THE MONEYBAGS offspring are not the tidiest in the world — too many years of having had nannies to tidy up, launder and put away their clothes, I am afraid. When they leave home for the real world, it is going to be a bit of a shock, unless I get them into training. The older ones will need a crash course, but the youngest, who still has years to go, is getting a bedroom redesign to encourage good habits.
I am particularly drawn to a boy’s bedroom that I have seen recently by Jane Taylor, of Jane Taylor Designers (www.janetaylordesigners.com; 020-7795 0955). Not only is her design captivating but it has the appeal of growing with your child. Having spent months trying to decide on Master Moneybags’s decor, I do not wish to repeat the exercise too soon.
Jane’s design for the bunk bed is so irresistible that I trust rows about bedtime will be consigned to history. The bed is cantilevered from the wall and clad in aluminium to appear as if it is part of an aircraft wing, with a funky target painted on it. Concealed in the wall are secret cupboards with a bedside light, a slot for water glass, a pull-down table (all as in an airliner) with (my ultimate dream luxury when a child) a filtered chilled water tap for when you can’t be bothered to get out of bed. (Mr Moneybags suggests we install the wine version in our room.)
The bedroom units are extremely stylish, with horizontal ridges running across, inspired, Jane claims, by the interior of her refrigerator. I looked inside our fridge to see if inspiration came my way too, but somehow couldn’t mentally move from the supplies of Krug, cold beer and children’s yoghurt to the sleek, functional bedroom she has designed.
The desk in the middle slots into one of these grooves, like shelves in a fridge, allowing it to be adjusted to suit growth spurts when they occur. The exterior of the doors of the bedroom units are made from a magnetic white board and a green chalk board — perfect for messages such as “MAKE YOUR BED PLEASE”, “PUT SWEATY FOOTBALL STRIP IN LAUNDRY BASKET” — although I suspect my son will have other uses for them. The design incorporates wonderful compartments for displays of sporting trophies and first editions of Harry Potter. Her design for a girl’s bedroom, has cubbyholes for all that and more.
Advertisement
Jane suggests a most amusing chair called “memo” — see www.inflate.co.uk — designed with Ron Arad. Apparently you sit on it with a vacuum cleaner attached and it creates a vacuum which keeps its shape the same as your bottom — the perfect “grow with you accoutrement”. (020-7713 9096; £40 child size; £90 adult size.) At Jane’s suggestion, we are going to leave the walls plain and stick on giant peel-off stickers. These can be purchased “as are”, but I intend to have them custom-made — with photos of favourite pets, family members, etc (www.funtoseeworld.net).
There will be two lighting systems — one fibre-optic that operates a twinkling constellation (positioned in his birthday star sign) on the ceiling; the other lights are from iGuzzini (www.iguzzini.it) — a range called Cestello — that look like football stadium lights and come with various optical options, including coloured lenses for the ultimate groovy look.
If I had girls, I would have investigated the teenage room designed for an American family by Sarah Morris, of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, the decorating and design division of the Colefax Group (020-7493 2231). I will certainly be recommending them to a friend who I hear is in negotiation with her daughter about the redesign of her bedroom.
Sarah’s client wanted her attic bedroom to reflect her love of Indian style and design. The walls, painted in a sandy colour, mimic the sunbaked walls of India and have the most wonderful hand-painted Mogul frieze below the ceiling in white and red.
Sarah designed two sets of curtains, one for the winter — off-white pashmina edged in red silk — and hand-embroidered white organza curtains made in India for the summer.
Advertisement
A bespoke unit was designed to house the flat-screen plasma TV and sound system, with Mogul-shaped niches for the incense burner, candles and DVDs. Having such an elegant bedroom is the perfect way to ensure that teenagers never go out at night — but I would worry that it might also mean that they never leave home.