Get creative: a bedroom idea that will inspire learning and play!

Natalie Lockwood from The Little Mill House, a young interior designer and blogger, designed a child’s bedroom using artificial turf. Her project was selected as one of the room set competition’s 5 finalists at Grand Designs Live 2018 in London. 

Natalie Lockwood from The Little Mill House:

One of the main factors I knew I had to focus on was durability, using durable elements within the room would ensure the longevity of the space and therefore making the room more sustainable than it would otherwise be.

To make sure the bedroom was designed to encourage the child’s creativity I added two chalkboard walls to the space, one of which included a neon climbing wall to keep the kids active…even when indoors. The wall by the bed was painted a pale grey to create a more relaxed feel for bedtime but it was kept interesting with the yellow painted halfway up. I then added some cute artwork including both colours to bring the look together.

When it came to flooring I have to admit I struggled a little, carpets are cosy in the bedroom but are so hard to keep clean in a child’s bedroom (or even a teenager’s) and wood floors look great but are a little hard and even cold for playtime. I was also very keen to find something that looked as fun as the rest of the room design, to enhance the playful feel of the space. The idea came to me to use a grass floor, I’d already used grass for the flooring in an office’s meeting room and it looked great so why not in a kid’s bedroom? I did some additional research and found that artificial grass is actually perfect for a child’s play space, it’s easy to keep clean, easy to lay and is comfy to sit and play on it for hours. BuzzGrass sent us the perfect, made in Britain artificial grass for the project, it was soft to touch and natural looking without being too dense.

The grass floor worked perfectly at creating the ‘indoor park’ feel of the room with the climbing wall, cabin bed complete with slide & ball pit and the teepee in the corner of the room. The green of the grass was followed up into the design of the room with the addition of the cactus bedside lamp and the neon green painted climbing holds. It was the perfect additional colour in the room and looks such fun with the yellow.

To finish the room I added lots of interesting prints on the walls, including some motivational quotes (which all children should have), to break up the black walls and blend the scheme together. I added some fun storage and toys that looked great even if left out. The lighting was chosen to be restful with an element of playfulness, I think the black city lights pendant and yellow moon both achieve this and are made from very sustainable materials adding to the eco credentials of the room!

Biography

Natalie Lockwood is a young interior designer and blogger based in Yorkshire. She created her studio & blog Little Mill House out of the desire to offer affordable, convenient interior design with a focus on sustainability whatever the client’s budget. In a short amount of time she has worked with numerous publications and designed rooms for the Ideal Home Show & Grand Designs Live. The Little Mill House blog is in the top 100 upcycling blogs worldwide and was nominated for a prestigious Amara Interior Blog Award in 2017.