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The Great Exploration Bedroom

Meant for the young, the wild and the wandering. This is a bedroom designed for the explorer in all of us – a journey through a half-imagined almost restrained oasis on the horizon, balanced with an unearthing of the wilderness deep within the jungle. It’s a room intended for climbing, hanging, and pure adventure – a hideaway for the seeker of all things fun and free.
To create the space, colorful, whimsical and textural design elements were integrated into the design:
Wall Treatment: The walls are covered in Calico’s ombre wallpaper and create the backdrop, a song to the African sky at dawn. For an unexpected layer, artist Cody Blocker painted silhouettes of safari animals onto the wall.
Bunk Beds: The custom-built tree fort-inspired bunk bed provides lofted space for the small room with the ladder doubling as structural support and an element of play.
Rug: A custom-colored circular Kyle Bunting rug anchors the room and is reminiscent of a giraffe.
Termite mound inspired play enclosure: Inspired by safari photos of sand hills and termite mounds, the wooden play space was custom-made using sheets of plywood and provides an escape from reality.
Lighting: The 3D wooden elephant mask projects visual art, adding stunning layers.
Shelving: Trapezoid-shaped shelving units arranged in a zigzag configuration on the wall provide another dimension.
Table and Chairs: The seating area features a custom-designed table that matches the angular shape of the stools.
Gym rings: Wooden rings hung from the rafters add interest and another dimension to the room.
Never stop exploring!

Watch Out Wild West Cowboy Room

My husband and I have such a fun time putting our little cowboy’s room together. He made the covered wagon bed with a lot of help from our Gpa. I sewed the canvas and painted the room.
The room is a collection of old and new. Some of it was in my husbands childhood room while others we have picked up along he way. We found the Pendleton blanket and thought it was the finishing piece for the room.
I hope you get and little bit of inspiration and enjoy it!
 

Boy’s Dream Baseball Room

My son asked for a new baseball room for his 7th birthday, so my husband and I decided to surprise him while he was away on a small camping trip with his grandparent’s. I knew I wanted to make the room kid friendly, yet classy, so that he could enjoy it now and also as he gets older.
The process:  First, I painted the walls, ceiling and trim. Second, we purchased large faux brick panels from Lowes for the accent wall. I didn’t particularly care for the red and black color that came on the panels, but I loved the look of the brick, so I decided to whitewash and sand them down to make the bricks look more realistic. After we hung the panels, we added a “dugout” to serve as the focal point for the room. In the dugout I created a desk for my son that looks like an old-worn bench. I carried the same wood over to the left side of the room and used it as wall shelves to tie the areas together. The wood was reclaimed from my husband’s grandparent’s old barn. The poles are wood spindles that I spray painted with silver paint, so they would look like the metal legs that are typically on a dugout bench.  I also painted the stool that goes with it. I found it at a yard sale for $3 and it was the perfect fit! I then found the lockers at another yard sale for $25 each. I cleaned them up, painted them black and now they serve as excellent place to store toys!  I re-did the chest-of-drawers, too. The previous owners left it, so thankfully it was free! I wanted it to go along with the locker theme, so I painted it black and added numbers to it. As far as the accent pieces go, I made my son a large scoreboard to hang over his bed and carried the theme over to the sign that is also in his dugout. The scoreboard has chalkboard slats on it, so he can actually write on it if he wants! Both items make a huge impact and the scoreboard is functional! Win – win! I “fluffed” the room with a few sentimental items that date back 4 generations in our families, such as the ball gloves, an umpire counter, baseballs, bats, etc.  For a few other special touches, I added 1, 2, 3 (strikes you’re out) baseball hat hangers, baseball knobs on the doors, a baseball lamp, bedding and a couple of cute pictures of him and his t-ball teams.
It was such a fun room to redo and it was pocket friendly since we did all of the work ourselves. Plus, most of the items were reclaimed or I purchased them from yard sales. We all love to hang out in the room now! I definitely think we hit it out of the park!

Varsity Sports Inspired Tween Boy Bedroom

I’m super excited about this room reveal I’m about to share for many reasons.
1. It was a special present from his Mom for a super smart straight A and very cool (do the kids still say cool?) tween boy – age 11! #boymoms unite.
2. He’s a huge Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James fan (I grew up in the Cleveland Hts. area – so I was stoked to hear that.)
3. It’s a not so little known fact that kid spaces are my favorite to design because you insert just the right amount of whimsy, fun and lots of function into the design. Adults take their spaces so seriously with all the brown, beige and blah – I always jump at the chance to design spaces for the young and the young at heart.
In order to design any space, I try to learn about my clients (even the little ones) and their real lifestyles, interest and must haves. I was told that this kid is studious, love sports, gaming, needed lots of storage for shoes and clothes and was all about LeBron James.
The new space would also need to be classic and not trendy – because it has to be last well into his teen years. I decided a sophisticated varsity inspired themed sports room was the way to go.
We changed some of the foundation elements that would add major impact immediately, switched out the carpet for hardwood floors and an area rug, plus updated the original vertical blinds with shutters.

At the final room reveal the kid did a pretty good job of not letting a super cheesy smile slip out – while his Mom on the other hand jumped up and down and all around… I so love reactions like this. Later, she told me that he said ‘Ms. Micaela totally gets me!’
I sure do and I’m so glad you know it : )
Design: M.Red Design

Photography: Megan Weaver

Victor’s Big Boy Bedroom

Not too long ago I was planning a nursery. But as every parent knows, time flies by and soon enough you get yourself planning the kids college education instead. Sigh…
When we moved to our current house I was about 5 months pregnant. It was such a special time with the expectation of the new addition to our family of four plus our new house. We were experiencing lots of new beginnings, as well as a ton of design projects, like the nursery for the new baby. For my third pregnancy, we decided to surprise ourselves and not find out the sex of the baby. So, when I designed this gender neutral space, I used timeless artwork throughout the room and neutral colors. No blues or pinks. I also wanted this nursery to be a continuation of the design style of our new house. So I brought lots of white and rustic wood tones to this room just like we have throughout the rest of the house. But my main design goal for this space was to create a room that could be easily transformed from a nursery to a big boy bedroom.
Baby Victor came along on July 27, 2012. During a hot Summer night in 2014, while washing the dishes, I heard a loud thud sound and an instant cry coming from upstairs. Before the little guy turned 2, he had already managed to climb his way out of the crib. We gave it another try thinking that maybe it had been a lucky night when he managed to “escape”, but the very next night, we were faced with the same scenario. So out goes the crib and in comes the bed. I chose this IKEA bed because of its color, clean lines, and the bonus large drawers underneath it for the much-needed storage space. This bed is perfect for this room. We added some acrylic shelving next to the new bed for his favorite books plus a few new wall decals. A fun bedding from Dwell Studio plus some modern pillows and voila, we had a big boy bedroom for the “big” guy.
On the other side of the room, facing the crib and bed area, I designed a desk, dresser, and changing station. We custom made a desk using the same wood from the other side of the room and an IKEA’s old dresser that I used to have in my bedroom. Eliminating the changing pad when we were diaper free was all that was needed to have a full functioning desk for future homework sessions. Most of the decor stayed the same. How could someone ever get too grown up for a daily dose of Sharon Montrose’s gorgeous animal prints, right?
I adore his “big” boy room as much as I did his nursery.