Fun & vibrant — we’re coveting this fabulous children’s room

Photography: Carrie Young

A vivacious antidote to the Scandi-minimalism so popular at the moment, this children’s room is alive with fun and colour and we like it…a lot. The creation of Tess Beagley from Minted Interiors, the room belongs to her two little girls Lotte, four and Jemima, two – a bubbly pair that needed a room to match.

Jemima & Lotte

“I knew that I really wanted to do something fun and bright and being in the interiors industry, I wanted something very different to what I see every day. A lot of muted Scandi style is around at the moment but I knew it wouldn’t suit our girls’ personalities. They are so full of bubbles, fun and laughter and they love jumping around together. I knew this room would be a great match for them,” says Tess.

Craft nook

The girls have shared a room since Jemima was three months old but when it came time to fit two single beds in there, as opposed to a bed and a cot, the design plan was hatched. “Jemima needed a big girl bed but due to the French doors and fireplace, there was no room to fit two single beds so we knew we had to put a bunk in.” Tess explains the room was desperate for a redesign given her girls’ growing personalities and needs too.

While the room has amazing bones – French doors, dado rails, high ceilings, polished floors and a fireplace – it was challenging to design for the same reason. “Given there was something on each wall it made it hard to lay everything out and we had to make use of awkward spaces,” says Tess, who designed a reading nook on one side of the fireplace and a craft table with peg board on the other.

Reading nook

One piece that survived the redesign was the girls’ beloved tallboy, an upcycled find that Tess customised a few years ago. “It was an old chest of ugly pine drawers with a nasty stain and big round pull-on knobs. We sanded it right back, repainted it and put the map inserts into the top drawers and then a varnish over it. We completely adore it,” says Tess.

Upcycled tallboy (right)

We’re particularly wowed by the gorgeous Zilverblauw wallpaper on the fireplace and the neon sign too – both add a retro vibe and make the fireplace the hero of the room. “The wallpaper is from Little Muse & Market and the neon sign is from Neon Poodle and it was a custom piece,” says Tess who installed clear Perspex Mint Rhapsody book shelves from Leo & Bella in the adjoining reading nook. “The little table and chairs was a thrift shop find and I repainted it,” says Tess.