Rooms of Their Own

From wall and window treatments to furniture, linens and even the bathroom tile, Brittany and Sean, fraternal 15-year-old twins, had a say in everything that went into their bedrooms, or as their mother calls them, the children's suites. As their parents had done with the Collins & DuPont Interior Design team, the twins discussed their needs and likes. They mulled over colors, furniture finishings, storage space and other design issues to create the rooms where they would be sleeping, studying and living for the next few years.

The twins didn't quite trust their baby boomer parents' tastes. "I didn't want you guys doing it because I knew you'd like something I'd hate," Brittany quips. The result, much to the Parkers' relief, is a perfect example of just how far children's bedrooms have come.

Tastefully appointed with a wood-leather-and-iron queen-size bed, woven wallpaper and a built-in desk, Sean's room could double as a model for a Tommy Bahama photo spread. The bathroom sink is dark marble. The fixtures are in brushed-silver finishes. The mocha tiles have a rough texture. The walls are leopard print. "I wish it was fuzzy," Sean laments halfheartedly about the wall treatments.

Brittany's room, meanwhile, displays the flair of a young girl's taste, but childish it isn't. She opted for a sanded finish paint in faint pinks, greens and yellows. The MacKenzie-Childs style of juxtaposing checkerboard, stripes and other patterns as well as colors and textures carries through in the window treatments, throw pillows, linens, lighting and even on the dresser drawers in her walk-in closet. A round, cream-colored, distressed-finish table complements her canopied bed. As in her brother's room, a matching armoire serves as storage space. Brittany showed off her love for horses with equine-festooned wallpaper in the bathroom.

Kids' rooms aren't child's play anymore. They're no longer an

afterthought to be embellished with teddy bears, bunk beds and pink or blue walls. Today's child demands more: built-in desks to store flat-screened iMacs, sleek CD racks affixed to a wall, an armchair for a cozy reading spot, and an armoire to hide the TV, VCR and DVD. Big-name furniture companies have acknowledged the trend by developing pieces that can withstand the test of a growing child. The Internet is brimming with sites such as Poshtots.com, which sells $5,000 trundle beds, $5,900 butterfly-shaped armoires and $1,700 daisies-and-bees-motif cribs, making the price tag of a child's bedroom soar into tens of thousands of dollars.

"It's become more of an important room," says interior designer Katrina Hopkins, of Collins & DuPont in Bonita Springs who worked with the Parker twins. "The older kids have some input."

Ethan Allen developed its EA Kids furniture line about 2 1/2 years ago as an extension of its designs for adults. The finishes for girls' rooms, for example, are distressed. Chests with file drawers come in honey-hued woods, and some pieces are matched with simple, modern Oslo desk chairs. There are bookcase headboards as well as high-standing twin-size beds with simple, wood-slat headboards and footboards.

Boys' bedspreads come with splashes of bold yellows, vibrant reds and deep blues, all set in geometric patterns or in sports motifs. Girls' linens are softened with pinks, light yellows and whites. Quilts with plaid patterns are draped over vertically striped bedspreads. Don't forget the Hello Kitty and Power Puff Girls books strewn about.

Parents try to coax their children to pick designs that will grow with them. "I didn't want to get anything too juvenile," says Sandy of her twins' rooms. "They're going into that adolescent period. You want something they can grow with that will be functional." Good options include bunk beds that can be separated into twin beds and daybeds with pop-up mattresses stashed underneath so it can be converted into a larger bed.

Choices are varied enough to make grown-ups envious.

When Cynthia Metzger, an Ethan Allen design consultant in Fort Myers, designs a child's room, she approaches it like any other job. She visits to see how the family lives and takes other factors such as the children's lifestyles and room layouts into consideration. "It's no longer, 'Oh, we just want cute little dolls on a shelf,'" she says.

Hopkins, who worked with the Parker family, says designers in Southwest Florida have another challenge to tackle. Homes here are often second residences, so a child's room may have to double as a guestroom. It has to be whimsical enough to appeal to a child but sufficiently functional to meet the needs of guests so they don't feel as if they're staying in a daycare center. One approach she suggests is mixing fun, bright colors with tropical motifs.

Betti Walcott took that approach when she designed a children's/guest room for a family's second home in Pelican Bay last October. Walcott, who recently retired from Robb & Stucky and now consults, selected bright yellow-and-white-striped wallpaper, a bold blue carpet and a faux finish for the ceiling that resembled sky filled with billowy clouds. The ceiling fan blades were painted to blend into the sky. She also sprinkled in dashes of red, such as the kite drifting in the clouds. The beds were full size with shutter-type headboards. The room was playful enough to suit her clients' 6-year-old son

and 9-year-old daughter's taste, while remaining adult enough for grown-ups.

"It's got some whimsical little touches, but it's still a room I would love to sleep in if I were visiting because it's so cheerful. It's the most cheerful room in the house," Walcott says.

Judith Infield, an interior designer for Norris Furniture Interiors in Naples, doesn't work on many children's rooms. When the rare opportunity arises, though, the projects tend to stand out. About a year ago, Infield worked with a 9-year-old girl whose room had high ceilings. They decided on plant ledges and a dropped border to give the appearance of a lower ceiling and create a more inviting atmosphere. The coral-pink-and-yellow palette was repeated throughout the room.

The little girl wanted one more finishing touch. "Beads on everything and anything," Infield recalls, adding that they're a detail pre-teens seem to like. "They love it because they associate (the beads) with being teenagers," Infield says.

Parents and children have another option if higher-end furniture and pricey interior designers are a bit too much. Focus on smaller, less expensive details. Judy Wayland-Smith, owner of Cottontails on Fifth Avenue South in Naples, suggests incorporating framed prints of children, lambs and the like. Use primary colors, pastels or tropical hues as a backdrop for walls, which can be stenciled with popular sports and celestial motifs, she adds. Don't forget to paint a few stars on the ceiling, too.