Before & After: How Striped Wallpaper Transformed a Builder-Grade Bedroom
Life often throws curveballs — especially when it comes to matters of the home. Starr Simpson, owner and principal designer of Live & Gather Co., knows this all too well. She and her husband, David, put a great deal of effort into designing a nursery for their firstborn son, DJ. But just four months after he was born, they fell in love with another property and had to start on the room design all over again.
“This was a builder-grade home with gray walls and little natural light, so we knew we would need to design the space to be more cheerful,” Starr explains. “It is a pretty big bedroom, and the size of the bedrooms was one of the primary reasons we chose this house.”
However, as time passed and they were settling into their new home, Starr realized that she was pregnant with her second son, Gabe. When the couple discovered they’d have two boys, they wanted to design a shared bedroom that would grow with them.
While it took them two years to begin the design process, Starr says that it was actually a good thing. As DJ grew up, he was able to communicate his interests, which led to their mood board inspiration: his love of cars. “I also was inspired by stripes and I knew that I was going to include striped wallpaper in some way,” Starr explains. “I was happy to stumble upon a ‘striped’ wallpaper that felt fun, fresh, and different from traditional stripes and integrated into the wallpaper and the window treatment.”
“I found the wallpaper I loved but did not want to spend the money to wallpaper the entire room, given the size of the room,” Starr continues. “I decided to use the wallpaper as a focal point on the most prominent wall and color match it to the wall and ceiling colors so that everything felt cohesive. I also decided to use the pattern on the window treatment for cohesion on the adjacent wall.”
Knowing that Gabe isn’t as able (yet!) to express his interests and that kids’ passions usually change quickly, Starr wanted the room to be transitional. She gathered inspiration from Pinterest and noticed a theme — that she was leaning toward the designs of older kids’ bedrooms. The walls are painted a soft, timeless blue (Sherwin-Williams’s Tradewind SW 6218), and the ceiling is colored a darker, yet still classic blue (Sherwin-Williams’s Delft SW 9134). For all the curveballs her kids might throw at her (aka changing their interests), this neutral palette will allow her to change up the decor without a complete makeover.
Besides looking gorgeous, Starr also wanted the room to be functional. Ensuring that DJ and Gabe had sufficient floor space to play was imperative when designing the layout. So, she placed both their beds (one crib and one daybed with a trundle) against the walls and selected an armoire instead of a dresser because it allowed for more storage, and DJ wouldn’t be able to climb up it.
Starr and David transformed the entire room themselves, working in shifts to ensure their sons stayed away from the wallpaper and paint. All of their efforts were worth it in the end. “I honestly love everything about the room, but I especially love the wallpaper and color palette,” Starr says. “As adults, we often can be conservative with our design choices, but with children’s spaces, it’s easier to take more risks like painting the ceiling and doors blue!”
The room is currently more DJs than Gabe’s (he still sleeps in his parents’ room), but they’ll often spend time together during the day in the room. DJ loves reading books from his low-mounted bookshelves and jumping on the bed, and Gabe just genuinely enjoys spending time with DJ. One of the happiest moments in the room had to have been when Starr and David revealed their hard work to DJ. He responded by shouting, “Woah, cool!”