For 20 years, Aaron Christensen has created each kind of enjoyable and immersive environments for kids—from nurseries and bedrooms to retail interiors and play areas—by way of his agency Embellishments Studio.
As a self-described “creative handyman,” Christensen has expertise with woodworking, metallic craft, and ornamental portray from his prior work in “visible design world” conceptualizing merchandising shows, and he now places all of these expertise to make use of in his kid-friendly interiors.
“Youngsters are children for a short while,” he says. “Create an area that lets them dwell in that world for so long as they will.” Listed here are his high 5 suggestions for doing simply that.
1. Assume like a child
Designing rooms for teenagers and infants means letting your creativity and creativeness reign. “Every part’s on the desk,” he says. “There’s no such factor as excessive to a toddler.” He encourages mother and father to have enjoyable with brainstorming throughout the design course of and get enter straight from the room’s inhabitants.
When he begins a brand new design challenge, he interviews the kid to find out about their hobbies and favourite issues. Designs can then emerge from a favourite coloration, storybook character, theme, or surroundings.
“I actually attempt to begin from the kid’s standpoint,” Christensen says. “I attempt to perceive what they’re about now and attempt to amplify that ahead into the long run.” For a glimpse at his inventive course of, take a look at his Pinterest moodboards.
For a nursery design, he takes a barely completely different method, as a result of the room has to talk to the mother and father. “Expectant mother and father do a variety of analysis,” he says. “I assist them develop on that to make the room particular for the kid and for themselves.” Beginning factors for the nursery design is perhaps a particular curiosity of the mother and father, reminiscent of journey or sports activities, or a childhood reminiscence of their very own.
2. Personalize the house
As an avid DIY-er, Christensen prefers to transcend stereotypical child’s room designs and customise the house to its inhabitants in stunning methods. He doesn’t imagine {that a} baby’s room ought to “match” the remainder of the home, nor does it have to suit any prescribed kinds or developments.
“For instance, if it’s an toddler, it doesn’t imply the room must be candy and cute,” he says, pointing to a nursery design that was executed in vivid daring colours as a result of the mom hated mint and pale yellow. One other solution to personalize a nursery house is to include a gallery wall of household photographs, displaying members of the family previous and current.
“I at all times embrace one thing intellectually and artistically partaking,” he provides. For example, for one little woman whose favourite e book had an octopus character, he painted a playful octopus tentacle within the room’s hidden corners. For a Seuss-inspired bed room, Christensen sculpted a big blue hand to carry a studying gentle over a chair.
“The rationale it really works is as a result of it’s for the kid and for the household. I don’t care if it meets sure design standards,” he says. He additionally sells his personal prints and canvases on the Embellishments online store.
3. Add inventive storage
It’s a truism that kids, and particularly infants, have a variety of stuff. “Storage is underestimated, particularly within the nursery,” says Christensen. “After the infant bathe, stuff is normally spilling out of in all places.”
He recommends outfitting the closet with glorious shelving capability, past simply the hanger rod, reminiscent of this modular set from Pottery Barn. “Toy storage is essential,” he says.
Making storage accessible to smaller kids by way of toy bins, baskets, and bins will enable them to extra simply have interaction with their toys; Christensen like Storagepalooze boxes from The Land of Nod and the collection of containers at Rosenberry Rooms.
He may also craft a show for the kid’s issues, creating creative storage and décor concurrently. For a consumer that cherished science and nature, he custom-made hexagon-shaped wall cabinets for his or her rock assortment, which then grew to become a focus of the room’s design.
4. Take into account security
“Sure issues shouldn’t be included [in the room] till a toddler is aware of proper from incorrect,” says Christensen. These can embrace shows tacked to a wall that is perhaps tempting for a toddler to climb, or shows of smaller trinkets that might be simply grabbed and swallowed.
Christensen ensures that furnishings is anchored to the wall and that there’s nothing inside simple attain of the crib. “Lots of people wish to go loopy with the bedding,” he says, “however research have come out displaying that you simply don’t need anything within the crib aside from the fundamentals.”
To lower the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, this implies together with only a fitted sheet on a agency mattress, so no pillows, stuffed animals, crib bumpers, blankets, or sheepskins.
5. Design for development—and play
As kids develop up, their rooms must evolve with them. Christensen says {that a} baby’s room usually goes by way of two or three incarnations, with the nursery scheme altering as soon as the kid enters college, and a subsequent décor change occurring on the onset of pre-adolescence.
Christensen’s designs take this maturity into consideration. A coloring space may change into a desk for homework. The pad on a altering desk is eliminated so it’s a dresser (just like the Avalon Dresser and Topper Set from RH Child and Youngster). Some cribs convert to toddler beds with a package—Christensen likes the furnishings choices from The Land of Nod.
“I attempt to design rooms that final,” Christensen says. Most significantly, regardless of the kid’s age, be certain there’s loads of room for them to simply be children. “Lots of mother and father will overlook that kids simply want room to play.”
