My Niece’s Colorful Tween Bedroom Reveal That She Will Hopefully Still Love In Five Years :)

OK, I learned a LOT from doing Elliot’s bedroom which really informed the way I designed her best friend’s (and cousin’s bedroom) that you are going to see today. What I didn’t realize (first-time pre-tween mom here) is how much their likes and dislikes will change, like monthly. So with K’s room, I, of course, asked her her current likes and dislikes, colors, etc. but I intentionally left it so that if and when her styles or color preferences change, it wouldn’t be a big expense. And yet this room is actually full of a lot of color and so many high-quality pieces which are all from AllModern. I feel so grateful we got to give her these really special pieces that she will easily grow with. I can’t wait to show you.

The Room Before

The room has a great foundation – pretty white oak (Stuga, Shell) flooring and wood ceiling (Stuga, Drift). There are two large windows, so a ton of natural light, and two big blank walls for the bed and dresser.

Opposite the bed is a daybed with storage and a reach-in closet (that we already wallpapered and revealed for a partnership, HERE). So when AllModern reached out for a series of makeovers this year and my brother expressed that they had NOTHING for K’s room when they moved in, I knew that stylistically it would be perfect (and yes, this 10-year-old is getting really high-quality furniture that she can keep forever).

Without further ado, the reveal! We’ve also made a video tour of the space, which you can view while perusing the rest of the photos. (The player will shrink down into the corner, or, if you’re on your phone, it’ll play above the text!)

A High-Quality Base Layer – I.E. Good, Simple Furniture

Desk Area: Curtains | Flower Strands | Desk | Chair | Mirror | Lamp | Wall Shelf (no longer available) | Blue Tray
Bed Area: Wall Art (unavailable) | Bed | Sheet Set | Shams | Large Lumbar Pillow (custom) | Small Lumbar Pillow | Duvet | Throw Blanket | Bench
Side Table Area: Sconce | Side Table | Vase | Dresser

Now there are a million ways to build a room, of course. For this house and this room, I wanted it to have the same warm minimal vibe as the house -streamlined and organic, but with enough color to make it feel youthful and fun. Here were the functional needs that K requested:

1. Green and Purple – Ok, but we’d do a non-obnoxious, more timeless version of it and not, like a LOT of it.
2. Queen Bed – Great for sleepovers, snuggling with parents, and can double as an extra guest room.
3. A Desk – If they could go back in time they would have turned the nook into a desk (although I hear that teens love the idea of a desk more than they actually use it), but I also got a lot of advice from you that having it double as a vanity would be really functional for them.
4. A Dresser – While they have a reach-in closet, it doesn’t have drawers, and kids aren’t the best at hanging up clothes or stacking their folded clothes.

Because of these needs, the layout of the room and the furniture choices were greatly informed. We’d flank a powerful queen bed with a desk and a small stool (allowing space for the dresser without being too crowded) and achieve a sense of balance with the sconce on the right.

Desk Area: Curtains | Flower Strands | Desk | Chair | Mirror | Lamp | Wall Shelf (no longer available) | Blue Tray
Bed Area: Wall Art (unavailable) | Bed | Duvet | Sheet Set | Shams | Large Lumbar Pillow (custom) | Small Lumbar Pillow | Throw Blanket | Bench
Side Table Area: Sconce | Side Table | Vase | Dresser

So as you can see, while we dismissed symmetry (which I typically love in a bedroom) having it be asymmetrical not only gave them the function that they needed but also made it more playful (less serious). We wanted to get her furniture that she could easily grow with which meant high-quality and timeless — exactly what you’d expect from AllModern. But to make it feel perfect for a 10-year-old we shook up the layout and added a ton of color really which brought in that fun, youthful energy.

Desk Area: Curtains | Flower Strands | Desk | Chair | Mirror | Lamp | Wall Shelf (no longer available) | Blue Tray
Bed Area: Wall Art (unavailable) | Butterflies | Faux Greenery (similar) | Bed | Duvet | Sheet Set | Shams | Large Lumbar Pillow (custom) | Small Lumbar Pillow | Throw Blanket

AllModern’s pieces bring together everything I love about modern design—clean lines, unique details, and amazing quality. That desk, mirror, and sconce are perfect examples: sleek, functional, and anything but boring. The bed is another standout with its soft green boucle upholstery, fully upholstered frame, and solid build.

Wall Art (unavailable) | Butterflies | Faux Greenery (similar) | Bed | Duvet | Sheet Set | Shams | Large Lumbar Pillow (custom) | Small Lumbar Pillow | Throw Blanket

We knew that bedding was a place we could really add some color, so we took this awesome throw with cool very Gen Z colors on it (wait, is she Gen Alpha???) and accessorized with it. The green pillow is from AllModern and the purple and gold stripe behind it we had made (it works with the custom bench pad we made – keep scrolling). We didn’t want any white bedding (y’all, I think the decades of white bedding might be done!) and mixed this darker rose, light mauve, and powder blue. I love the mix so much.

Curtains | Flower Strands | Desk | Chair | Mirror | Lamp | Wall Shelf (no longer available) | Bud Vase | Camera | Blue Tray | Rug

You might be wondering what the art, butterfly, and ivy situation above it is, and I get that. We went BACK AND FORTH asking ourselves “Is this cool or try hard?” and every time we decided that we loved it! The art is a print that they already owned, and I really like it (we actually bought it for the original Portland project), but the white of the print with the white frame just wasn’t enough to “hold the wall”. So by adding faux greenery and whimsical butterflies (so affordable). It draws your eye there, definitely adds some youth, and it was cheap and will be very easy to remove.

Sconce | Side Table | Vase | Table Lamp | Dresser | Rug

On the opposite side of the room is this round side table which I think is the perfect complement to the desk and works so well with the adjacent dresser (a proper nightstand would have been too clunky next to this). This is definitely a case of the “matching set but make it cool” because yes, all the furniture is white oak, but it’s not boring and clearly feels purposefully designed, not just put in a room.

On the other side of the room, we have this awesome dresser, also made out of white oak with push-open drawers (so no hardware needed). It’s gorgeous and so well made. Above it, you have another one of our bulletin board DIYS (this is our third now). We are doing a full post about how we did this one but it’s so huge, fun, and so affordable. It gives 90s “Nickelodeon,” right??? Step by step coming soon 🙂

Table Lamp | Dresser | Blue Tray | Wood Tray (similar) | Clock | Green Pedastal | Bud Vase | Bulletin Board (DIY Coming soon:))

All the colors play off each other so nicely and the zig-zag just gives it so much playfulness and a sense of “now”.

Curtains and Roman Shades | Flower Strands

Curtains and Roman Shades | Flower Strands

For the window treatments, they hired Decorview for the big windows, mostly because they wanted the top-down, bottom-up function (to block the view from the street that could see into her bedroom. You can’t buy them online, it’s a full-service situation and not terribly budget-friendly but certainly high quality and they do allll the hard work. They didn’t want blackout because they wanted to let light in should they want them closed during the day (plus K is one of those unicorns that sleeps til 10 on the weekends, 11 in the summer – TRULY WILD). So we added some additional curtains to frame the windows, but they stay mostly open.

Curtains | Sconce | Bud Vase | Wall Mirror

I’m absolutely obsessed with this shot – it’s just so pretty!!! The arch of the mirror is gorgeous (and you can see it walking down the hallway – so impactful). And I love how I designed the bench cushion – green velvet on top but that same purple and gold stripe on the front. Thanks to Ivan at Alexander Matthews for executing it so perfectly.

Curtains and Roman Shades | Sconces | Bolsters (custom) | White Checkered Pillow (similar) | Green Lumbar Pillow | Pink Checkered Pillow | Cloud Pillow | Purple Checkered Pillow | Bench Cushion (custom) | Bud Vase

Such a dreamy little nook. We had the bolsters made as well. The drum table was in her brother’s room and we just brought it in for the shots to have something in the foreground, but looks pretty cute.

Curtains and Roman Shades | Sconces | Bolsters (custom) | White Checkered Pillow (similar) | Green Lumbar Pillow | Pink Checkered Pillow | Cloud Pillow | Purple Checkered Pillow | Bench Cushion (custom) | Bud Vase

The sconces and ceiling lights are Rejuvenation. I LOVE them – they are graphic and modern, high quality and timeless. And I love the chandelier in here.

Chandelier

We needed multiple bulbs since there are no recessed lights, so this adds a lot of light in a really beautiful way.

Bench

I’m so proud of this room and K LOVES IT. They were out of town while we shot and listen, their kids didn’t ask to be on my social anyway, so no she isn’t here. And if you are wondering where all the “Purple” is, the answer is that our new Mallory rug (which is one of my favorites) got lost by FedEx coming from our shoot at the mountain house. And then we couldn’t get it in time for the shoot, but it’s the most gorgeous color of purple, IMHO, and I’m even considering it for my living room. I think we actually called it “Dark Brown” via Rugs USA, but if you know anyone who wants a very sophisticated purple it’s for you. We are going to reshoot this room with it in the new year (and add some posters for K, which she wants). But The Elliot in Rust is also one of my favorite rugs – just much mauvier and lighter. But still so soft and pretty.

A huge thanks to AllModern for having an excellent selection of furniture, curated for those into more modern design for sure, with pieces that will last forever (think heirloom modern pieces). Sure, there are some more trend-forward pieces (like that bench) that can shake it up and help make a room not feel so safe, but as a whole, I think the room turned out so curated, fun, and easy for her to grow, change, add to and swap out the colors and accessories. Oh, and I was so happy with how fast everything arrived. Fast and free shipping means a lot these days:)

Blank To Beautiful 🙂

Here are all the links to products if you are interested:

All Furniture: Desk, Chair, Bed, Nightstand, Dresser, Bench – All AllModern
Flooring: Stuga ‘Shell’
Ceiling Wood: Stuga ‘Drift’
Paint Color: Alabaster, Sherwin-Williams
Hardwired Lighting and Switchplates: Rejuvenation
Rug: The Elliot in Rust from EHD x RugsUSA
Window Treatments: Decorview
Upholstery: Alexander Matthews

*Architect: Anne Usher
**General Contractor: JP Macy of Sierra Custom Construction
***Interior Designers: Emily Henderson (me!) and Max Humphrey
****Styling: Emily Henderson (me!)
*****Photos by Kaitlin Green