being carbon copies—a simple way to give siblings’ spaces a cohesive look while letting each have its own personality.
Skip the Nursery Clichés
An Italian daybed may seem like a grand choice for a nursery, but McKenzie Dove makes it feel perfectly at home in her son Liam’s nursery. Relaxed striped linen (Schumacher’s Regatta Linen Stripe), repeated on the curtains and ottoman, softens the antique’s silhouette, giving the room a softer, more playful feel.
Go Big in a Small Space
“Sometimes smaller spaces work best with big things in them, and it was certainly the case here with the bed,” say Angelica and Richard Squire of Studio Squire of this London little girl’s bedroom. They devised curtains to create a canopy effect, filling the small room with a warm, cocooning space for sweet dreams.
Start With Something Sentimental
A child’s room becomes all the more special when it carries a bit of family history. In her daughter’s Cape Cod bedroom, Allegra Eifler layered in heirlooms from the women who came before her: a Limoges bunny lamp from her mother’s childhood bedroom, her grandmother’s brass bed, and a child-size chair inherited from her great-grandmother. As Eifler puts it, the room is “an ode to the matriarchs in my family.”
Choose Subtle Hues
In this Mill Valley bedroom, Heidi Caillier proves that a girl’s room can be feminine without a trace of pink. The delicate floral wallpaper’s sophisticated palette of dusty blues and greens gives sweetness a more grown-up edge.
Add a Custom Touch
At her ski house near Tahoe, California, Lauren Weiss turned a bunk bed’s necessary guardrail into a surprising design detail with a yellow, rickrack-shaped custom rail that provides a jolt of color against the woodland wallpaper. It’s a small touch, but one that makes the room feel more fun!
Mix, but Match Scale
Mixing patterns doesn’t have to create visual chaos. In her Hudson Valley nursery, Tatiana Hambro layers a floral, a star print, and other sweet motifs, all by Marie Chantal for Schumacher, in a similarly petite scale. Choosing patterns in the same palette and scale creates a layered look while allowing the prints to coexist peacefully.
Create a Focal Point
A single grand gesture can give a child’s room plenty of personality. In her daughter Hattie’s bedroom, FREDERIC It List winner Chelsea Handegan mounted de Gournay’s “Monuments of Paris” wallpaper panel on a board and placed it behind an antique French daybed, forming a striking backdrop for an otherwise restrained space.
Choose a Theme, But Make It Sophisticated
A strong decorating concept can make a small or awkward-sized room feel like a fully realized world. For her son Wesley’s bedroom in Maine, Melanie Millner leaned into a nautical theme, designing the smallest room in the house to feel like a ship’s cabin with sailboat wallpaper, a ship’s wheel mirror, and ocean-blue millwork.
Do It Yourself
A simple sweep of fabric can transform a child’s bed into a cozy retreat. Here, Kristin Ellen Hockman suspended pink gingham from the ceiling to create a tent-like canopy over her daughter Astrid’s bed—a charming detail that feels special without requiring a work permit.
Go Bold With Color
Children’s rooms needn’t be confined to a palette of soft pinks and blues. In her daughter Frances’s bedroom, Kate Jamieson pairs a delicate blue wallpaper with a saturated yellow upholstered bed, creating a cheerful contrast that feels fresh.
Pick a Line Leader
A strong pattern doesn’t need competition. In this New Jersey nursery, Story Street Studio let a cheerful fabric take center stage on the walls, then kept the larger pieces like the blue upholstered daybed and bedding simple. Hits of color echo the pattern without busying the space.
